Cuban private sector severely affected by Washington's travel restrictions

HAVANA - Until just a few days ago, Havana's Old Town was swarming with US visitors, mainly from cruise ships, who toured the zone to learn about its history, culture and heritage.

Restaurants, cafeterias, craft sellers and the iconic convertible vintage cars thrived with thousands of tourists supporting their activities and directly engaging with the booming sector which currently employs more than 584,000 Cubans.

However, that reality dramatically changed this week when Washington decided to abruptly end visits of cruise ships to the island and people-to-people educational exchanges, the most popular categories used by US citizens to travel to Cuba.