The recent revisions to the U.S. sanctions on Cuba has generated a great deal of press coverage and, not surprisingly, more enthusiasm than accuracy. Here are a few bloopers I’ve seen recently.

The NBC outlet in Miami announced that the new regulations, released on January 15, would permit “South Florida cigar shops [to] soon be able to carry cigars from Cuba.” The only delay would be the time it will take those shops to “stock up” on the cigars. Nope. The amended section 515.560(c)(3) can bring back these products “for personal use only.”

It comes as less of a shock that the online news outlet Havana Times would say this:

The only thing you have to do to go to Cuba is book your travel. No government forms, no permissions, no licences. Just go.

Nope, again. U.S. travelers have to qualify for one of the twelve general licenses set out in 515.560. The only change is that you don’t need to wait for a specific license from OFAC. But you can’t get on a plane to go sip mojitos on the beach since, at least at the moment, there is no general license for drinking or sunbathing.

It comes as more of a shock, that the Huffington Post would suggest that Americans should get on a plane to “soak up some sun at Tropicoco Beach.” To give HuffPost some benefit of the doubt, let’s suppose they meant taking time off from an activity eligible for a general license to spend a little beach time. Whether you can or not, depends on what is meant by a “full-time schedule” since these general licenses normally require a “full-time schedule” devoted to the eligible activity. In the past, OFAC has said that missionaries that took a few hours off to visit a beach violated this requirement.

The situation may be a little more favorable for journalists than missionaries because the amended regulations say that the journalist’s activities schedule of activities” cannot include “recreation in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule.” The same language does not appear in the general license for missionaries or in the other general licenses.

And I’ve saved the best for last. A columnist for the Charlotte Observer, for reasons that are not entirely clear, wants to export Bruce Jenner to Cuba. Of course former U.S. Olympic athletes whose appearance offends a columnist in Charlotte is not among the category of items authorized for export to Cuba under the new BIS regulations. Besides, if we’re going to start shipping off celebrities to Cuba, my vote goes for sending Justin Bieber.

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