Enforcement of Cuba travel ban angers some

[Judi Lynn]

Enforcement of Cuba travel ban angers some

Peter Slevin, The Washington Post Thursday, December 11, 2003


Washington -- The athletes and doctors were due to meet in Miami on Nov. 13 and depart for Havana the next day. Those who needed wheelchairs would bring them. Others would arrive with teaching materials and donated artificial limbs in anticipation of working with disabled Cubans.

Three years in a row, World Team Sports, a small nonprofit group, had received permission to travel to Cuba. But the day before the scheduled rendezvous, the Bush administration ruled that, this time, the trip would violate U.S. policy.

"I am absolutely furious," said Josh Sharpe, 29, a wheelchair competitor from Florida. "I was looking forward to helping the disabled athletes who don't have the opportunities we have. It was a feel-good trip, it was a do- good trip, but with policies that don't make sense, nobody wins." (snip)

(snip) In recent months, licenses for travel to Cuba have been reduced, and prosecution of accused lawbreakers has intensified, with the Treasury Department recruiting administrative law judges for the first time to hear long dormant civil cases.

The effort appears to be in conflict with a majority in Congress that oppose the travel ban, saying it is unfair to U.S. citizens and counterproductive to U.S. foreign policy. This fall, the House and Senate voted to halt enforcement of the ban -- a provision that was dropped in conference committee last month amid White House pressure. (snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/11/MNG033JTOF1.DTL

[Melsky]

1. But it's just fine to go to China

It doesn't make sense to me, why ban travel to Cuba but it's encouraged to do business with China, another communist country. China also has a terrible record of human rights abuse.

[blindpig]

2. screw those people, I want to go.....

I've always admired Castro for standing up to the imperialist giant to the north(yes, I know he ain't no saint). I'd like to see for myself(and do some birding!)

3. travel ban is a sham

Despite the travel ban, the truth is that there is nothing illegal about going to Cuba. What is illegal is to spend money there -- commerce. Technically the right of a US citizen to travel anywhere can only be curtailed if we are at war with the country. That's why Jane Fonda was able to go to Hanoi. The US government doesn't want people to know this, obviously, but all they can really regulate is the commerce.

I've heard this from anti-Castro lawyers who would not be that eager to let this be known, but who admit it when pressed.
Pastors for Peace continually challenges the travel ban successfully.
Here's some information about them http://www.ifconews.org/

There is nothing to stop someone from going to Miami, finding a European who owns a sailboat and hitching a ride with them to Havana.
As long as you don't pay them for the trip, no law is being broken!

Really. That's what I've been told by people who do go to Cuba.

[Osolomia]

4. "what is illegal is to spend money there"

So you hop a boat 90 miles across the Florida Straights then what?

As you know "what is illegal is to spend money there".

It is illegal for American-Americans to buy a cigar or sip a mojito in one of Hemingway's haunts etc. etc. etc. because that costs money and is considered "trading with the enemy". It even costs money to dock the boat.

And btw, regardless of your citizenship the moment you set foot on US soil, even an airport or marina, you are subject to US laws. That's why Canadians can't fly to Miami then to Havana without a license from the US government for example.

And btw, if you do go Uncle Sam presumes you're guilty until proven innocent.

5. yep

... but there are ways around it.
I know this because of knowing people who have done it.

Canadians can't fly to Havana from Miami because the airline company can't take them, I thought, not because US trading with the enemy law applies to Canadians. It applies to the airlines.

Once there, the Cubans aren't going to complain about you spending money and they certainly aren't going to turn you into the United States for spending money! and once back, if your passport hasn't been stamped, there is no way to Prove you were in Cuba to begin with.... even though if you come in on a sailboat, because of trade winds and currents, they will know you were...

It sounds like you know what you're talking about too though, so I'm not going to quibble.

[Osolomia]

6. The law is the law, there is no "legal" way around it

The only "legal" way for doing what you suggest is that you do not spend a nickel in Cuba. The boaters get away with it by presumably carrying all the food and goods they need for the trip on board and even a bicycle to travel around on when they get there. Tens of thousands of Americans violate this law so Bush has tasked Homeland Security to crackdown on them as recent reports on DU go to show.

Homeland Security Official Touts Cuban Embargo Enforcement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=263160

When you re-enter the USA by boat or plane US Customs officials will ask you where you've been, so you'll have to lie to them if you went to Cuba illegally. In other words, it's not as simple as you think.

[Osolomia]

7. Bush OKs restraints on boats heading to Cuba

http://www.canfnet.org/News/archived/020303newsb.htm

[Osolomia]

8. And another lest their be any delusions

Higher Stakes in the Cuba Game
Over the last decade, traveling to Cuba had become a cat-and-mouse game between Uncle Sam and U.S. sailors. It still is, but the cat just got hungrier

June 1, 2002
By Theresa Nicholson More articles by this author





©Su Brodsky

Havana's Marina Hemingway often agrees to "fully host" U.S. visitors, but the Bush administration isn't buying it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


In February 2001, Jan Kwapinski cast off from Key West and sailed his Tartan 27, Janek, to Marina Hemingway in Havana, Cuba. Kwapinski cleared in with Cuban officials and spent three days on the island, where he says he traveled by bicycle (his own) and ate and slept aboard his boat. When a weather window opened, he sailed back to Key West. Almost anywhere else in the world, such a voyage would've been no big deal. But, as Kwapinski and many other American sailors are finding out, the 90-mile trip to Fidel Castro's homeland is no ordinary sail.

One year after returning to the United States, Kwapinski received a notice from the director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC; http://www.treas.gov/ofac) informing him that the office intended to fine him $7,500 for his amble south.

"I couldn't believe it," Kwapinski said. "I didn't break any laws. I read all the regulations; I knew I couldn't spend money there, and I didn't." Now, the U.S. government is telling Kwapinski either to prove that his story is true or pay up.

More...
http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:4EDAWY2UwlEJ:www.cruisingworld.com/cw_article.php%3FarticleID%3D967+Cuba+sail+violate&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Mika]

14. Guilty until proven innocent?

This is as g-damn un American as it gets.

Only one Dem candidate for prez openly calls for an end to this insanity.

[reknewcomer]

27. What is insane is Castro locking up human rights activists and politicals

See Human Rights Watch for details.

[Osolomia]

28. What is insane are Bush apologists pretending to be Dems

ignoring the mountain of evidence at their fingertips preferring to cling to their hatemongering cold war propaganda.

So Castro arrests US government financed "dissidents" in Cuba. Big deal, the USA does it to anyone suspicious too.

[reknewcomer]

31. Even worse are those posing as Dems trying to discredit the Democrats

With hopes that their missives will wind up on another blog for all to see and ridicule.

[Osolomia]

32. Democrats who pander to the extremist right wing minority

and ignore the well documented facts at their fingertips deserve all the discrediting they can get in this day and bushwhacked age imho.

[Mika]

33. For all to see and ridicule? Please explain.

What is to ridicule about espousing the end to an insane and failed policy that the majority of Americans do not support.

Not even a majority of Cuban-Americans care for the 40 year old policy.

For four years in a row there have been amendments to bills that call for an end to the US sanctions on Cuba and travel ban on Americans that have passed both houses, only to be written out of the bills in markup committe in the most undemocratic ways.


Many Bush Doctrine apologists continue to support the continuation of 40 years of failed embargo policy despite the fact that only a minority of Americans AND a minority of Cuban-Americans support it.


What is it about the majority support for the ending of the Cuba sanctions that so many Dems don't seem to understand?

[yankeedem]

29. How do you feel about China when it does the same thing?

Shouldn't we ban travel and trade to China? Although that would put Walmart out of business (side benefit).

[Osolomia]

30. If US applied the standards it demands of Cuba to other countries

no country would be fit to trade with or travel to, not even the USA.

Considering what the USA is doing in Gitmo the country doesn't have the moral authority to criticize Cuba.

[Judi Lynn]

34. I can only shudder thinking of all the right-wing dictators

our right-wing politicians supported in Latin America, with their devastation of entire villages, disappearances of tens of thousands of citizens, death squads, torture centers, etc., etc.

Absolutely no comparison between Cuba's government, and any one of those U.S. backed rightwing dicatorships. Everyone knows that.

Glad you mentioned Guantanamo. It's hard for sane people to overlook.

[Bridget Burke]

9. It's harder to go through Canada

"The get-tough order from the White House to the Treasury Department has resulted in American customs officers in Canadian airports questioning American travellers about whether they've been to Cuba. If they have, they face fines as high as US$55,000.....

"'Many times in the last month I've seen U.S. customs agents waiting at the departure counter,' said Mr. Coulome, whose company handles Cuba-bound U.S. customers exclusively. He also thinks customs agents are watching for Americans arriving on flights from Cuba.

"'The strategy they have is they stay at the arrival gate for Havana and they spot the travellers who walk to the counter of U.S. connecting airlines.'"

The article does mention some ways around the ban--not getting your passport stamped in Cuba, leaving the cigars behind and lying through your teeth.

http://64.21.33.164/CNews/y01/sep01/03e7.htm

[Osolomia]

12. And that was the week before September 11th

It's much harder now.

[Vogon_Glory]

10. What About Naughty Central American/Caribbean Alternatives?

Aren't there other airports around the Caribbean where travelers wishing to go to Forbidden Island could pay cash for airline tickets and board for Havana? As I recall from my own travels, there are a fair number of carriers flying to and from Havana from such places as Cancun, Merida, Guatemala City, etc. Unless those computers are all linked with US reservation computers, it might be a bit tougher for Arbustito's tattletales to find out where some intrepid travelers have been.

:evilgrin:

[Osolomia]

11. There's nothing stopping you but it's still illegal

no matter where you fly or sail from.

And when you re-enter the USA Customs officials will ask you where've you've been and the form that you have to sign asks the question too: did you visit any other country during your trip?

Getting caught visiting Cuba illegally is bad enough, getting caught lying to the US government is even worse. And you won't be able to publicly talk about the trip when you get back lest Uncle Sam finds out about it.

[Judi Lynn]

13. DU Cuba watchers might find this article interesting

Written by a person who got a trip to Cuba through Medea Benjamin's Global Exchange, before these trips were ended by _{George Bush.}

Here's a snippet illustrating some points which have been discussed here a lot. She refers to conversations she has had with Cuban citizens:

The forbidden place where we stood was not a prison or some secret lair of Castro. No. It was the U.S. Interests Section, our government's equivalent of an embassy in countries where we have no formal relations. The compound is seen by many Cubans as the Death Star of Havana. For some, it is the corporeal symbol of a government that wants to do them in. For others, the area is simply a dangerous place to be seen. Indeed, two different taxi-cab drivers actually refused to deliver me to the building, saying, "No, no, no," and then offering me walking directions.


Many of the 75 dissidents jailed last March in Cuba had attended meetings in this very building. They were accused of accepting funding from James Cason, the head of the U.S. Interests Section, and of collaborating with America's widely known efforts to promote dissent in Cuba. And it is true that the U.S. government basically has done everything in its power – including invasion at the Bay of Pigs and an attempt to assassinate Castro – to try to bring down the island's government.


But when the 75 were convicted in one-day trials and sentenced to lengthy prison terms by the Cuban government, the international press went wild. Human-rights organizations around the globe – from Amnesty International to Human Rights Watch – condemned the jailings as well as the subsequent execution by firing squad of three boat-jackers who waylaid a ferry boat carrying hundreds of people in their quest to get to America. Even stalwart Cuba boosters – including Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky and Nobel Prize winner José Saramago of Portugal – went on record criticizing Cuba for these civil-rights abuses.


Speaking before our group, Joahana Dablada of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended her country's right to jail the dissidents. " got money from a foreign government – yours – to overthrow our system," she said simply. "Your government wouldn't tolerate such a thing," she said. Neither would hers.


Later, I asked a Cuban urban planner about the arrest of the dissidents, and he agreed that it was all very unfortunate. But he ultimately blamed the blockade and the aggression of the United States. Our country was, after all, going to war in Iraq at around the same time as the arrest of the dissidents, he said. "We'll be glad to talk to people from your country about our human-rights record," he said, "once you get your foot off our necks." (snip/...)

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17371

[Judi Lynn]

15. Here's a site relating to the Cuban exile bomber, Luis Posada Carriles

who bombed Cuban hotels, hoping to scare away the tourist trade!

A photo taken of him at Ft. Benning, Ga.:






He was shot in the jaw, by a would-be-killer, altering his appearance somewhat.

A look at his terrorist career:

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/posada.htm

[Osolomia]

16. Baucus Expresses Frustration at Elimination of Cuba Travel Ban Language

Havana. December 11, 2003

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) U.S. Senator Max Baucus today released a statement emphasizing his dissatisfaction with a decision by the congressional leadership to override the will of Congress by continuing to fund enforcement of the Cuba travel ban.

... Full Senate floor statement follows:

"I rise today to express deep frustration with the way congressional leaders have thwarted the will of the majority of members on Cuba.

Last month, the Senate approved an amendment to the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill that would suspend enforcement of the Cuba travel restrictions. We passed this amendment 59-36 - a 23 vote margin. In September, the House approved the same amendment 227-188 - a 39 vote margin.

Both chambers of Congress approved the same amendment to suspend enforcement of the Cuba travel ban and to allow travel by Americans to Cuba. These votes reflected the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of Americans who support ending the utterly ineffectual travel ban.

Opinion leaders, too, in newspapers all across the country, in papers big and small, applauded the Senate and House votes. Orlando, Chicago, New York, Winston-Salem, Tuscaloosa, San Diego. Papers from every corner of the country commended Congress for its efforts and called for an end to the absurd travel ban.

Then, the Senate Foreign Relations approved, by a 13-5 margin, S.950, the "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2003, which would permanently repeal the Cuba travel ban. Senator Enzi and I introduced this legislation along with 31 of our colleagues, from both sides of the aisle and representing every region of this country, because we felt the time had come to end this pointless ban on American liberty. As its vote demonstrates, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee agrees.

Given these votes, and given the popular support for our efforts to end the travel ban, one would think the conferees of the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill would not be able to strip out our amendment. When the Senate and House have approved the same amendment, there ought to be nothing for conferees to reconcile.

But here we are with an omnibus bill that does not include our amendment to suspend enforcement of the Cuba travel ban. How did this happen?

It wasn't the conferees. Thirteen of the 16 Senate conferees were supportive of our amendment. The conferees would not have stripped out the amendment.

But the congressional leadership would. And they did, before even submitting the bill to the conference committee for consideration. They pointed to a phony veto threat - not made by the President - to justify a blatantly political move calculated to improve their standing with a small number of constituents in Florida.

This, despite a recent poll by the Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times that found that most Florida voters favor lifting the ban on travel to Cuba - by better than a two to one margin.

Is this democracy in action? Is this the example we are setting for the rest of the world? Is the example of participatory government that we hold to the Cuban dissidents as the beacon of freedom and liberty?

If this ugly episode were the only consequence of this Administration's obsession with retaining the failed Cuba travel ban, that would be bad enough.

But it's not the only consequence. Far worse, the Administration's pandering to its south Florida allies is undermining U.S. efforts to fight terrorism.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is charged with enforcing sanctions against foreign countries, terrorist networks, international narcotics traffickers, and those involved in proliferating weapons of mass destruction.

This is important work crucial to the security of our nation. We are in dangerous times, and OFAC is on the front lines protecting America from those who wish us ill.

But under new Administration guidelines, OFAC has diverted resources from guarding against terrorism to tightening the sanctions against Cuba, including enforcing the Cuba travel ban. OFAC dedicates nearly a sixth of its employees to enforcing the failed sanctions against Cuba.

Think about that. The United States recently fought wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our troops, embassies, and citizens living abroad are exposed to terrorist threats on a daily basis. There are other countries - like Iran, Syria, and Sudan - that are known to harbor Al-Qaeda and other terrorists, and others still that are known to be seeking to purchase or develop weapons of mass destruction.

Yet, instead of devoting every penny and every resource to fighting these dangers, nearly one-sixth of OFAC employees must waste their time enforcing the Cuba travel ban and other embargo-related matters.

In a further sign of the Administration's misplaced priorities when it comes to Cuba, the Department of Homeland Security recently announced that it would begin diverting crucial and urgently needed resources away from the war on terrorism in order to enforce the travel restrictions against ordinary Americans who want to travel to Cuba.

I am certain the American people would agree with me that this is outrageous. The question is what we can do about it. The answer is simple. Repeal the Cuba travel ban.

We've made a lot of progress this session. One third of the Senate has co-sponsored legislation to end the travel ban. Reason and momentum are on our side. Let me assure my colleagues and the Administration that this issue is not going away. We will be back in the next session of Congress to continue the fight, and we will fight harder than ever.

More...
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2003/diciembre03/juev11/senator-i.html

[Judi Lynn]

17. It's good to get it straight from the horse's mouth

Democratic Senator Baucus is informing us that Cuba will be coming right back up in the very next session. Now that's GREAT NEWS.

They've been keeping after it for years. It's about time the Miami Mafia accepted the inevitable, that is, unless they REALLY have our pResident preparing to attack Cuba, which I'm sure many fear.

Love the last four paragraphs of his statement:

Yet, instead of devoting every penny and every resource to fighting these dangers, nearly one-sixth of OFAC employees must waste their time enforcing the Cuba travel ban and other embargo-related matters.

In a further sign of the Administration's misplaced priorities when it comes to Cuba, the Department of Homeland Security recently announced that it would begin diverting crucial and urgently needed resources away from the war on terrorism in order to enforce the travel restrictions against ordinary Americans who want to travel to Cuba.

I am certain the American people would agree with me that this is outrageous. The question is what we can do about it. The answer is simple. Repeal the Cuba travel ban.

We've made a lot of progress this session. One third of the Senate has co-sponsored legislation to end the travel ban. Reason and momentum are on our side. Let me assure my colleagues and the Administration that this issue is not going away. We will be back in the next session of Congress to continue the fight, and we will fight harder than ever.

Wooo HOOOOOOOOO! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Judi Lynn]

18. Oversized Cuba diving photo from National Geographic

It's part of the first link available at the bottom of this article:

Travel Editor: Off-Limits Cuba a Diamond in the Rough


(snip) So why did the government make it illegal for U.S. travelers to go to Cuba?

The embargo was a political move; the U.S. government was trying to ostracize Cuba and dampen commerce. Journalists, academics, or people with family in Cuba can get a visa to go there. Last year only 6,000 visas were granted, yet 200,000 Americans went to Cuba. So, people are figuring out how to get there. Many fly from Toronto. There are also several new mom and pop operations that are facilitating travel to Cuba, sort of like the Underground Railroad. And last August the Havana Flying Club and Bahamasair launched new service to Havana via Nassau from Miami, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale from $198 round-trip.

Did you feel safe in Cuba?

My wife and I were driving in the old city at 1 a.m.; the street lighting was poor, and the conditions were pretty squalid. I stopped and asked for directions, and the guy couldn't have been more helpful. He got into the car and led us to this little restaurant we were looking for. Another time we met a painter on the street. She took us to her studio, which turned out to be a tiny room in a three-room apartment in Havana. Her parents were there and they served us coffee and cake. They were delightful, very friendly. I never felt a moment of danger. (snip/...)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1022_021022_travelercuba.html

[Judi Lynn]

19. New travel ban article: "U.S. praises crackdown on illegal trips to Cuba "

U.S. praises crackdown on illegal trips to Cuba
Homeland Security is harassing legitimate tourists, critics say


09:08 PM CST on Thursday, December 11, 2003

By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA – U.S. authorities say they have caught 44 people traveling to Cuba illegally over the last two months. They call it a striking success, but critics say the Department of Homeland Security would be better off going after terrorists than tourists.

"Homeland Security is in charge of the anti-terrorism initiative, but in the case of Cuba I feel it is really an anti-tourism effort," said an executive with a major U.S. charter service that handles flight arrangements for tens of thousands of legal Cuba trips per year.

"It's just incredible to me. Shocking," said the man, who asked that his name be withheld for fear of reprisals by American authorities.

Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security at the Department of Homeland Security, said Wednesday that inspectors had carried out more than 45,000 baggage examinations of nearly 54,000 passengers during the first two months of stepped-up enforcement of the longtime ban on trade with the socialist government.

Direct flights
Inspectors targeted passengers traveling to Cuba on direct flights from John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Miami International Airport. (snip/...)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/world/stories/121203dnintcuba.57c21.html

(Free registration required)

[Mika]

21. U.S. praises crackdown on illegal trips to Cuba?? Not the majority

Who the hell believes that a majority of Americans support this crap?

Not even the majority of Cuban-Americans support this gross infringement.


Poll: Cubans' focus is local
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/6269237.htm

The majority of Cuban Americans living in Miami-Dade County are more concerned with improving their lives in the United States than with issues in Cuba, according to a recent poll commissioned by a national Hispanic voter-registration group.

Overall, 62 percent of the 600 Cuban Americans polled said that spending time and money improving their quality of life in this country was more important than working to remove the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Its just too bad that most of the Dem prez candidates won't board the reality bus, on this issue.

Only one has openly declared an end to this anti Cuba insanity. Dennis Kucinich.



Democratic Presidential Candidates on Cuba
http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/Misc/prez-candidates1.htm

[Judi Lynn]

22. This is WONDERFUL news.

Really wish someone could take this article to the White House, and shove it under the door, for crying out loud.

What is is SAYING is that _{George W. Bush's} plans to invade Cuba and "free" them is not worthwhile even in Miami, to the majority of Cuban-Americans there.

From your article:

The survey, conducted between June 24 and July 1 by the public opinion research firm Hamilton Beattie & Staff, nonetheless showed that Cuban Americans hold strong opinions about issues such as the U.S. embargo of Cuba and have a deep suspicion of politicians who play the Cuba card to curry votes. Overall, 68 percent of those polled agreed that Cubans on the island should decide when and if their political system should change.

The results echo those of two recent polls commissioned by The Herald and an organization of moderate Cuban-American business people. Those polls showed that a majority of Cuban Americans in South Florida have shifted away from a hard-line stance. Sixty-five percent in the new poll said they wished local politicians would focus more on local issues than international ones.
This does NOT sound as if _Bush is going to impress anyone but the lunatic fringe in Florida. It must tell us his goals, then, concern simple displaying the power the office allows him, and/or financial gain from his business cronies future grabs at Cuba's natural resources, like Cuba's oil, nickel, tourist trade, and whatever else is left.

He would DESTROY their world famous health and education programs.

I pray someone shows him the light on this issue.

[Mika]

23. I think that it illustrates that there are other forces/players at work

Such a small minority within a small minority's demographic can't be the entire force behind the US's anti Cuba policy and the anti American tourist travel ban. Nope.. the minority Miamicuban extremist exiles are small time players who take 99.9% of the heat. There are other vested interests too. US tourism, for one.

[Osolomia]

25. The US tourism industry is dying to get into Cuba

The airlines, the cruise lines, the hoteliers, the travel agents etc. etc. don't believe an iota of this bullshit, they are among the ones who are leading the way to bust the wall down. If Floridians can't compete or don't want to that's their problem but it's hasn't stopped the CEO's from American Airlines to Hilton Hotels and the travel agents going to Cuba and staking their claim and ready to roll the second the embargo is lifted. Thing is, Cuba's not going to wait forever, if the Americans don't want to build a new hotel in a prime location for example then even the Chinese are ready, able and willing and signing such joint ventures. By the time Americans get their act together there's not going to be much left but slim pickings. Way to go!

[Osolomia]

26. Tourism industry ups pressure to lift Cuba travel ban

CUBAN CRUISE: Part of an unprecedented US travel delegation rolled through Havana this week. They are trying to get the US ban on travel to Cuba lifted.

from the October 23, 2003 edition
By Tom Fawthrop | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

HAVANA – Cubans have become accustomed to foreign tourists in recent years, but the procession of vintage Chevrolets and cute Cuban coco-taxis ferried an unusual group along the Malecón seafront last weekend.

Three dozen US travel executives, the first American travel delegation in 40 years, hit the streets of Havana Sunday. The group was on an unprecedented mission: to explore the potential of the Cuban tourist market, but also to thumb their nose at the US government's travel restrictions to the communist island.

Coming as it did just days after President Bush's announcement of a tightening of loopholes in the travel ban, the group's one-day foray stands as a stark reminder that most Americans favor having the right to travel wherever they choose - including to the Caribbean dictatorship.

"This is a historic moment," says one trip organizer, Kirby Jones, of Alamar Associates, a consulting firm on US-Cuba relations. "We all want to see the travel ban to Cuba lifted. It is no longer a question of if; it is only a question of when."

More...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1023/p04s01-woam.html

[Osolomia]

24. I pray someone shows the Dems the light before it’s too late!

With so many of the 2004 Democratic presidential candidates pandering to the Miami mafia and in favor of maintaining the cold war status quo on Cuba, and so many Bush apologists on a place like DU, what is a Dem president gonna do if they win? An immediate about face on this and other issues or more of the Bush Doctrine?

After paying attention to US-Cuba relations ever since I saw it with my own eyes in 1993 and realized how much Americans are being very obviously and blatantly lied to, for the life of me I cannot understand why all the leading 2004 Democratic presidential candidates are AGAINST your freedom to travel and see and judge your neighbors for yourself.

As you know, the UN has been condemning the USA’s embargo against Cuba in an annual vote since 1991. International opposition to the USA’s 1996 Helms-Burton Act was so unanimously “vehement” that countries that used to go along with the embargo no longer do. For the first time in 40 years the US media had the opportunity to let the American public see Cuba with their own eyes when the Pope made his historic visit to the island in January 1998 but due to a national emergency over Clinton’s pp the entire US press corps cancelled their coverage and fled Cuba before the Pope’s plane landed.

It’s gotten to the point that for the most part Americans have embargoed and isolated themselves, not Cuba.

I hate to think of what kind of lies and bullshit the Bushistas will be spewing in the new year when the full impact of the tightened travel restrictions and expiry of current tour group licenses takes effect and the majority around here swallow the propaganda hook, line and sinker, ignoring the mountain of evidence to the contrary at their fingertips.

Only in America, thank God!

[kvnf]

20. it needs to end

Go Max Baucus!!! You da man.