Clash intensifies over travel to Cuba

Clash intensifies over travel to Cuba
Would-be travelers balk at ban on pleasure trips
July 13, 2014|By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Pressure from some Florida members of Congress is making it
harder to travel to Cuba even as thousands of their constituents line up
to fly to the forbidden island.
The stream of passengers from South Florida to Cuba has slowed slightly
since 2011, as some would-be travelers balk at the cost of licensed
educational tours and others remain stymied by a ban on casual pleasure
trips.
Now some in Congress are trying to tighten those rules to further
discourage travel to Cuba, except for Cuban-Americans visiting their
families. At the same time, travel proponents are pressing President
Barack Obama to use his executive powers to loosen the rules so that all
Americans are free to roam the island on their own.
The long-simmering debate over Cuba travel has heated up as prominent
politicians — including Hillary Clinton, a prospective presidential
candidate, and Charlie Crist, a candidate for governor of Florida — have
called for an end to the travel ban.
Recent poll results indicate that travel restrictions have fallen out of
favor, even among Cuban-Americans fervently opposed to the Castro regime.
"Absolutely I believe we should drop the restrictions," said J.K.
McCrea, 67, of Fort Lauderdale, who was able to attend a baptism in Cuba
in 2012 while her husband was on an academic mission.
"It was sad because the other Americans had to stay with their tour
groups and weren't allowed to wander," she said. "We were able to go
down the streets and visit the markets. They developed a lot of fear
because they were restricted from going anywhere. They had the
impression it would be very dangerous. But there was no problem
whatever. Everybody wanted to talk about baseball. The welcoming
experience was amazing."
To encourage contacts between Americans and Cubans, Obama loosened
travel rules in 2009 to allow Cuban-Americans unlimited trips to visit
relatives. Two years later, he furthered loosened the travel ban to
allow groups to apply for a license to lead educational tours.
But Cuban-Americans in Congress — notably Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami — vehemently objected, saying many such
trips amount to tourism that puts money in the hands of an oppressive
Castro regime.
Rubio blocked Senate confirmation of one of Obama's top State Department
nominees until the administration agreed to tighten enforcement of the
new rules. Tour groups must submit a rigorous agenda of "purposeful
travel," stressing cultural activities and history tours while steering
clear of lounging, recreation and rum-drinking at the beach.
Diaz-Balart last month inserted further restrictions into a money bill
that is moving through the U.S. House.
"Regrettably, the Obama administration weakened sanctions to allow
travel which features tourist activities, such as scuba diving, salsa
dancing, jazz clubs, cigar factory tours, and other clearly tourist
activities," Diaz-Balart said last week. He said his proposals are
designed to "end so-called 'people-to-people' travel to Cuba, closing
this Obama-created loophole."
Charter flights from Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport to
Havana have dropped from three per week to only one. Airport officials
still hope to get a burst of traffic if Cuba is ever opened up to tourists.
Flights from Miami International Airport, a major hub for Cuba travel,
dropped from 7,131 in 2011 to 6,097 last year. The number of Cuba-bound
passengers dipped from 657,838 in 2011 to 637,754 last year, according
to the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.
Cuban-Americans remain avid visitors, including sugar baron Alfonso
Fanjul of Palm Beach, a prominent exile who reconnected with his
homeland in 2012 and 2013. But critics of the embargo say the traffic is
restrained by tight regulations on educational tours and the ongoing ban
on pleasure trips, which discourages casual and repeated visits.
"That lends itself to Americans not being able to freely roam the
country as they wish. They have to stick to the agenda, and that
includes an official program where you have to see what the Cuban
government wants you to see," said Ricardo Herrero, executive director
of #CubaNow, a new Miami-based advocacy group that pushes against the
travel ban.
His group and other advocates are urging Obama to allow all Americans to
visit Cuba as individuals on a general license not tied to a
pre-approved itinerary. Herrero points to a poll released by Florida
International University last month, which found that 69 percent of
Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County support lifting travel restrictions
for all Americans.
Encouraged by such signs, Clinton and Crist are making a case for
removing travel limits while ending the U.S. embargo, setting up a clear
contrast to Republican leaders.
"People are voting with their feet," said David Hernandez, 44, of West
Palm Beach, who left Cuba at age 4 and returned for the first time last
year. "We need to stop being obsessed with a policy designed to hurt the
Cuban government and instead obsess over a policy to help the Cuban people."

wgibson@tribune.com or 202-824-8256

Source: Clash intensifies over travel to Cuba - Sun Sentinel -
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-07-13/news/fl-broward-cuba-travel-restricted-20140712_1_travel-ban-travel-rules-cuba-travel