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.”