The United States says it is suspending all private charter flights to Cuba, in yet another move to intensify economic pressure on the government of President Raul Castro over human rights accusations and its support for the Venezuelan government, which Washington seeks to overthrow.  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the measures on Thursday, accusing the government of Castro of using tourism and travel funds to finance what he called abuses and interference in Venezuela.

“Dictators cannot be allowed to benefit from US travel,” he said.

The order will suspend all charter flights between the US and all airports in Cuba, except for authorized public charters to and from Havana.

But it will allow authorized charter flights "and other travel deemed in the interest of the United States," according to the US Transportation Department.

For most existing charter flights the suspension becomes effective on October 13.

In this file photo taken on November 28, 2016, an American Airlines plane fluttering US and Cuba national flags arrives at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, becoming the first Miami-Havana commercial flight in 50 years.

(By AFP) "This administration will continue to target and cut the revenue the Cuban government earns from landing fees, stays in regime-owned hotels, and other travel-related income,"  Pompeo.

Cuba's top diplomat on relations with the US, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, however, said the measures will have "little practical impact." Cuba's Foreign Ministry also slammed the new bans, saying the Trump administration “seeks to satisfy the electoral political machinery of south Florida." Florida — a key battleground which President Donald Trump hopes to win in the November presidential election — is home to conservative Cuban-American groups, who welcome Washington's hardline policies toward Havana.

Cuba has been under a US economic blockade for over 60 years.

The two countries severed relations in 1961 during the Cold War.

Washington, under former President Barack Obama, restored diplomatic relations with Havana in 2015.

US commercial flights to Cuba also resumed in August 2016 for the first time in more than 50 years.

Trump, however, began to roll back the historic rapprochement as soon as he took office in early 2017.

In October last year, Washington banned charter flights to Cuba except for Havana and this May, it set a limit of 3,600 flights per year to the Cuban capital.

Back in June, the Trump administration added seven Cuban companies and hotels to its list of sanctioned entities.

And last month, it announced sanctions against Havin Bank LTD, a London-based Cuban entity also known as Havana International Bank.

Washington has also imposed several rounds of crippling sanctions against Venezuela, aimed at ousting Maduro and replacing him with opposition figure Juan Guaido.

The sanctions, which include the illegal confiscation of Venezuelan assets abroad and an economic blockade, have caused enormous suffering for millions of people in the country.

In recent months, calls have been growing inside the US and abroad for Washington to lift its unilateral sanctions on various countries, including, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, amid their fight against the coronavirus pandemic