US travellers to Cuba drops drastically

[Judi Lynn]

Tuesday, 19 July

US travellers to Cuba drops drastically

The number of United States travellers to Cuba has dropped drastically over the past year reported Monday the Miami press.

The 60% reduction is a direct consequence of tougher restrictions imposed on dealings with the island by President George W. Bush's administration to "promote a democratic transition on the island", the El Nuevo Herald newspaper said.

For Cuba the fall in the number of visitors from the US translates into a reduction of 95 million US dollars in revenue, but also has a cost for U.S.-based airlines and travel businesses money, adds the newspaper.

In the past 12 months, according to official figures, some 55,000 people travelled from the United States to Cuba, about 35.7% of the number that had been visiting the island annually before the travel restrictions imposed June 30, 2004.
(snip/...)

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=6062

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, July 17, 2005 · Last updated 10:27 a.m. PT

Seattle women bound for Cuba in defiance of law

By GEORGE ESTRADA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SEATTLE -- Cindy Domingo has been to Cuba a dozen times, but hopes she isn't pushing her luck too far for her 13th trip, when she'll travel without U.S government permission to protest tight new restrictions on visiting the communist country.

Domingo, a longtime Seattle activist dedicated to humanitarian and feminist causes, will accompany three other Seattle-area women on the July 21 trip and expects to join hundreds of other defiant travelers in a "travel challenge."

For U.S. citizens, traveling to Cuba requires a license issued by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, a document that has recently become much more difficult to obtain. In protest, Domingo and her fellow travelers are ignoring the process.

"We want to let the U.S. government know that we have the right to travel to Cuba without their permission," said Domingo, an aide to King County Councilman Larry Gossett. "I'm uncertain what we'll face at the border. But I'm also excited to be joining hundreds of others who'll be going without licenses."
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Defiant%20Travelers

[cire4]

1. Only totalitarian dictatorships restrict freedom to travel...

The Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Maoist China all restricted their citizens from travelling to certain countries...

The Cuba travel ban puts the US in mighty fine company.

[wild potato]

9. In fairness...

...any list of "totalitarian dictatorships (that) restrict freedom to travel" should include Cuba itself. I mean, let's not get carried away here.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. Actually, the restrictions on travel by Cubans are just as much on the

U.S. end as on the Cuban end.

My church has an exchange with a church in Cuba, and we're trying to get permission for the bishop to come and visit. It's okay with the Cuban government, but getting permission from the U.S. government is trickier.

You don't have to believe that Cuba is a paradise to be convinced that the U.S. government's policy is disproportionate to any Cuban failings (why not punish China, which has a worse human rights record?) and is the result of pandering to the bitter but wealthy Batista followers who help make Miami such a loony place.

[Mika]

30. Not true

The US has an official policy restricting US citizens (and Cuban immigrants) from travel to Cuba. The main restriction for Cubans to travel almost anywhere is economic, otherwise they can travel (except to the US because the US fucks with their visas, but still nonpublic figures can and do travel to the US including Miami).






click the pic to find out why

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. Mika, I was talking about a U.S.-imposed restriction

My church got permission for a group to make two trips to visit our sister parish by September (I wanted to go but couldn't afford it).

It's the U.S. government that is holding up the return visit by the Cuban bishop, not the Cuban government.

[Mika]

36. I was reacting to your comment..

--"Actually, the restrictions on travel by Cubans are just as much on the U.S. end as on the Cuban end."--

The above is the inaccurate statement I was commenting on.

[dutchdemocrat]

2. Who Cares

Canadian and European tourists are keeping their coffers full anyway.

US tourism has never really mattered.

[Demeter]

3. It Matters to US!

Either we are a free nation, or we aren't. Just as you can't be a little bit pregnant, you can't be a little bit fascist. And we've been dragged down that road to hell a considerable ways.

[dutchdemocrat]

5. Bottom line is....

I was being facetious.

You live in a dictatorship.

[Bridget Burke]

4. Most US visitors were not "tourists"

But "exiles" with relatives in Cuba. Even their rights to visit have been damaged by current government policies.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. Cuban Travel Ban Versus Paleo-Conservatism

Whatever our feelings towards the dictatorial, ideology-hampered Castro regime and its corrupt, dictatorial, oppresive predecessor, the fact remains that the travel ban for American citizens wishing to visit Cuba is an infringement on the liberty of American citizens and should be repealed, no matter what dishonest and disingenuous polemics so-called "Conservatives" offer in its favor.

They may not be so prominent in the GOP anymore, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past when old-style Conservatives would dare voice their opinion as to what sort of infringement on American liberties the travel ban was and continues to be.

[Mika]

32. As usual..

((((Yawn))))

Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that
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Maybe you forget that John Kerry's position was to maintain restricted travel to Cuba for NON tourism purposes (except for Cuban expats).

The ONLY Dem candidate that supported unrestricted travel to Cuba for all was Dennis K.

[Vogon_Glory]

37. The Travel Ban Is An Infringement On The Liberties of Americans

I really don't give a fig about the reiterations about what candidate John F. Kerry's position on the travel ban allegedly might have been. The fact remains that not just progressives, but also paleo-conservatives of yesteryear and survivors of that political stripe today would agree that the US government's restrictions on Americans wishing to visit Cuba are an infringement on the liberties of American citizens regardless of which party or which government employees impose them. This point needs to be repeated time and time again not just by liberals, but everybody.

[DemoTex]

7. There are things in Cuba the Bu$h regime does not want us to see.

The Cuban Health System
The health care system has been severely affected by Cuba's last several years of economic difficulties and the American embargo, but even so is by many accounts a formidable achievement, and is frequently cited by Castro, along with the education system, as evidence of the success of his revolutionary government.

Health care for every citizen has been a top priority, second only to education. Clinics and health care providers are located throughout the country even in rural areas, and care is free. The system emphasizes prevention, health education, and community medicine. Each individual is expected to fulfill certain well-defined requirements for his own health care, like getting an annual check-up, and these expectations are clearly communicated through health education and are reinforced by popular support. Maintaining one's health is seen as one of the characteristics of a good revolutionary citizen.

http://www.culturalorientation.net/cubans/health.htm

While far from perfect, the Cuban health care system puts ours to shame. Our embargo of health care aid to Cuba, like similar embargoes against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, is despicable.

[eomer]

10. Cuban health care system does not put ours to shame.

Run of the mill Cuban citizens have to bring their own medicines and bed linens to the hospital.

Many Cubans get their prescription drugs sent or brought to them by Miami relatives because they can't get them in Cuba.

Not to mention that if you don't have enough food to eat then you will not be so healthy. I have seen men arrive in Miami that were suffering from malnutrition because they would sacrifice to provide more for their children.

The idea that the Cuban medical system is great and even better than ours is pure myth.

[Bridget Burke]

13. Do you have any real data to back this up?

And not from a gusano site, please.

[eomer]

14. Not from a site at all. It's from direct conversation...

with members of my extended family when they arrived from Cuba and also from extended family who still had a mother, sister, cousin, etc. still in Cuba and were sending medicines over and were familiar with the details when someone was ill. This is over a period of quite a few years. The conversations I'm talking about weren't political, they were about the personal lives of loved ones and they were specific in the details.

Granted, this information is anecdotal but you will find in Miami it is common knowledge by anyone who has family over there.

And don't get me wrong - I'm not a fan of our system by any means. I think our medical insurance system is scandalous, as is the drug industry, and not a model that anyone should follow. Universal coverage is one aspect of the Cuban system that I agree with and I otherwise favor policies in this area that would be considered liberal. But there are severe problems in the Cuban system and it is not a great system that we can really learn from.

[K-W]

17. They do so much with so little, while we do so little with so much.

That is how they put us to shame. If cuba had our resources, would anyone in Cuba go without health care?

[eomer]

19. The common people have so little.

Castro has vast riches. They should divvy up Castro's wealth and see what kind of health care they can provide with it.

Regarding shame, I think both the U.S. and Castro should be ashamed. Both are guilty of the same thing - letting poor people suffer while the privileged do very well indeed.

[K-W]

21. Which only strengthens my point.

That means the health system has even less, making thier accomplishments even more impressive and the US failures even more shamefull in comparison.

[Judi Lynn]

22. You're right.There's a problem with Cuba's health system:the embargo!

"Denial of Food and Medicine:

The Impact Of The U.S. Embargo
On The Health And Nutrition In Cuba"

-An Executive Summary-

American Association for World Health Report
Summary of Findings
March 1997

After a year-long investigation, the American Association for World Health has determined that the U.S. embargo of Cuba has dramatically harmed the health and nutrition of large numbers of ordinary Cuban citizens. As documented by the attached report, it is our expert medical opinion that the U.S. embargo has caused a significant rise in suffering-and even deaths-in Cuba. For several decades the U.S. embargo has imposed significant financial burdens on the Cuban health care system. But since 1992 the number of unmet medical needs patients going without essential drugs or doctors performing medical procedures without adequate equipment-has sharply accelerated. This trend is directly linked to the fact that in 1992 the U.S. trade embargo-one of the most stringent embargoes of its kind, prohibiting the sale of food and sharply restricting the sale of medicines and medical equipment-was further tightened by the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act.

A humanitarian catastrophe has been averted only because the Cuban government has maintained a high level of budgetary support for a health care system designed to deliver primary and preventive health care to all of its citizens. Cuba still has an infant mortality rate half that of the city of Washington, D.C.. Even so, the U.S. embargo of food and the de facto embargo on medical supplies has wreaked havoc with the island's model primary health care system. The crisis has been compounded by the country's generally weak economic resources and by the loss of trade with the Soviet bloc.

Recently four factors have dangerously exacerbated the human effects of this 37-year-old trade embargo. All four factors stem from little-understood provisions of the U.S. Congress' 1992 Cuban Democracy Act (CDA):

1. A Ban on Subsidiary Trade: Beginning in 1992, the Cuban Democracy Act imposed a ban on subsidiary trade with Cuba. This ban has severely constrained Cuba's ability to import medicines and medical supplies from third country sources. Moreover, recent corporate buyouts and mergers between major U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies have further reduced the number of companies permitted to do business with Cuba.
   
2. Licensing Under the Cuban Democracy Act: The U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments are allowed in principle to license individual sales of medicines and medical supplies, ostensibly for humanitarian reasons to mitigate the embargo's impact on health care delivery. In practice, according to U.S. corporate executives, the licensing provisions are so arduous as to have had the opposite effect. As implemented, the licensing provisions actively discourage any medical commerce. The number of such licenses granted-or even applied for since 1992-is minuscule. Numerous licenses for medical equipment and medicines have been denied on the grounds that these exports "would be detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests."
   
3. Shipping Since 1992:The embargo has prohibited ships from loading or unloading cargo in U.S. ports for 180 days after delivering cargo to Cuba. This provision has strongly discouraged shippers from delivering medical equipment to Cuba. Consequently shipping costs have risen dramatically and further constricted the flow of food, medicines, medical supplies and even gasoline for ambulances. From 1993 to 1996, Cuban companies spent an additional $8.7 million on shipping medical imports from Asia, Europe and South America rather than from the neighboring United States.
   
4. Humanitarian Aid: Charity is an inadequate alternative to free trade in medicines, medical supplies and food. Donations from U.S. non-governmental organizations and international agencies do not begin to compensate for the hardships inflicted by the embargo on the Cuban public health system. In any case, delays in licensing and other restrictions have severely discouraged charitable contributions from the U.S.

Taken together, these four factors have placed severe strains on the Cuban health system. The declining availability of food stuffs, medicines and such basic medical supplies as replacement parts for thirty-year-old X-ray machines is taking a tragic human toll. The embargo has closed so many windows that in some instances Cuban physicians have found it impossible to obtain life-saving medicines from any source, under any circumstances. Patients have died. In general, a relatively sophisticated and comprehensive public health system is being systematically stripped of essential resources. High-technology hospital wards devoted to cardiology and nephrology are particularly under siege. But so too are such basic aspects of the health system as water quality and food security. Specifically, the AAWH's team of nine medical experts identified the following health problems affected by the embargo:
(snip)

Finally, the AAWH wishes to emphasize the stringent nature of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. Few other embargoes in recent history - including those targeting Iran, Libya, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Chile or Iraq - have included an outright ban on the sale of food. Few other embargoes have so restricted medical commerce as to deny the availability of life-saving medicines to ordinary citizens. Such an embargo appears to violate the most basic international charters and conventions governing human rights, including the United Nations charter, the charter of the Organization of American States, and the articles of the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of civilians during wartime.
(snip/)

American Association for World Health
1825 K Street, NW, Suite 1208
Washington, DC 20006

http://www.cubasolidarity.net/aawh.html

[eomer]

23. I'm not arguing in favor of the embargo.

Especially not any part of the embargo or other regulations that would hamper trade in medical supplies or food. We're in agreement on that.

I am arguing that totalitarian communism does not produce good results for the common people. I believe there's ample evidence to support that conclusion, both in the Cuban experiment and plenty others. Castro would like to blame the embargo for all problems in Cuba but I'm not buying it. I can't tell from your posts whether you think Castro is doing a great job and it's all our fault or alternatively you think that Castro has made a mess of Cuba and we are only making it worse.

[K-W]

24. "totalitarian communism"?

What exactly is that?

It is, as always, important to remember that just because someone calls themself or thier party "Communist" doesnt make it so.

[eomer]

25. I do remember that.

But not everyone uses terms the same way. Castro uses communism as a cover story, just like the USSR did. They call themselves communist and most people call them communist. So when you use the term you need to clarify whether you mean the more theoretical definition or the de facto "communism" in Cuba under Castro.

When I criticize Castro, I am criticizing his system, whatever name you want to give it.

If you are saying true communism can be good then I don't have a position on that. I would want to see an example of it in practice and then see what I think. If you have an example in mind (and don't say Cuba) I am interested in looking at it.

[DemoTex]

31. Indeed K-W. You have cut to the chase.

Look no farther than the 1.4 million children in the former governor Bu$h's state of Texas who are without health care. That in itself defines shame. To read how Gov. Bu$h tried (and failed) to block the then Democratic state legislature's attempts to help the children .. and then to claim credit when the Lege (as the national treasure Molly Ivins calls it) over-rides his veto. Cuba tries, or at least claims to help it's citizens. The Bu$h regime only cuts benefits to the sick and poor, transferring that capital to the uber-rich. I stand behind my original post 100%. I'll swap Miami Cuban anecdotes for downtown Dallas homeless stories anytime.

Mac

[mainer]

8. Is this actually true?

Cuban officials know better than to stamp Americans' passports when they enter the country. i think there's a lot of "undocumented" travel by Americans into cuba, via Mexico or the Caribbean.

Europeans tell me they love going to a country where there aren't so many americans hogging the beaches.

[eomer]

11. They also enjoy being waited on by slave labor...

it's a very cheap way to have a grand time.

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

16. yes you're right

it just gets boring shagging 15 years old ukraine-imported chicks all the time. Women are complaining their lovers from Africa are getting old as well. one needs some sunburned hot latin flesh now and then to keep the fire burning and the blood from getting to the brain-conscience section.

When there are less American tourists there will be more space for normal sized humans on the beach and one actually gets to learn some spanish.

/cynism

edit:cynism

[Oreegone]

15. It is true

Americans need to tell them as they pass through they are American and not to stamp. Many Americans go to Mexico or Canada and then fly to Cuba. Just mail your goodies (cigars, mementos, home from the country you fly out of before you go through US customs). Don't want them finding your goodies in your suitcase. That would get you into trouble.

I know some people like being waited on, but many people go just to see what it is like in Cuba and because it is a beautiful place. They are also helping the locals by increasing their income dramatically. It is an incredibly poor country.

[eomer]

18. You make a good point

I agree that travel to Cuba can be beneficial to locals. Those that get tips from tourists are much better off than anyone just working a regular job. In fact, doctors and other professionals take seemingly menial jobs if they offer a chance of tips.

So I think that travel to Cuba can be a very humane thing or it can be horridly exploitative depending on the details.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Imagine entering a profession because your first concern

is to HELP your fellow man, not yourself. Terrifying.

[Judi Lynn]

26. Others have shared similar links, but here's another reminder

of what was happening to Cuba prior to the revolution, and prior to the departure of the thieves and buttheads who had controlled Cuban life ruthlessly, brutally for years. You've seen their handiwork in Florida politics, no doubt:

It is by comparing Cuban society before 1959 and present-day Cuba that we can see the benefits that socialism has brought for the population:

The population
- Before 1959 the Cuban population was just under 7 million and life expectancy was 58 years.
In 2005 the population is 11 million and life expectancy is 77 (UNESCO’s figure).

Distribution of wealth
- Before 1959 the wealthiest 20% of the population enjoyed 58% of the country’s income. The poorest 20% received 2% of the country’s income.
In 2005 all Cubans are guaranteed their basic requirements of cheap food and the right to employment, social security, free health care and education up to and including university level.

Property and land ownership
- Before 1959 75% of the land was in the hands of 8% of the population. A handful of wealthy families owned large estates – latifundios - where they reared cattle or cultivated sugar cane. Other rural families often lived in extreme poverty. In 1956-57 a survey carried out by the Agrupación Católica Universitaria of 4000 rural families (10,000 people) revealed that 66.35% of families lived in ‘bohíos’ – thatched hovels with earthen floors.
In 2005 there is flexibility of ownership of land and property. Just over 75% of homes in Cuba have been built since 1959. Housing is 85% privately owned. The rest is let at minimal rents by the state. In 2002 just over 5% of homes were ‘bohíos’.There is a maximum limit to the area of land an individual can own. Some smallholdings are state owned, others are private and there are different types of co-operative ventures.

Living conditions
- Before 1959 only 35.2% of the Cuban population had running water and 63% had no WC facilities or latrines. 82.6% had no bathtub or shower. There were 13 small reservoirs.
In 2005 94% of the population receives good-quality drinking water. Sanitation has been a priority since the revolution and all Cubans now have WCs or latrines and are able to attend to personal hygiene in their homes. There are 240 reservoirs.
- Before 1959 just 7% of homes had electricity.
Now 95.5% of Cubans have access to electricity. Solar panels and photovoltaic
cells have been installed in schools and clinics in isolated areas.
(snip/...)

http://www.cuba-solidarity.org/revol.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may recall that while they often love to claim that when they came to Miami, it was a "sleepy, little fishing village" and they, in all their glory (and with heavy tax support from the U.S. taxpayers without our knowledge (Section 8 Housing, welfare, social security, food stamps, free work visa, instant legal status, financial assistance for education, low cost business loans, etc., etc.,)) turned Miami into a "world class city." They overlook the fact that the United States Census Bureau has deemed Miami "America's Poorist City in a population over 500,000" multiple times. Quite the achievement, not to mention the unbelievably corrupt political history in Miami, Hialeah, etc. Absentee ballot problems? Vote counting? Embezzlement? ETC., ETC.

Never forget the words of the rude, vicious little Cuban "exile" godfather in Miami:

7/31/94 The Miami Herald reprints an interview with Jorge Mas Canosa from the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Mas Canosa was asked by El Pais whether he believed Americans would take over Cuba if Fidel Castro fell. The Herald quoted Mas Canosa as saying, in part"They haven't even been able to take over Miami! If we have kicked them out of here, how could they possibly take over our own country?" (MH, 7/28/94; WP, 7/28/94)

http://cuban-exile.com/doc_126-150/doc0146b.html



Mas Canosa and his friend,in Mas Canosa's town, in Mas Canosa's state.

[eomer]

27. Not true.

"In 2005 all Cubans are guaranteed their basic requirements of cheap food..."

Not so. Cubans are not guaranteed food sufficient to subsist on. They have to find ways to resolve - "resolver" - (steal from the state, run an illegal business, receive charity from Miami relatives, etc.) just to feed their children.

[Judi Lynn]

28. If I had some blowhard relatives boasting about their wealth

and I lived in a country under economic seige, as well as over 45 years of terrorism by the world's largest, most agressive country, I'd probably let them know I could use some help, too.

[eomer]

29. I thought we were being civil in our disagreement.

Not sure why you want to start name calling.

I believe without any doubt in my mind that most Cubans on the island don't have their basic needs met in terms of food and medicine unless they get help from outside the country or go extralegal. I have formed that belief from quite a few direct experiences.

If you believe differently based on whatever sources you have then that is fine with me.

[Mika]

35. I have direct experience. You are wrong.

Direct experience is having spent time IN Cuba, not hearing stories from "exiles" with an anti Cuba bent.

The stories supplied by "exiles" are influenced by the waste and wealth of living in the US.

How can there be "no doubt in your mind" when you haven't seen the place with your own eyes?

I've been to Cuba many times (legally) and I can say (with no doubt that my eyes are not lying) that Cubans are not starving as you suggest. True, there are not McD's & BK's on every corner and SUVs going around the block to a corner 7-11, but Cubans are not starving.

[VegasWolf]

33. The wannabe's can't afford those expensive Cuban cigars after

these 5 years of Bush economy.