Observers are calling Cuba’s new free-market reforms the most sweeping economic overhaul on the island’s communist economy since the Cuban revolution while the grandson of former President Raúl Castro says in an interview that Cuba must seek to move its economy forward.

Spanish hotel chain Meliá has joined a growing list of companies with a long-standing presence in Cuba that are withdrawing or limiting their operations on the island after the U.S. announced new sanctions while upholding an oil embargo.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended the Trump administration's decision to impose new sanctions on Cuba.