I have no idea, but I did travel to Cuba from the USA as part of an organized trip (with a US company) that is sanctioned under Humanitarian reasons. I guess they are now catching up with travel/ flight records.
Sorry to drag this back up. I had an email from the US today saying there has been a change to my ESTA status, I log in and it now says I'm not authorized to travel to the USA. I have to assume this is because of my travel to Cuba in Feb 22, before the change that his thread was about. I now...
You would probably have to lie on the application saying you haven't been too, if found out that could bar you from ever entering USA again. Not a good idea.
I lived in China for the whole of last year and travelled to Cuba in Feb this year (from Florida!) for a diving trip. US citizens can travel there for certain reasons and I travelled on one of those (humanitarian!). I have an ESTA in place from before (Nov 21) that and, living in Canada now...