Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
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in far-flung corners of the globe despite a tight defence budget and hardware that experts consider in many respects outdated.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.”
Freedom To Travel To Cuba Act – HR 874
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting a bill named the “Freedom To Travel To Cuba Act” was introduced in Congress on Feb 4.
The bill allows for the freedom of travel for US Citizen and prohibits the President from restricting travel. This is the first step in normalizing relations with Cuba.
The Bill H.R.874, was Sponsored by Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass and cosponsored by:
Rep DeLauro, Rosa L. [CT-3]
Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4]
Rep Emerson, Jo Ann [MO-8]
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17]
Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6]
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3]
Rep Moran, Jerry [KS-1]
Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14]
These members should be applauded for the forward thinking, write your congressperson and tell them to support H.R. 874.
Ending the Cuban Embargo Would Benefit U.S. Economy – Florida Helped Most
For the first time in nearly fifty years the United States has an opportunity to normalize relations with Cuba. The inauguration of President Barack Obama offers the chance for a clean break with the policies that have separated the U.S. from our closest Caribbean neighbor.
Good for the U.S. Economy
Many U.S. business groups have been advocating the end of the embargo as well. The groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation, Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation and Grocery Manufacturers Association have called for an end to the embargo. Currently only certain agricultural and medical products are exempt from the embargo.
The U.S. economy will be greatly affected by ending the Cuban embargo in a very positive way. At a time when the U.S. economy needs it most, we would enter the nearby market of Cuba that has nearly 11.5 million people and nearly 43,000 square miles.
Fifty years of Communism has taken a toll on Cuba. Buildings are deteriorating to unsafe levels, roads and bridges are crumbling and access to basic goods and services have all but disappeared. The Cuban people are clamoring for change and a better life and the United States has the ability to deliver it.
Our recession battered construction industries would also benefit greatly as engineers, carpenters and skilled laborers could help the Cuban people rebuild their country. Building supply industries would start manufacturing again and natural resources would be consumed.
The European Union has already ended their embargo and recently the United Nations, in a 183-3 vote, called for an end to the embargo worldwide.
Travel industry segments such as cruise lines and airlines would prosper as tourists explored this beautiful country. Cuban Ports and airports would be rebuilt, hotels constructed, all with the help of U.S. industries.
Florida Would Benefit Most
The state of Florida may have the most to gain from ending the Cuban embargo. The southern most point of the U.S., Key West, Florida is within a hundred miles of Cuba. Florida’s ports would benefit from the large amounts of cargo that would be shipped to Cuba. The ports would also benefit as many early travelers to Cuba would opt to cruise there since hotel facilities do not yet exist to accommodate tourists bound for this new destination.
Florida businesses would also profit from a new tourist destination as close as Cuba. Tourists would demand the same quality of food, luxury and even those little bars of soap not available there on a large scale. As Cuban citizens became aware of and demanded American products, Florida based distribution companies would be available to fill the need.
Long term, Florida would benefit as International tourist used it as a gateway to Cuba. Currently many International travelers visit Cuba via Mexico and Canada. Trendy cities like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando would reap tourism dollars as international visitors looking for exciting destinations extended their vacations in Florida.
Good Foreign Policy
Politically, ending the Cuban embargo just makes sense, Russia is looking to Cuba to establish a Caribbean presence. Since the demise of the old Soviet Empire, Russian influence in Cuba has waned. But in December of 08, Russia sent three warships to visit the island nation. In January Raoul Castro visited Russia to seek trade and money. Be assured that Russia would like to expand their presence in the region and this is a great opportunity to do so.
Cuba also appears to have a large expanse of untapped oil resources. China and Venezuela would like to tie those resources up for themselves which would not only cut the U.S. market from the oil, but could create the opportunity for an Eco disaster for the Caribbean and Southeastern United States.
Opportunities for Cuba
By ending the Cuban embargo, President Obama has the opportunity to help both the Cuban and American people. By allowing U.S. travel to the island nation, Cubans can get a taste of the freedoms we as Americans take for granted. Cubans will be exposed to our fashion, music and technology which will stimulate a desire for freedom and personal wealth.
U.S. Travel to Cuba will also generate much needed dollars for the Caribbean Nation which was devastated by three hurricanes last year.
President Obama has another chance to make history by ending the embargo and promoting freedom, however this window of opportunity won’t be open forever.
Hillary Clinton talks about Obama’s Cuba Policy
Hillary Clinton spoke yesterday at her Senate conformation hearing on Obama’s Cuba policy, from Reuters:
“The president-elect (Barack Obama) is committed to lifting the family travel restrictions and the remittance restrictions. He believes … that Cuban-Americans are the best ambassadors for democracy, freedom and a free market economy.”
What Can You Do? Tell President-Elect Obama to End the Cuban Embargo
US Citizens have another way to let President-Elect Obama know that we’re of tired of failed policy on the Cuban Embargo by signing a petition of support for improved US-Cuban Relations.
John McAuliff is a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and leading the petition, Obama’s Cuba Opportunity.
John writes:
If official US rhetoric is now that the Cubans have to decide for themselves how their society should be organized, the conflict is between those who believe they can only do that if we force them to change in accord with our tenets of democracy and human rights and those like myself who believe they can only do so when the hostile pressures of the last fifty years and the century long proclivity to intervene are ended.
John was in the Peace Corps in Peru and spent forty years involved with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia through the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) and is currently heading the Fund for Reconciliation and Development. John visited Cuba in 1971 and has visited Cuba annually for the past decade and is working on travel as the key to normalizing diplomatic, political and trade relations with Cuba.
Can’t We Treat Cuba More Like China?
In China we promote open exchanges of commerce and travel, this openness has broken the monopoly of thinking in the communist nation. The average Chinese citizen has much more economic and political freedom than Cubans partially because of the difference between our two respective policies.
In a recent article by David Paul Appell titled As Cuba’s Regime Turns 50, How About Some Common Sense — Finally? David writes:
I started visiting Cuba a decade ago, when a Clinton-era “people-to-people” policy permitted even commercial tour operators to send groups if they could be dressed with the fig leaf of “cultural exchange” or some such. I often witnessed the inequality between foreigners and themselves grating on locals — as when entering one of Havana’s top restaurants, the Café de Oriente, and overhearing a guard muttering, “Jeez, I’d sure rather be dining on lobster instead of the crap they give us.” One friend of mine, once a Communist Party liaison within his university department, was denied entry to a resort area, Playa del Coco, while I, the “imperialist enemy,” was waved through.
Such “tourism apartheid” measures disappeared after Raúl Castro took over in early 2008, but since most Cubans are still too impoverished to take advantage, inequality remains rampant. In this context, imagine a flood of Americans — including many Spanish-speaking Latinos — mingling with locals, infecting them with uncensored information and subversive notions of democracy and free markets. The winning of hearts and minds would far outweigh any financial gain to the Castro government (that hoary objection of exile hardliners and their pet politicos).