Oscar Hidalgo for The New York Times
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: May 19, 2009
MIAMI — The crowd of Cuban-Americans pressing against the airport ticket
counter scorned those on the other side. Only a handful of American
charter companies have landing rights in Cuba, and with the new White
House policy letting Cuban-Americans visit relatives there as often as
they want, ticket prices have become political.
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Oscar Hidalgo for The New York Times
John H. Cabanas, who owns C&T, in his office in Coral Gables, Fla. He
grew up in Florida but lived in Cuba for 28 years. His business, which
"depends on politics," he said, has boomed since the White House eased
travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans last month.
"I paid $600 for a 45-minute flight," said Carelis Sabatela, in loud
Spanish, before checking in with a cart of heavy luggage. "It's very
high, super excessive."
Like many in line, she called for more competition, but as the current
boom in reservations shows, this is not a normal business. Who flies and
how much they charge is intimately tied to the 50-year feud between Cuba
and the United States. Experts describe these charter companies as
byproducts of a dysfunctional back-and-forth that has not ended — and
that now promises to provide millions of dollars in profit to a
politically savvy few.
"The system exists solely because the relationship between Cuba and the
United States doesn't exist in its normal form," said John S. Kavulich
II, a senior policy adviser for the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic
Council, a nonpartisan group that tracks trade activity in Cuba. "You
have an abnormal service environment directly because of abnormal
relations."
Today's charter companies began in the late 1970s during a period of
warming relations, and most owners figured that their role would be
temporary. The companies survived not just because Fidel Castro and the
American embargo kept larger carriers out; many of the owners have also
played both sides, deploying money and favors under the cover of dual
identities that let them connect with Cuban leaders one minute,
Americans the next.
John Cabanas, of C&T Charters, is perhaps the least known but the most
powerful owner in a group that includes Vivian Mannerud, who followed
her father into the business after he was convicted in the 1980s of
"trading with the enemy," in part for taking four Pepsi machines to
Cuba; and Francisco Aruca, owner of Marazul Charters, who sneaked out of
a Castro-run prison dressed as a child, but now praises Cuba on his
Miami radio show.
A large man, quick to laugh and partial to linen Guayaberas with a gold
plane pinned to the collar, Mr. Cabanas, 66, grew up in Key West, Fla.,
but spent 28 years in Cuba. He says his company is the largest of the
seven or eight that fly there regularly.
Certainly since the new White House policy was announced last month,
business is booming. "We used to send 15,000, 16,000 people a year," Mr.
Cabanas said. "Now I'll probably handle 40,000 or 50,000."
He insists that his prices — though at least double the cost of flying
to the Bahamas — are fair when seen in context. In his view, customers
like Ms. Sabatela, who was traveling on a C&T flight to Camagüey, fail
to appreciate the industry's challenges.
The past decade has been especially tough. The cost of fuel and jet
rentals have increased while the Bush administration's tighter travel
restrictions in 2004 halved the number of legal American visitors from a
peak of 135,000 in 2000, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic
Council. The government has also demanded reams of paperwork from the
charter operators, proving that they have complied with various rules —
which led in part to a $125,000 penalty settlement that C&T paid in 1999.
The Cuban government has demands as well: it prohibits the charters from
hiring in Cuba, and charges $100 to $133 per passenger for landing
rights, baggage claim and other services.
Mr. Cabanas admits that the industry is "very controlled."
"My business is business," he said. "But it depends on politics."
His office illustrates the point. In a back conference room, photographs
on the walls show him with four very different leaders: Barack Obama,
George W. Bush, Fidel Castro and Álvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia.
Since returning to Florida in the late '90s, Mr. Cabanas has also spread
more than $145,000 in campaign donations across the political spectrum.
"Right now, I support Barack Obama," he said, "even though I'm a
Republican."
Mr. Cabanas had just come from a Cinco de Mayo party at the White House,
but his connections and charm have done nothing to alter the
controversial basics of his business.
The industry "is in essence a protected monopoly," Mr. Kavulich said.
"There are a finite number of people in the marketplace, and you have to
have the Cuban government's authorization."
Cuban officials, he said, want as few companies as possible, and "if
they can't Google you and find you've opposed the commercial, economic
or political position of the United States, you're not likely to do any
business."
That means approved operators earn a lot during open moments. A recent
poll by Bendixen and Associates found that about 240,000 Cuban-Americans
plan to travel to Cuba by the end of 2010.
If round-trip tickets continue to hover around $500, with a 10 percent
markup, that would be around $12 million in profit.
In interviews, several charter operators described their flights as
humanitarian and insisted that politics did not enter into conversations
with Cuban officials.
They all oppose the embargo, which puts them squarely in line with the
stated desire of Cuban officials, but also with a growing swath of the
1.2 million Cuban-Americans in the United States.
And yet, many here see the companies' owners as relics of a past they
would like to get beyond. For Cubans, the charters' prices and profits
are pinpricks in a wound that has not healed.
Conservatives still accuse the charters of being collaborators.
"They are a virtual cartel that control the travel sector from the U.S.
to Cuba, charging egregious fees in collusion with Cuban authorities,"
said Mauricio Claver Carone, director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC in
Washington.
More moderate Cuban-Americans are only slightly kinder.
"Do they charge more than they should? They do," said Andy S. Gomez, a
senior fellow at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at
the University of Miami. "Are there any other alternatives? None."
Well, not yet, but momentum for broader changes in Cuba policy has been
building. Last week, Orbitz, the online travel company, began offering a
$100 coupon for a vacation in Cuba to everyone who signed an online
petition urging leaders in the United States to give all Americans the
freedom to visit.
Jose Fernandez, one of the dozens waiting here to board a C&T flight to
Cuba, said he would welcome new alternatives. "The prices," Mr.
Fernandez said, "are out of balance with the moment."
Oscar Hidalgo contributed reporting.
Charter Companies Flying to Cuba Thrive Despite Complaints - NYTimes.com
(20 May 2009)
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