Crackdown to end leisure trips (to Cuba)

[Osolomia]

By Jane Engle
Los Angeles Times
Posted August 24 2003

The rumba party isn't over yet for U.S. travelers to Cuba, but the lights have dimmed, the music is fading and guests are starting to leave. It may be time to grab that last dance -- or is it?

A year ago, business was booming for nonprofits that annually send an estimated 20,000 Americans to Cuba. Then in March the U.S. Treasury Department said it would stop issuing "people-to-people" licenses, which many of these operators use. As the remaining licenses expire -- most in November or December -- so do these trips.

By next year, nonprofits I talked with expect to have virtually ended their Cuba travel programs or plan to offer far fewer departures -- in one case, only one-fourth as many. Meanwhile, they are scrambling to redesign tours to qualify under more restrictive licensing categories.

The bottom line: It looks as though you'll still be able to travel to Cuba legally next year, but on fewer and more limited itineraries that may require, for instance, that you spend virtually all your time doing research or delivering humanitarian aid. Trips may also become pricier, mostly because the nonprofits' staffing costs will be spread over fewer tours.

If you're thinking of going illegally on your own, without a licensed group or by traveling through Canada or Mexico, think again. The Treasury Department is cracking down on these trips too.

More...
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-tr24bizzcubaaug24,1,5119023.story?coll=sfla-news-cuba

[Kemet]

1. Ahhh freedom of movement is a beautyful thing. (nt)

[glarius]

2. It's great to know the administration has it's priorities straight!

This is so idiotic I can only laugh....Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9/11 terrorists came from --- GOOD....Cuba, just sitting there minding it's own business --- BAD!.....These guys are out of Alice in Wonderland!

[Superfly]

37. Hey, Clinton had 8 years to nix this

bullshit and he did nothing. Don't hold your breath for this admin to do anything, either.

The only way restrictions against Cuba will be lifted is if Castro dies.

B

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

3. Why don't they start by cracking down on pigboy limbaugh.

He makes weekend trips to Europe to pick up his Cubans. This should
qualify him for some gitmo time.

[Bushfire]

4. Couldn't someone take two passports with them to another island

and then use the second passport to go back and forth from Cuba then destroy it before you return to the US? Maybe people are already doing this to get around the law...

[shanti]

5. i've heard

that you take your passport to cuba, but they don't stamp it. what they do is stamp a piece of paper that you place in your passport on return to your departure destination...

[Osolomia]

9. Bush put agents at foreign airports to watch for Americans

who got off flights from Cuba just a few months prior to 9-11!

The stamping of passports is not the problem. No matter where you've been, when you re-enter the USA you are asked if you visited any other countries, and it's always been that way. If you try it you better be good at lying. Telling the truth doesn't help either though, you still get fined.

Earlier this year Bush tightened the travel restrictions on Americans-Americans and stepped up enforcement, while losening restrictions on Cuban-Americans that have never been enforced anyway.

"Freedom" and "Democracy" American style, don't you just love it?

At this rate the goons in Florida shouldn't have any trouble stealing the 2004 election too.

[Ardee]

28. been there done that

One simply flies to either Canada or Mexico and takes a direct flight to Cuba from there, I recommend first exchanging dollars . The Cuban at the airport will see your american passport and smile broadly, wink and wave you through sans stamp.As to lying to the official upon return, hell the govt lies to us daily whats the problem with lying back....

[Mika]

29. Its against the law

Ardee, what you are suggesting is against the law. (Except for Cuban-Americans and Cuban resident aliens. The rest of us are second class citizens/residents in America.)

A law that needs to be changed, imo.


Cuba travel crackdown
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/travel/article/0,1713,BDC_2519_2199097,00.html

The department last year penalized about 450 alleged violators, spokesman Taylor Griffin said. That's only a fraction of the estimated 22,000 to 60,000 people who go to Cuba illegally each year, but it's several times the number typically penalized under previous administrations. Fines can range up to $55,000 under civil law; criminal penalties can include 10 years in jail or a $250,000 fine.

Ignorance is no excuse. Joan Slote, a 75-year-old San Diego woman who has become a cause celebre for advocates of Cuba travel, was fined nearly $8,000 in 2001 after joining a bicycle trip in Cuba sponsored by a Canadian company. She said she didn't know her visit was illegal. (Last month she negotiated the penalty down to $1,907.)

[Osolomia]

32. Sounds like an "exile" who thinks he's above US law

Silly thing is they are, that's why Bush loosened the travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans because the "exiles" dont abide by the law and wont let Bush enforce them anyway.

Ever heard of a Cuban-American being fined for violating the one visit a year law?

[Gman]

6. A handful of lunatic Cubans in Miami and their lock on the GOP

hold the rest of the country hostage and prevene people from visiting a beautiful peace loving country.

[Mika]

7. Gman, you're wrong about that

The Dem party has been the party of choice for the Cuban-American community for decades.

Even Joe Garcia of the CANF claims to be a lifelong registered Democratic party member.







It is up to the members of the Democratic party to demand a normalization of relations with Cuba, in order to disempower the Miamicuban extremist minority pandering politicians (of both parties) and remove this divisive issue from the American political landscape.

[Gman]

13. I stand corrected!!

I watch the Cuban exile episodes from a distant perspective and don't much keep up with the details so I was surprised about the information in your graphics.

It would appear that the politics of the Cuban exile community are dominated by people like Diaz-Balart, Iliena Ros-Lehtinen (who everytime I see her on TV comes across as hysterical), and the nut cases that include the perpetraters of the Emilio Milian bombing.

But that being said, didn't the Cuban community vote overwhelmingly for Bush for governor last year?

Also, do you have a link for the contribution information?

[Mika]

15. Hi Gman. Graphs are from opensecrets.org

The graphs are from www.opensecrets.org

[Osolomia]

35. Cuban-American legislators threaten to withdraw support for Bush

The reason Bush tightened the travel restrictions on American-Americans while loosening them for Cuban-Americans, etc. etc. etc.:

Cuban-American legislators threaten to withdraw support for President Bush

Associated Press
Posted August 11 2003, 8:59 AM EDT

MIAMI -- A group of Florida Republican state representatives is warning President Bush that he could lose their support for the 2004 election if he fails to adopt a tougher Cuba policy.

More...
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-811cubans,1,6090364.story?coll=sfla-news-miami

[Osolomia]

8. 280 million Americans do nothing about it

For the past 4 years in a row a bipartisan majority in Congress have sought to lift the trade and travel ban, for the past 4 years in a row the opportunity to do so has slipped through their fingers because of a lack of support from the American public. It's becuse of this ignorance and apathy that a handful of extremist "exiles" get away with whatever they want to the point that American-Americans are treated like second class citizens in their own country, year after year after year, election after election after election.

[Mika]

11. Diaz Balart

"For the past 4 years in a row a bipartisan majority in Congress have sought to lift the trade and travel ban, for the past 4 years in a row the opportunity to do so has slipped through their fingers because of a lack of support from the American public.
"

Repuke rep Lincoln Diaz Balart uses his position on the rules commitee to get any bill 'tabled' (as in: not to be voted on) that is lifting or easing the sanctions against Cuba in any way. He uses that as an example of his 'leadership' when he speaks before S Fla crowds (of course this democratic 'leadership' he boasts of is subverting the will of the majority of the American people and their representatives). He wouldn't know democracy if it bit him on the ass. No one will mount a serious campaign against him - out of (well founded) fear.

[Judi Lynn]

12. You know, Mika, I've always wondered why Diaz-Balart never has opponents!

I've read for years that he has a huge campaign chest even though he never really needs one, since he runs without a challanger! I believe that's usually the case for Iliena Ros-Lehtinen, too, isn't it?

Looked at your links, saw this gem which should be examined, from many, of yet another bombing in South Florida.

It's important for a reader to know that Emilio Milian, the man who was bombed, was a prominent Cuban personality who spoke out publically AGAINST Miami "exile" violence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(snip) May 1, 1976

Clues sought in bombing

By WILLIAM TUCKER

Miami police and the FBI combed Little Havana today for clues to the dynamite blast that blew off the legs of a militant anti-Castro Latin radio official when he started his car in his station parking lot.

The attempt on the life of Emilio Milian last night was the seventh Latin assassination attempt here in the last two years. Four of the attempts have claimed lives, including ex-Batista strongman Rolando Masferrer who, like Milian, was the victim of a bomb placed in his auto. Three of the four assassinations occurred on a Friday.

Station WQBA offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of whoever was responsible for mangling Milian, the station's news and program director, and the driving force behind its hard-line anti-Castro editorial policy.

As usual, speculation on the motive was rampant. One Cuban exile leader, Leo Viota, area cooodinator for the Abdala youth organization, said, "It is not far-fetched to believe that Castro has agents here in Miami, when he has them as far as Angola."

Miami homicide officer Anthony Dagger said Milian had received threats recently, adding that police were watching his home at 159 NW 58th Ct. (snip/...)

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How utterly predictable that an exile active in anti-Cuba efforts would step forward and point to Fidel Castro, isn't it?

It would be suicidal if Cuba started sending people to the U.S. to kill off American citizens, after 40 years of relentless terrorism from here against that island. There's NO chance they would try to atangonize this country, especially someone who condemns the violent segment of the Miami exiles!

[Osolomia]

17. "He wouldn't know democracy if it bit him on the ass"

"But no one will mount a serious campaign against him out of fear."

And that's why Americans still do not have the freedom to travel, because they're afraid of idiots like Diaz-Balart and prefer to let his ilk walk all over them.

Brilliant!

[Mika]

20. You misquoted me

Osolomia, regarding my comment on Castro's cousin -Lincoln Diaz Balart- I did NOT write "But no one will mount a serious campaign against him out of fear" as you misquoted.

I wrote this, "No one will mount a serious campaign against him - out of (well founded) fear.

Also, I should have added ".. local campaign..".

The (well founded) link shows links to one instance of violence against a brave man who did mount a local campaign against the Diaz Balart/CANF machine. He got his legs blown off by a car bomb.

The local terror campaign perpetrated by extremist "exile" groups has instilled local fear. It is real and well founded fear. You MUST know this.. you've been reading the links to "exile" terra, posted in dozens of prior "Cuba threads", haven't you?


Why the rest of the congress is bullied by this cretin is beyond me. (Payolla? :shrug: )

[Osolomia]

21. If it's "well founded" then why haven't the terrorists been arrested?

Got any links to any Dem campaigning to do so instead of doing nothing out of fear of a handful of extremist Cuban "exiles" in Miami-Dade who stole the 2000 election?

[Mika]

23. Their minions are in charge

"If it's "well founded" then why haven't the terrorists been arrested?"

Their minions are in charge. Mayors, police chiefs, prosecutors, state attorneys, judges, legislators, heads of committees, etc., in S Fla are all positions filled with Cuban "exiles". Sorta like a legalized terra network working within the US government.


"Got any links to any Dem campaigning to do so instead of doing nothing out of fear of a handful of extremist Cuban "exiles" in Miami-Dade who stole the 2000 election?"

No I don't have any links. I do know that Dem Anne Betencourt (sp?) ran against Mario Diaz Balart for congress in S Fla. with a pro normalization platform. She got trounced in the new district that was hand drawn by Mario Diaz Balart when he was head of the redistricting committee in the Fla legislature. (Another example of the "exiles" and their minions in charge.)

[Osolomia]

22. Congress is NOT bullied by this cretin

For the past 4 years now, a BIPARTISAN MAJORITY in both the House and the Senate have voted to lift the travel ban despite Dizzy-Balistic and the other CANFerous cretins in Miami.

[Mika]

24. But Diaz Balart got the bills "tabled".

You're right. Congress did vote for them. They got tabled in markup committee.

[Osolomia]

26. Too "controversial" to debate is the excuse often used

even on DU apparently.

OFAC asked for public comment on the new travel restrictions, nary a DUer raised a finger.

Americans have no one to blame but themselves for still being travel banned.

[Mika]

27. I agree

"Americans have no one to blame but themselves for still being travel banned."

Tyranny of the majority or the minority? :shrug:

[Osolomia]

31. How many Cuban-Americans have the Bushistas appointed

As their reward for stealing the 2000 election?

1. Otto Reich
2. -Batista’s grandson
3. - Mel Martinez

who else?

What’s stopping them from doing it again in 2004? Then what?

Surely the fact that a BIPARTISAN MAJORITY in Congress and most State Legislatures want to lift the travel and trade ban is a pretty good indication that the Cuban “exile” lobby is no longer the monolithic all powerful and rich and influential lobby in Washington that so many still make it out to be and use as an excuse for intransigent US foreign policy year after year after year, election after election after election.

So why do Dem presidential candidates Lieberman and Graham and Edwards and Kerry etc. all pander to Miami’s extremist “exiles”? What percentage of the vote do they make up? What percentage of the Cuban-American vote do they even represent really? Whose interests are they really acting for by keeping US citizens travel banned and why do Americans put up with it when the opportunity to do something about it has been handed to them on a silver platter time after time after time?

[Osolomia]

36. Terrorism and Civil Society The Instruments of US Policy in Cuba

by ex-CIA agent Pillip Agee
August 17 2003

(snip...)

The threat of war in Cuba from Bush and his coterie of crusaders, all of them crazed with hubris after Iraq, is real. A military campaign against Cuba, coinciding with the already-underway 2004 electoral campaign, may be the only way he can hope to finally get himself elected, even if only for his second term. And every day the economy is working against him with no signs of improving for 2004. He knows the economy in '92 did his father in, and he may conclude that fulfilling his divine mission to extend U.S. military control of the world will need a crisis very close to home.

The time to mobilize against that war is now, and not a day can be lost.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/SuF081703.htm

[Judi Lynn]

25. Here's an article on what Diaz-Balart can do when he's in top form

He went all-out ballistic against Colorado Democratic Rep. David Skaggs, who dared to cancel the laughable black hole, TV Marti, and its preposterous cost of bringing U.S. propaganda to Cuban TV's which ALREADY receive all the channels from South Florida, f'r crissakes. He thought it'd be wise to spend those millions on air marshalls, the silly thing!

Diaz-Balart went after him with a vengeance, and got him outta the House, through extreme aggression and backstabbing.

(snip) .....Those who antagonize the foundation can expect a quick response. The morning after Skaggs succeeded in temporarily killing funds for TV Marti in July 1993, he was confronted by an angry Diaz-Balart who, Skaggs said in an impassioned floor speech that afternoon, threatened "that if I followed through with my plans, he would do all he could to go after everything he could find that was important to me."

That same day, Diaz-Balart used a parliamentary "point of order" to ax millions in federal funds for Skagg's Colorado district, as the foundation was faxing a gloating press release detailing the maneuver, and the reason for it, to every major newspaper in the state.

"We only go after people who come after us," Jose Cardenas, the foundation's Washington director, said in a recent interview.(snip/...)
http://64.21.33.164/CNews/y00/feb00/21e28.htm


Democrat David Skaggs, ex-Representative, still working for Democratic principles
http://www.ets.org/aboutets/issues/skaggs.html


Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his slave on Air Force One



You tell me, which one looks sleazier, David Skaggs or Diaz-Balart?

[Judi Lynn]

10. They appear to want to find a way to nail Cuba shut

with only Cuban "exiles" and their children going and coming to and from Cuba.

There will be ordinary American travellers coming home to tell their friends and neighbors about their trips, what they saw, the people, the living conditions, the attitudes of the people they met, what they said, how they live, and any comparisons they might make to the way we live here.

It would be far easier to sell Americans their properly prepared propaganda, all tied up in one big Otto Reichian bundle if we had no one to dispute it.

Then it would be easier to work uninformed Americans up to a foaming-at-the-mouth frenzy (like the bogus babies in incubator story) to support them while they devastated Cuba and grabbed it back for the right-wing Cubans.

If anyone can't remember, here's the way it looks to be hornswoggled:



The great Iraq War lie. The pictured girl told the world under tears that she saw how Saddam Hussein's soldiers took babies out of their incubators and let them die on the cold floor.

In Novembre 1990 Bush41 told this lie to the poor soldiers.
In truth she hadn't been in Kuwait at the time. The girl was in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador in Washington, USA.


http://www.geocities.com/infotaxi/us-iraq-lie.html

Yessir, treat us like mushrooms. Just let us live in the dark, right?

[mrbill]

14. don't forget to feed us lots of tasty shit.

have always wanted to go to cuba and visit a cigar factory.

[Osolomia]

18. "easier to work uninformed Americans up to a foaming-at-the-mouth frenzy"

Precisely, and therein lies the problem that keeps Americans travel banned to this day.

[Mika]

16. Its a crackdown against American-Americans

Proof that, in America, NON Cuban-Americans are second class citizens/residents, according to US government policy.


Cuba travel crackdown
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/travel/article/0,1713,BDC_2519_2199097,00.html

About 154,000 Americans went to Cuba legally last year, said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc., a New York-based company that advises businesses on dealing with the island. He estimated that at least 85 percent of them were people of Cuban descent visiting family.

Cubans and Cuban-Americans have their full travel rights, while Americans and residents (of non Cuban descent) are denied our travel rights by our own government - not Cuba's.

[Osolomia]

19. Brought to you by the folks who stole the 2000 election

And they'll easily do it again if Dems don't grow the spine to stand up to them.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Just stumbled across another Congressman who's been to Cuba

This didn't get any national attention, I found it hidden in google:

(snip) Upstate Congressman Wants Cuba Commerce
Email to a Friend

(Binghamton-AP) -- An upstate congressman says more New York farmers should be able to sell their products to Cuba in the future.

Maurice Hinchey, an Ulster County Democrat, visited Havana last week to speak with Cuban officials about trade and other issues. Hinchey told a Binghamton radio station (WNBF) that some New York apple growers recently have shipped their fruit to Cuba.

He said the Cubans with whom he spoke had high praise for New York's apples, saying "they're the best."

The congressman said there are other opportunities for the state's farmers in Cuba, including those in the dairy industry.

Hinchey renewed his call for the U.S. to normalize relations with Cuba. He said "it's a shame" that trade and travel restrictions remain in place. (snip/...)

http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=1094245

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

Anyone want to bet on how long it takes a lurking freeper to step forward and name this American Democratic Congressfella a "communist?"

[Osolomia]

33. Alabama farm delegation in Cuba this week

Fri, Aug. 22, 2003

Alabama farm delegation signs intent to sell to Cuba
Associated Press

HAVANA - An Alabama farm delegation visiting Cuba announced that group members had signed a letter of intent to sell the communist island $10 million in agricultural goods from their state.

"The United States has trade with China and Vietnam," said Maria Conchita Mendez, a representative of the port in Mobile, Alabama. "Cuba is 90 miles away. The time has come to lift the barriers. The Cold War is over."

More...
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/6596878.htm

There's a steady stream of articles like this that the national media doesn't pick up but are all over small-town USA papers that Dems would do well to pay attention to imho.

[Judi Lynn]

38. The Bay of Mobile, Alabama has been wild to get trade established

for quite a while with Cuba. Mobile was the first U.S. city to create a Sister-Cities bond with Cuba, bonding with Havana in October, 1993.

Since they've been working on normalizing relations with Cuba, there's NO WAY in hell they are going to knuckle under to any kind of heavy pressure from the Bushes on this issue.

Looks as if they are finally underway with a great trade program, knock on wood.

I can't remember the name, but a high-ranking Cuban-American staff member of Jeb Bush's just got spirited away to Washington to work for George Bush. I put it in a post, and then forgot it! He's just pleased as punch, lord love him. He's in a "patriotic" lather.

Bush has a real gang of them working for him. (Don't forget the Whitehouse Burglars, who ALSO broke into the office of Daniel Elsberg's (Pentagon Papers) psychiatrist, to rifle through his notes, looking for information they could use against Elsberg.)

I'm trying to figure out the right wording to get a good search result on getting a complete list of all of them, no luck yet.

I'm sure a quick call to CANF would tell me all I need to know, but I'd rather not.

Don't forget it was the special deviant skills of Cuban-American Alex Castellano, the campaign ad writer, which produced the underhanded "DemocRATS" commercial.

Looks like the Cuban-Americans' socially criminal element should start cleaning up its act, in case Bush won't devastate Cuba for them. They may have to live here for a while, and they aren't making too many friends, to put it lightly.

[Osolomia]

39. If the people of Alabama put 2+2 together way back in 1993

and they're by no means the only one, then WTF is wrong with the rest of America, especially progressive* members of the "Democratic" party and its loyal underground" in the USA in 2003 that they can't get it together to pull the rug out from under the Bushistas in Florida on this one?

[Judi Lynn]

34. Some background on Bush-Cuban-American relations

(snip) The Bush-Florida-Cuba connection
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Chin122700/chin122700.html
The Bush-Florida-Cuba connection
By Larry Chin


December 27, 2000 | On November 22, a violent Republican-sanctioned mob shut down the Miami-Dade canvassing board, stopping a decisive ballot recount, and snuffing out Al Gore's chances for victory.

This incident, which was instrumental in seizing the American presidency for George W. Bush, was not (as most media accounts suggest) merely the work of DeLay congressional aides and angry pro-Bush protestors.

In fact, the true intimidation came at the hands of hundreds of militant right-wing Cuban operatives. It is important to note that the recount shutdown was the latest chapter of an alliance between the Bush family, right-wing anti-Castro Cubans, Florida-based covert operatives and extreme elements of the Republican party that has persisted for nearly half a century. (snip/...)

http://members.tripod.com/~reno4governor/index-62.html

[sugus]

40. Come to Cuba, hermano. Come to study Health Sciences

http://www.cubalinda.com

[Mika]

41. An op-ed By fmr Gov Jerry Brown

Break The Embargo On Good Sense About Cuba

Representative democracy works only if the candidates talk about issues before the election, not after. Fear of voter opinion should not be used to stultify debate on fundamental issues; otherwise democracy begins to flatten under a weight of distracting trivia and political gamesmanship.

Cuba is an example of the inertia now destroying honest debate in both Congress and the presidential campaign. This year, for example, overwhelming majorities in the Senate and the House voted to end the embargo against U.S. companies selling food and medicine to Cuba. Yet the leadership in both houses quietly eliminated the proposed changes. With no debate and no notice in the Congressional Record, Tom DeLay (R-Texas) in the House and Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) in the Senate overruled their colleagues under the guise of technical corrections. What cynicism and what an irony for the cause of bringing democracy to Cuba.

The Cold War has been over for 10 years. The original rationale for the Cuban embargo disappeared long ago. In 1975, the Organization of American States--with the U.S. voting in favor--lifted its multilateral embargo. A few years later, the United States assured Cuba that it would move toward normalization of relations if Cuba took three steps: removed troops from Africa, halted support for revolutionaries in Central America and reduced military ties to the Soviet Union. All three steps have been taken, yet successive administrations have not only maintained the embargo but intensified it with the Cuba Democracy Act of 1992 and the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.

more.. http://www.commondreams.org/views/081700-105.htm

[guajira]

42. Travel to Cuba is a very partisan issue

For the House of Representatives votes to end travel ban -

In July 2000 - Repubs (for 60), (against 153), (not voting 9).
In July 2001 - Repubs (for 67), (against 151), (not voting 3).
In July 2002 - Repubs (for 73), (against 147), (not voting 1).

In July 2000 - Dems (for 171), (against 32), (not voting 8).
In July 2001 - Dems (for 172), (against 34), (not voting 4).
In July 2002 - Dems (for 188), (against 19), (not voting 3).

Republicans definitely don't want Americans going to Cuba!!!

[Osolomia]

43. But a BIPARTISAN MAJORITY do want the freedom to travel

So why blame the “exiles” for the travel ban when there’s a veto proof majority there for the taking if only the public would support it?

And why blame the Repukes when there were 19 Dems further to the right than 73 Republicans in the last vote?