The White House will likely ease some travel restrictions to Cuba by the end of this week.

It has been circulating for the past few weeks now- and this week will determine if it is a go. The White House recently stated that there is a possibility that some travel bans to the island will be ended by the end of this week. The bans that would fall under this new decision would be bans for religious groups, students, educational institutions and several other groups of the like.

This decision likely came as a result of Raúl Castro's government deciding to release at least 52 political prisoners that were imprisoned for opposition to the government of the "Communist" led island. Havana made this decision after intense negotiations with the Roman Catholic church in Cuba.

To date, 24 political prisoners have been released, all being exiled to Spain, with one settling in Chile. The US government has had numerous inquiries from the exiles about the possibility of entering the United States, which the government has decided it will "take a look at".

One can only guess that the end to all of the travel bans, and in turn, the Embargo, are very close.