Havana Nights
I hope this comes soon. The people of Cuba are the ones who have suffered, and the Fidel brothers would’ve truly been pressured out had a swarm of US tourists been allowed to visit that Island. We’re close, and so is the island–just 90 miles south of Key West. But the plan must be deliberate–a lot of people on both sides of the border will be hurt if this isn’t mapped out. I think the worst of it will happen to the people who need most of the help, the Cubans. Think of the lopsided treatment received by the East Germans when the Wall came down in 1989. Let’s hope our politicians can keep the opportunistic from taking too much from the poorest in Cuba. Meantime, did someone say ‘Cohiba!’
US push to allow all Cuba travel
Leading US business groups and lawmakers from both parties rallied on Tuesday behind an effort to scrap all restrictions on travel to Cuba, as momentum grows to alter Washington’s relationship with Havana.
The Senate bill, proposed by Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, and backed by 20 other senators, including Republicans, as well as groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce, the American Farm Bureau and Human Rights Watch, would allow all US citizens to visit the island.
“We have been trying the same thing for over 40 years, and our strategy has not worked,” said Mike Enzi, Republican senator from Wyoming. “It is time for a different policy – one that goes further than embargoes and restrictive and confusing travel policies.”
The bill would go much further than legislation approved by Congress last month. That measure in effect loosened restrictions on Cuban Americans’ visits to relatives on the island by denying funding to enforce the current tough rules on such trips.
The legislation also outstrips the promises made by President Barack Obama, who has pledged to remove only those restrictions limiting family visits, rather than the ban on trips by other US citizens, and who says he would keep the embargo on trade with the island.
Read more at www.ft.com
