WASHINGTON/HAVANA - Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez condemned on Friday the US government's decision to ban charter flights from the United States to all Cuban destinations except Havana.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the new sanction on Friday, saying the move is designed to prevent the Cuban government from making profits from US air travel, which could be used to repress the Cuban people and support Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

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"I strongly reject new US government ban on charter flights to Cuba, except for Havana, and restrictions on their number," Rodriguez wrote on Twitter in English and Spanish. He added that it was a "serious violation of human rights and freedom of travel of US citizens and hinders family reunification." 

The flight caps would punish Cubans "on both sides of the Florida Strait," Cuban foreign ministry's General Director for US Affairs Carlos Fernandez de Cossio tweeted.

This new sanction is an extension of last December's ban on US commercial flights to all Cuban destinations except Havana.

Havana's ambassador in Washington, on Twitter, wrote that the restrictions would push more visitors to "use Cubana Airlines domestic flights or other Cuban companies for local transportation." He also the United States was seeking to "limit the amount of people that see CUBA reality by themselves."

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Nearly 624,000 Cubans living abroad visited their homeland in 2019, of which a record 552,800 were from the United States, Cuba has said.

Republican US President Donald Trump has clamped down on Havana following the historic move by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to reopen US-Cuba ties. His administration has imposed sanctions over Cuba's support for Maduro.