It's Time to End the Cuba Travel Ban (the Embargo Too)

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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.

Natalia of CA 9:39PM April 13, 2009

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.

Concerned Citizen of ME 9:20PM April 08, 2009

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.

jeanne smith of MA 5:08PM April 04, 2009

ist time to say no to the cuban exile, the trade embargo dosent work and only make life dificult to the people of cuba.

alex fernandez of NV 11:28AM April 04, 2009

Message to Rob Seguin:
Your personal attack on Circles Robinson is in very poor taste.

Cuba Journal of FL 4:24PM April 03, 2009

It is time to say to the ultra right wingers in South Florida and New Jersey that we are going to put an end to their promotion of hate toward Cuba.
Lift the Cuba embargo and lift the travel ban and allow ALL AMERICANS to travel to Cuba.
Trade between Cuba and the United States would benefit all involved.

Cuba Journal of FL 4:19PM April 03, 2009

This time they’ve been more direct: “You are not authorized to travel,” the woman told me quietly, almost nicely, dressed in her olive-green. My attempt to get permission to leave ended without much delay and with the same negative response. I demanded an explanation from the officer, but she was only a wall of contention between my demands and her hidden bosses.
While they were telling me “no,” I recalled the declarations made by Miguel Barnet* a couple of months ago. The president of the Writers and Artists Union of Cuba (UNEAC) affirmed that all Cubans can travel, except those who have a debt to the justice system. I spent the day looking for some legal reason hanging over me, but nothing came to mind. Even the rice cooker that I bought on credit at the ration store I paid for in full, even though it only worked for two months before completely breaking down.
I have never been charged in court yet I am condemned not to leave this Island. This restriction has not been dictated by a judge, nor could I have appealed it to jury, rather it comes from the great prosecutor—with full rights—in which he’s set himself up as the Cuban State. That severe magistrate determined that the old woman sitting next to me in the office at 17th and K would not receive the ‘white card’ because her son ‘deserted’ from a medical mission. The boy who waited in the corner couldn’t travel either, because his athlete father plays now under another flag. The list of the punished is so long and the reasons so varied, that we could establish a huge group of forced islander “stay-at-homes.” It’s too bad that the vast majority are silent, in the hopes that one day they’ll be allowed to leave, as one who receives compensation for good behavior.
One of the first places of pilgrimage for those who don’t get the exit permit should be the office of the naive president of UNEAC. Maybe he can explain to us the crime for which we’ve been condemned.
To augment the papers in my collection of negatives, here is the latest document received from SIE (Immigration and Emigration Section). I am also posting my visas, to record the fact that my problems are not about entering another country, only about leaving mine.

Yoani Sanchez desdecuba.com/generactiony 2:34PM April 03, 2009

Having just returned from a 2-week trip to Cuba approved by US Treasury Department's OFAC (via religious exemption from travel prohibition) I can report that the travel ban and embargo achieve nothing but provide an excuse to the Cuban government and heighten hostility towards the US government in Cuba.
Every day Cuban citizens are made painfully aware of the effects of the blockade: basic food, medicine, educational materials,household goods are unavailable to all but a select few who receive money from relatives abroad. The country looks like a time warp: infrastructure improvements date back to 1950s, horses and carts are a major form of transport,emission controls are non-existent on the vehicles that do exist. The effects of the hurricane on the northern coast, about which US citizens received little information, are horrendous. Lack of building materials hampers rebuilding of homes and public structures.
The cessation of support from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s created the beginning of a long-term economic downhill slide which is still in evidence as international partners have not filled in the gap yet. My heart goes out to the Cuban people who are continuing to struggle due to a poorly designed policy which is now 50 years old.
The first step to normalizing relations could well be the lifting of the Cuba travel ban by US citizens. This should be palatable to all US citizens as it affects OUR freedoms. Far more important in the long run is a lifting of the blockade, a cruel policy which has not achieved any positive result in its 50 years of existence.

Martha McManamy of MA 1:17PM April 03, 2009

It has been very difficult, if not impossible, to engage Latin American nations in efforts to restore human rights and at least a modicum of freedom to Cuba, as long as the USA occupies such an extreme stance toward the island. Cooperation with Latin America in promoting positive change in Cuba will be improved by dropping the travel ban and the embargo. Starving the Cuban regime did not occur in the "Special Period" and won't occur in the foreseeable future as oil-rich Venezuela subsidizes the regime and a resurgent Russia also helps out, so why not return US influence to the island? Be prepared, however, as capitalism makes inroads, for howls of protest from the advocates of this last romantic communist revolution, for whom the USA was at fault for its presence before 1959, then was at fault for its absence after 1959, and will still be at fault when US business returns in the post-embargo era.

Steve Marquardt of MN 8:19PM April 02, 2009

Experience has shown us repeatedly that totalitarian regimes often are transformed over time by exposure to and interaction with American citizens, ideas and culture, and by a healthy dose of Western capitalism. The result is usually a freer, more affluent, better way of life for their citizens. Not a perfect life, but a better life! Observe Russia, China, Vietnam,and most of Eastern Europe, and what has happened to their citizens' standard of living and freedom in the last forty years. They have dramatically improved. The best thing that could happen to Cuba and its people is a peaceful invasion of American tourists and American commerce, Drop The Embargo!!!!

Philip Webster of MD 3:41PM April 02, 2009