Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
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.
Join Orbitz and Tell Washington to End the US Travel Ban to Cuba
Orbitz is putting it all out there in their support for ending the US travel ban to Cuba. According to a press release:
“President Obama recently took a bold step in easing travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans,” said Barney Harford, president and CEO of Orbitz Worldwide. “The OpenCuba.org campaign calls on the President and Congress to take action to end the travel ban to Cuba, giving all Americans the freedom to visit what once was a premier tourist destination for U.S. citizens.”
“Our mission at Orbitz is to help travelers experience the world,” continued Harford. “67% of Americans would also support a policy that would allow U.S. travel agents such as Orbitz to book vacation travel to Cuba.”
The OpenCuba.org website gives travelers the opportunity to get directly involved in a grassroots effort to convince American legislators and regulators to end the ban on travel to Cuba. As a focus of the campaign, travelers will be asked to sign a petition calling for an end to the travel ban. Orbitz executives will formally present the petition to U.S. officials in Washington, DC, later this year.
Every person who signs the petition will receive a $100 coupon redeemable on Orbitz against a vacation to Cuba valid if and when the U.S. Government removes the ban on travel to Cuba, and as soon as Orbitz is able to offer such travel on its website.
The OpenCuba.org website also lets Americans write personal letters to President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton and members of the U.S. Congress regarding the Cuba travel ban.
TravelCubaNow.com supports Orbitz effort to promote Cuban Travel for US Citizens.
Robert F. Kennedy Never Supported Travel Ban According to Daughter
Writing in the Washington Post Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, says her father never supported banning or prosecuting US citizens travel to Cuba. During the time the senior Kennedy was Attorney General:
In December 1963, the Justice Department was preparing to prosecute four members of the Student Committee for Travel to Cuba who had led a group of 59 college-age Americans on a trip to Havana. My father opposed those prosecutions, as well as the travel ban itself.
Obama Ends Travel Restrictions – Cuba Prepares for US Tourism Invasion
As had been speculated for weeks, President Obama has officially ended all Cuban-American travel and some financial restrictions to the island nation of Cuba. Obama also is lifted telecommunications restrictions. From AP:
In a further gesture of openness, U.S. telecommunications firms were freed to seek business there, too. But the broader U.S. trade embargo remained in place.
Cuba Prepares for US Tourism Invasion
Cubans are anticipating a huge influx of US Tourist by building a new marina with 1500 slips 80 miles east of Havana near Varadero. According to Reuters:
“If the travel ban is lifted, you’ll probably see hundreds, hundreds of American yachtsmen going to Cuba the next day,” said Timothy Ashby, a former U.S. Commerce Department official who studies Cuban commercial issues.
But all may not be so smooth according to this AP Article:
Cuba has about as many hotel rooms as Detroit and most are already full of Canadians and Europeans. Experts say droves of Americans could drive up prices, unleash calls for more flights and cruises than Cuba can handle and force the government to tighten visa restrictions to regulate the stampede.
An influx of Americans could create a lodging crunch. The communist state has partnered with foreign companies such as Spanish chain Sol Melia to offer about 46,000 hotel rooms across an island about the size of Pennsylvania. Some 17,300 of those rooms are concentrated in the beach resort of Varadero, 90 miles (140 kilometers) east of Havana.
If the US Embargo was lifted, US companies could build all those hotels.
And don’t expect the same level of service you’d find at a Miami resort:
Even at top Cuban resorts, it is often hard to get amenities as basic as an extra roll of toilet paper. Comforts including apples, french fries and bottled beer are sometimes scarce – not to mention perks like in-room coffee-makers or wireless Internet access.
Cuba is in desperate need of American Ingenuity, It’s time to end the embargo.
Members of Congressional Black Caucus Meet With Fidel Castro – Call for End of Travel Ban
Three members of Congressional Black Caucus met with Fidel Castro today after a group of seven CBC members traveled to Cuba. They are calling for an end to the US ban travel to Cuba. According to the Politico:
“The fifty-year embargo just hasn’t worked,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Ca.) told reporters this evening at a Capitol press conference after returning from a congressional delegation visit to Cuba. “The bottom line is that we believe its time to open dialogue with Cuba.”
Cuban Travel Changes Possible as President Obama Prepares for Summit of the Americas
As President Obama prepares for his trip to Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas, the world awaits any clues for changes in policy concerning Cuban-American travel, the embargo and the general travel to Cuba. According to AP:
(Jeffrey) Davidow and other officials say the administration is also looking seriously at calls from some lawmakers to allow all Americans to travel to Cuba, appoint a special envoy to oversee policy toward the island and possibly end U.S. opposition to Cuba’s membership in the Organization of American States.
“We are engaged in a continual evaluation of our policy and how that policy could help result in a change in Cuba that could bring about a democratic society,” Davidow said.
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.