Case law has shown that free Americans can go anywhere they like (Lawyer uncle looked this up for me). What kind of government restricts where its citizens can go?

It is, however, illegal to engage in commerce of any sort - IOW, no trade with Cuba. Its the embargo (or as the Cubans call it - blockade).

Now the tricky bit is proving you didn't trade dollars for anything while in Cuba. No meals, no drinks, no fees of any kind. A few cruisers on sail boats have visited Cuba and "self hosted" (they say) - which is to say - only ate food they brought, drank rum they brought, and only walked around - no trade.

Its getting harder to prove that though and the pitbull feds are turning up the heat on these people when they catch them to try to make them examples and discourage the rest of us from going there.

There sure were a lot of boats flying US flags at Marina Hemingway New Years Eve tho...

The whole Cuban situation is a microcosm of what's wrong with US foreign policy. Its the best example we have of how embargos and economic sanctions are ineffective, how not all dicatators are evil (Castro seems to be doing alright by his people given his constraints).

The idea of using illegally occupied territory rightfully belonging to a country whose government we've been trying to topple for almost 40 years to hold prisoners from another war is just too much to take.