US Lifts Online Sanctions - Cuba to Get Web Based Communication Tools
The US Treasury announced it has amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations which will allow the Cuban people the ability to use web based applications such as online email, blogs, wikis, etc.
Internet companies such as Google, supported the change in policy according to The Hill:
Google on Tuesday heralded the Treasury Department’s decision to lift federal restrictions on Web communication exports to Iran, Sudan and Cuba.
The policy shift marks a “great accomplishment,” said Bob Boorstin, director of policy communications for the search-engine giant.During a speech at a conference in Geneva, Boorstin said Google could now offer citizens in those countries access to such services as Google Earth, its mapping software; Google Talk, its instant-messaging tool; and Picassa, its photo-sharing site.
“We are hopeful this will help people like yourselves in this room and activists all over the world take a small step down what is certainly a long road ahead,” Boorstin said.
Dairy Farmers Support End of Travel & Export Restrictions
Congressman Jerry Moran of Kansas is co-sponsoring legislation he to open Cuba markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers. Dairy farmers are supportive of the legislation according to the CattleNetwork:
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) applauded yesterday’s introduction of a House bill that would allow for open travel for all Americans to Cuba and further facilitate U.S. agricultural exports to that nation.
The Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (H.R. 4645) was offered by House Agriculture Committee Chairman, Collin Peterson, and is currently co-sponsored by 33 other Members of Congress, including Representatives Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rosa L. DeLauro of Connecticut and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri.
The NMPF also sees the value of ending travel restrictions to Cuba:
The other critical element that H.R. 4645 would tackle is to abolish restrictions on Americans’ rights to travel to Cuba. This would facilitate U.S. exporters’ ability to conduct business with Cuba, spurring greater demand for U.S. agricultural products.
“This bill would help to address administrative and technical barriers to U.S. dairy exports to Cuba that are not in keeping with the original spirit and intent of Congress when it determined that we should be able to export agricultural products to Cuba roughly ten years ago,” said Tom Suber, President of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “The Cuban market holds significant promise for U.S. dairy exporters but has become increasingly difficult to supply within the past few years.”
Cuba Agrees to US Flights over Cuban Territory for Haitian Earthquake Relief
The Cuban Government has allowed US relief flights according to USA Today:
This morning the White House announced: “We have coordinated with the Cuban government for authorization to fly medical evacuation flights from the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Miami, through Cuban airspace, cutting 90 minutes off one-way flight time.”
South Floridian Travel to Cuba Sees Growth
South Floridians are traveling to Cuba on a more frequent basis. According to the Miami Herald:
Between April and June, about 55,000 people traveled to Cuba, compared to 30,000 in the three previous months, before the restrictions were lifted. The number of travelers is expected to hit 200,000 by year’s end, about double the yearly figures during the Bush restrictions. And travel executives expect the numbers to spike even higher now that new rules announced by the Obama administration — which lift all restrictions on family visits to Cuba — have taken effect.
Right-Wing Scare Tactics Against Cuban Travel
Blogger Yoani Sanchez was detained briefly in Cuba according to Reuters:
Sanchez, 34, told Reuters the agents forced her and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo into a car as they neared the demonstration in Havana’s Vedado district, took them to a spot near her home and dropped them off, throwing her purse on the street as they drove away.
And now the right-wing is all up in arms, according to the hate group that calls themselves the Heritage Foundation:
Certainly Congress has the power to change the laws so Americans can travel to Cuba, but can they make Cuba safer or freer? Or will the promised U.S. tourist bonanza just help the Cuban regime buy more police cars, hire more secret police, and tighten the noose of repression that encircles the necks of the Cuban people?
I certainly believe Cuba has a ways to go in fundamental human rights as do most who believe in establishing relations with the regime, but shining the light of day on Cuba is the best way to do it. Not promoting lies and falsehoods as the Heritage Foundation is famous for.
Recent Developments: Cubans to Get Email Access, Blogging Becomes More Popular, And TWTEA is Under Review
TWTEA
President Obama has a decision to make on Trading with the Enemy Act (TWTEA), the original legislation that was used to implement the Cuban embargo. According to Caribbean Net News:
TWTEA, enacted in anticipation of World War I in 1917, grants the president wide-reaching economic authority in times of war. In 1933, the act was extended to apply to national emergencies, only to be returned to an exclusively war-time power in 1977. It currently allows for the continuation of sanctions initiated in the 44 years between, as is the case with Cuba, which was declared an “international emergency” by President Kennedy in 1963, through annual renewal by the president. Cuba now stands as the only country subject to TWTEA
Hopefully President Obama will let TWTEA expire and continue to build a bridge with the Cuban People.
Blogging Becoming Popular in Cuba
There is hope for the Cuban people and that is becoming more apparent a bloggers are speaking out about the conditions within their country. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists:
Despite vast legal and technical obstacles, a growing number of Cuban bloggers have prevailed over the regime’s tight Internet restrictions to disseminate island news and views online. The bloggers, mainly young adults from a variety of professions, have opened a new space for free expression in Cuba, while offering a fresh glimmer of hope for the rebirth of independent ideas in Cuba’s closed system.
Cubans to Get Email Access
Cuban post offices may be getting access, according to the AP:
Many post offices already offer public computers, but they are linked to a national intranet - an extremely limited list of Cuba-only Web sites.
Cubans there can send and receive international e-mail, but direct access to the rest of the Web is blocked, limits far stricter than those imposed even in China or Saudi Arabia.
Internet supervisors at two Havana post offices said Wednesday that while authorities are preparing to apply the law and have even installed new, faster PCs in some locations, they did not know when the new rules will go into effect.
US-Cuba Work Together on Hurricane Preparations
The US and Cuba are cooperating on hurricane gathering information as the season heats up. According the NYTimes:
With coastal communities in both countries vulnerable, meteorology could bring the longtime adversaries closer together, especially with the policy of increased engagement pushed by President Obama, experts argue. Wayne Smith, a former American diplomat in Havana who is now a fellow at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, has brought an array of American officials to Cuba in recent years to look at how Cuban disaster preparedness programs manage to keep the number of hurricane deaths on the island so low.
Poor Cuban Economy Forces Changes
Raul Castro today announced today that the Cuban Government would be looking at “adjustment to expenditures” as the worldwide economy continues to sputter. According to Reuters:
Raul Castro said Cuban ministers will meet on Tuesday to consider revising spending plans for the rest of the year because “of the effects of the world economic crisis on our economy.” In particular, he said there has been a “significant reduction in export income and additional restrictions to access external financing sources.”
A recent government report said imports are expected to plummet 22.2 percent, or some $3.4 billion in 2009, while exports will decline by $500 million. In response, the cash-short government has taken belt-tightening measures such as scheduled blackouts to save energy, selected factory shutdowns, public transport reductions, spending cuts and the freezing of foreign business bank accounts.
Considering Cuba has some of the most fertile agricultural land in the world and it still imports 60% of its food, Raul has made at least one-step in the right direction:
But his only major reform so far has been in agriculture, where he launched a program to let private farmers cultivate unused state land.
He said that of 110,000 applications for land, 82,000 have been granted. More needs to be done to advance the land plan so Cuba can increase food production and cut import costs, he said.
Now is the time for the Cuban government to grant human rights to its people, open the political process and bring their country into the modern era.
Travel to Cuba Sparks Lawsuit Against State Department
A New York Man has filed a lawsuit against the State Department claiming Fifth Amendment protects him from giving details of his Cuba trip because it would lead to self-incrimination. According to the Wall Street Journal:
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, alleges Zachary Sanders was fined after he failed to respond to a March 2000 request by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for information on an alleged June 1998 trip to Cuba and travel while he was there.
The complaint, filed on behalf of Sanders by the nonprofit Center for Constitutional Rights, is seeking a declaration that OFAC’s policy is unlawful, enjoining OFAC from issuing such penalties and setting aside the fine to Sanders.
Non-Stop Flights to Cuba from LAX
Non-stop flights from Los Angles International Airport (LAX) are being offered by Cuba Travel Services for Cuban-Americans and their families. According to their press release:
“We are excited to resume the non-stop flights out of LAX to Havana that were in such high demand prior to the Bush Administration’s restrictions imposed on Cuban Americans that limited their ability to visit with their families in Cuba,” said Michael Zuccato, General Manager of Cuba Travel Services, Inc.
For more visit their website at www.cubatravelservices.com.