Archive for March, 2009
Senate Bill Permits Travel to Cuba for US Citizens – S 428
Today Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D introduced Senate Bill 428 identical to HR 874-Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act. From AP:
The Dorgan bill — co-sponsored by Richard Lugar, top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee; Mike Enzi, ranking Republican on the Health Committee; and Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. — would prevent the president from stopping travel to Cuba except in cases of war, imminent danger to public health or threats to the physical safety of U.S. travelers.
FL Senator Mel Martinez, a Cuban born dissenter said “This is the time to support pro-democracy activists in Cuba, not provide the Castro regime with a resource windfall.”
Senator Martinez should support freedom for Cubans in the same proven way communism was defeated in China and Russia, with American influence from travel and trade. Senator Martinez should also do what’s in the best interest of Florida’s economy by ending the Cuban embargo.
Speaking of ending the embargo, Travel is a great place to start, but lifting the embargo is what makes sense, according to Daniel Erikson, author of The Cuba Wars:
“So you would have American tourists traveling to Cuba driving around on Chinese buses, staying at Spanish hotels, eating Canadian food,” Erikson said, adding, “The only McDonald’s I’ve ever seen in Cuba is at the military base at Guantanamo Bay.”
New York Artist Visit Cuba
Art has a way of breaking down barriers and that’s exactly what happened when New York artist visited Havana over the weekend. From CNN:
The “Chelsea visits Havana” exhibition is part of the 10th Havana Biennial art show. Works by more than 30 artists representing different galleries in New York City’s modern-art hub of Chelsea will be on display.
And no censorship was demonstrated by the Cuban government:
Works include “Castrobama,” by Padraig Tarrant, which has cutout profiles of Barack Obama and Fidel Castro painted red and facing each other.
“Animal Farm — McCain and Palin,” a painting by Tim Rollins and K.O.S., a South Bronx art collective, depicts the head of Sarah Palin on the body of a moose.
Magnan says one of the highlights so far has been a St. Patrick’s Day parade celebrating Irish-Cuban culture, organized by Duke Riley, one of a number of the exhibited artists who have accompanied the show to Havana.
“The Cuban people responded incredibly to that. The streets were closed, they had Cuban bagpipes and they plan to make it a yearly event,” said Magnan.
It’s obvious allowing interaction between US and Cubans citizens will have a stronger effect in bringing freedom to Cuba than the embargo ever has.
Cuba Trade Expo Highlights Opportunities of Lifting Embargo
At the Cuban Trade Expo last week attendees spirits were high as the Obama administration appears to be moving in the right direction. According to Tampa Bay Business Journal:
There is wide speculation that Obama will issue an executive order in the near future that will lift all travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans, said Tessie Aral, whose company, ABC Charters, is one of a handful in the U.S. licensed to transport travelers to Cuba. Even so, Aral estimates that her business would improve up to 50 percent now that Obama has taken the first step to ease travel restrictions.
Commerce continues to grow with Cuba, however exports would grow further if the US ends draconian regulation:
Under current rules, the United States is allowed to export some food to Cuba. The value of U.S. exports to the island has grown steadily every year, starting at zero in 2000 and growing to $690 million last year, said William Messina, an agricultural economist at the University of Florida. But, growth in U.S. exports to Cuba is being held back by hard-line rules that prevent U.S. shippers from offering credit to Cuban importers.
Bush Loyalist Sentenced for Stealing Taxpayer Money Directed to Cuba
The Bush term was a foreign policy disaster, nowhere was that as obvious as his Cuba policy. Felipe Sixto, a former Bush White House aide was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Wednesday for stealing nearly $600,000 taxpayer dollars. According to AP:
Felipe Sixto apologized for stealing from the Center for a Free Cuba, telling U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton that in addition to his own greed and selfishness, he “wanted to provide a lifestyle for my family I could not afford.”
Cuban-American Travel Restrictions Lifted – Long-Range Bombers May be Based in Cuba
According to the Miami Herald, Bush era Cuban-American travel restrictions have all but ended.
Cuban Americans are now free to visit relatives on the island once a year and stay as long as they like, using a new license issued by the Obama administration. The rules now allow:
- A trip every 12 months with a general license that does not require an application process.
- Passengers wanting to travel again within the same year can apply for ‘’specific licenses.” Approval will be given case by case.
- A broader definition of who qualifies as family and can be visited.
- A per diem spending of $179.
Russia Considers Cuban Air Bases for Long-Range Bomber
As if we need another reason to move forward in normalizing relations with Cuba, General Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of the Russian air force’s strategic aviation is considering placing air bases for Tu-160 bombers in Cuba. According to AFP:
Russia could use bases for its strategic bombers on the doorstep of the United States in Cuba and Venezuela to underpin long-distance patrols in the region, a senior air force officer said Saturday.
“This is possible in Cuba,” General Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of the Russian air force’s strategic aviation staff, told the Interfax-AVN military news agency.
The comments were the latest signal that Moscow intends to project its military capability in far-flung corners of the globe despite a tight defence budget and hardware that experts consider in many respects outdated.
Obama to Announce Lessened Restrictions on Cuba before Summit of the Americas
President Barack Obama cautiously extends offerings of peace and reform of current laws and the embargo with Cuba. Such examples of early reform would consist of trade and travel restrictions being lessened, which is primarily for Cuban-American families and to take the damper off of US and Latin American relations before the Summit of the Americas. Provisions for this reform would be included in a spending bill to be voted on by members of congress within the week. Changes are suspected to be announced before the Summit meeting. This could be a quick reconciliation for the US in the Foreign Policy department.
“There is a strong likelihood that Obama will announce policy changes prior to the summit,” said Daniel Erikson, director of Caribbean programmes at the Inter-American Dialogue and author of The Cuba Wars. “Loosening travel restrictions would be the easy thing to do and defuse tensions at the summit.”