Americans traveling to Cuba
Thousands of Americans flout U.S. travel ban to see the 'forbidden
treasure' of Cuba.
By WILL WEISSERT
The Associated Press
Barack Obama would lift restrictions on visits by Cuban Americans to the
hemisphere's only communist country if elected president. A growing
chorus of Democratic and Republican lawmakers would go even further,
loosening the U.S. embargo enough to allow all Americans to travel to Cuba.
But thousands of U.S. tourists already travel to Cuba behind
Washington's back, and many say being sneaky is part of the fun. Some
are scrambling to get to the island while Fidel Castro is still alive,
fearing the U.S. government could scrap the travel ban once he's gone
and bring profound change to Cuba.
"The fact that you're not supposed to be there, that was the top for
me," said Amit, 29, a visitor from New York City.
"I was like, 'It's time to go,'" said Amit, who asked that his full name
not be published to avoid U.S. fines. "You just don't know what Cuba
will be like after Castro's gone."
Traveling to Cuba is not illegal for Americans, but provisions of the
Trading With the Enemy Act prohibit spending money in Cuba without
authorization. If caught, unauthorized U.S. tourists can face civil
fines of up to $55,000, though many settle for smaller amounts. Four of
those fined since January 2006 were people involved in making Oliver
Stone's documentary about Castro, "Comandante."
The U.S. Treasury Department issued 40,308 licenses for family travel in
2006, almost all to Cuban Americans, and the Cuban government counts
these travelers as Cubans, not Americans.
Separately, Cuba said 20,100 Americans visited the country through June
2007, almost all presumably without U.S. permission.
Other than family members, the U.S. government had granted permission
491 times for people involved in religious, educational and humanitarian
projects. Some other Americans – including journalists and politicians –
can come without licenses, although few do.
Cuba said about 37,000 Americans not of Cuban origin came in 2006 – down
from the more than 84,500 it reported in 2003, before the latest
restrictions.
The American Society of Travel Agents recently estimated that nearly 1.8
million Americans would visit in the first three years following an end
to the travel ban.
"We wanted to get here before all the other Americans come and ruin it
all," said Bridget, a 20-year-old from Minneapolis, Minn., who wandered
Old Havana's colonial streets last year with her friend Erik. They
wouldn't give their last names.
"It's forbidden treasure," said Erik, also from the Twin Cities. "It
will be so Americanized in a few years. Just like Cancun," where U.S.
franchises from Hard Rock Cafe to Hooters tend to drown out Mexican culture.
Some Americans sail to Cuba, but most fly through Canada, Mexico, the
Bahamas or Jamaica. Cuban tourist cards can be purchased at
third-country airports and customs officials usually stamp only these
loose-leaf visas, not the permanent pages of U.S. passports.
Bridget and Erik sent money orders to a U.S. travel agent recommended by
a friend who had visited Cuba, and flew from Detroit to Cancun. A man at
the Cubana Airlines ticket counter then gave them their Cuban tourist
cards, hotel vouchers and tickets for a connecting flight to Havana.
Traveling to Cuba is not as easy as punching dates into an Internet
site, however. Travelocity agreed to pay $182,750 in fines for booking
nearly 1,500 flights between the United States and Cuba from 1998 to
2004. The company says it fixed technical glitches and no longer lets
such trips go through.
Danielle Drobot, who spent a legal semester in Cuba while pursuing an
International Studies degree at the University of North Carolina,
predicted that "it will be the end of the U.S.-Cuba blockade, not
necessarily the end of Castro, that forces the economic and political
systems to change in Cuba."
"As sad as it is," Drobot said, "money talks."
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cuba-americans-communism-2032330-obama-castro
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