Obama to free Cuba family travel

President Barack Obama plans to abolish restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba, fulfilling a campaign promise, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Obama does not intend to call for the lifting of the long-standing trade embargo against Cuba, which would require congressional action, the Journal said, citing an unnamed senior administration official.

The Obama administration is not considering any specific diplomatic outreach toward Cuba's communist government, the newspaper reported.

The removal of limits on family travel and cash remittances would allow Cuban Americans and Cuban emigres living in the United States to travel freely to the island, instead of once a year at present, and remove the current ceiling of $1,200 per person in cash remittances to family members in Cuba.

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Washington Weighs Cuba Travel Bans

A trip by seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus to Havana puts U.S.-Cuban relations in the spotlight as hemispheric leaders prepare to meet at the Summit of the Americas. The delegation, led by U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), met with the Castro brothers in separate meetings, marking the first official U.S. visits since President Raúl Castro took office last year and for former President Fidel Castro since 2006.

The visit comes at a time when President Barack Obama has proposed to turn back restrictions for Cuban Americans who wish to visit or send money to family back on the island. Fulfilling a presidential campaign promise, Obama may take this action before the Summit of the Americas, which runs April 17 to 19 in Trinidad and Tobago and will serve as the new president’s introduction to many Latin American leaders and, thereby, the hemisphere. Relaxing the restrictions could affect an estimated 1.5 million Americans with family members in Cuba, calculates The Wall Street Journal. El País reports that Cubans hopes to experience an increased inflow of somewhere between $300 million and $500 million as a result of the change.

But American legislators have gone a step further. Bipartisan proposals making their way through both houses of U.S. Congress seek to lift the travel ban for all Americans. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Michael Enzi (R-WY) introduced the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act. A similar bill in the House drew 120 co-sponsors and calls for allowing Americans “to exercise their right to travel to Cuba.” Another House bill seeks to ease restrictions on selling agricultural products to Cuba.

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Florida Travel Agents Fight Higher Bond on Cuba Trips

MIAMI — Teresa Aral, a travel agent in South Florida, was greatly relieved after learning she did not have to pay the state a quarter of a million dollars to keep booking trips to Cuba. For now, at least.

Ms. Aral, along with 15 other agents providing charter flights to Cuba, filed a lawsuit in Miami against the State of Florida, challenging a new law requiring them to post a one-time $250,000 bond and disclose the names of clients in order to continue their business with Cuba. But earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily lifted the measure while he considered its legality.

“I’m very grateful that at least the judicial branch of government here is still working,” Ms. Aral said after the ruling.

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Dealing with Cuba Travel

by ALFONSO CHARDY
(miamiherald.com)

There's a split between older and younger Cuban Americans on whether exiles should be allowed to travel more often to visit relatives on the communist island, according to new polls commissioned by a group seeking better U.S.-Cuba relations.

The polls released Wednesday by the Foundation for Normalization of US/Cuba Relations, a group formed in 2006, show that a majority of registered voters in the hotly contested 21st and 25th congressional districts support unfettered exile Cuba travel and money remittances to the island. Voters in both districts are less likely to support a candidate who favors travel and money restrictions, the polls indicate, though the gap is not sufficient to overcome the polls' margin of error of 4.9 percentage points. Another 11 percent of those polled were undecided.

Republican incumbents in both districts, Lincoln Diaz-Balart in the 21st and brother Mario Diaz-Balart in the 25th, favor restrictions President Bush imposed in 2004 limiting exile travel to once every three years instead of annually. The 2004 rules also limit money remittances to close family members like spouses, parents or children instead of any relative.

Cuba on horizon but U.S. travel industry cautious

The U.S. leisure industry could reap rich rewards if lawmakers relax Cuban travel bans, but industry experts warn that several hurdles still block a potentially huge payday for cruise companies, hotels and airlines.

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama opened a crack in the decades-old U.S. embargo against Cuba, allowing American telecommunications firms to start providing service for Cubans and lifting restrictions on family ties to the island.

The move marked a major shift from the prior approach to Havana, as Obama ended limits on family travel and money transfers by Cubans in the United States to their homeland and spurred hopes that loosened travel restrictions could be next.

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