It's Time to End the Cuba Travel Ban (the Embargo Too)
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Might there finally be movement on getting rid of the inane, archaic embargo of Cuba? Senators and House members from both parties are introducing legislation that would blow a pretty big hole in the embargo by allowing U.S. citizens to travel to our southern neighbor.
To be clear: The trade embargo would still be in place, but tourism would be good to go. So a company couldn't do business in Cuba, but any of us could fly down there and flood the place with dollars. It's a start, and I'll take it.
Speaking of floods of dollars, the L.A. Times cites a 2002 study that estimates lifting the travel ban would produced between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion annually and create as many as 23,000 new jobs. I'll take that too.
Of course, much like their nemesis, the anti-Castro hard-liners in Congress hold on:
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) strongly opposes the measure. He warned that flooding Cuba with tourists and dollars would only sustain the Castro regime. ... Martinez accused the Chamber of Commerce and business interests of seeking profits at the expense of freedom and democracy.
"They are not acting from a moral standpoint," he said. "They are simply acting from an economic advantage standpoint."
Three points here: The embargo does more to help the Castro regime than hurt it, by giving the Cuban government a standing excuse for whatever troubles the country has and an enemy against which to rally their citizens.
Second, since Senator Martinez is so concerned about morality of international trade, I assume that he plans to introduce legislation imposing a similar trade and travel embargo on China, right?
Third, speaking of oppressive governments, Kevin Drum makes a great point about the travel ban:
The trade embargo against Cuba has long outlived whatever usefulness it might have had. It accomplishes nothing and has turned us into an international joke. Still, it's well within the bounds of normal international relations. I don't like it, but it's not fundamentally antidemocratic or an assault on basic freedoms.
The travel ban has always been in a separate class. Autocracies and dictatorships control the movements of their subjects, but free citizens of a liberal democracy should be able to travel wherever they want. So whatever happens with the trade embargo, removing the travel ban should be a no-brainer. This is America, not North Korea.
Amen.
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Tags: Cuba | Mel Martinez | foreign policy
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Reader Comments
embargo
the economic/trade embargo has really done nothing to improve conditions in Cuba or to weaken the regime. hopefully things will improve under Obama, but I'm disappointed that there are no plans to lift the useless embargo entirely.
one the major reasons for the start of the embargo in the first place was a deal VP Richard Nixon made with leaders of the mafia and giant US corps (Pepsi Cola, United Fruit, Ford, Standard Oil, etc..): if they agreed to fund his candidacy, he promised the US would overthrow the Castro regime (the US corps hated Fidel Castro for nationalizing their businesses in Cuba).
the embargo has hurt the people, not the regime. and the US' fear of communism isn't so valid now that the Soviet Union has disintegrated.
the embargo is a disproportionate penalty when compared to human rights violations ignored by the U.S. in many other cases.
Ignorance
Clearly the author of this article and many of the respondents are either:
A: Ignorant
B: Sympathetic to Communism
C: Misinformed
D: All of the Above
The trade embargo allows for the sale of NECESSITIES to the island of Cuba. The embargo, however, required the island to pay in CASH. Many countries who have chosen to trade on credit with Cuba are stuck holding the bag (i.e. Spain). Additionally, the Dollars to NOT make it to the people!! Even if they get their hands on US Dollars, they need to convert them to "Chavitos"(a monetary unit ONLY used in Cuba, not recognized anywhere else in the world). When you convert to "Chavitos", over 50% goes to the Cuban government!!
Seriously...read up...do your homework...speak to a Cuban or two that ACTUALLY LIVES/LIVED ON THE ISLAND.
Get your facts straight...THEN post.
travel to Cuba
travel restrictions have no place in a free society; if we believe in free trade we should stop giving the Cuban government amunition against America and give Cubans access to the food and medical supplies they need.
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