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Saturday, January 17, 2015

American jaunts to Cuba are nothing new

Fabiola Santiago: American jaunts to Cuba are nothing new
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO FSANTIAGO@MIAMIHERALD.COM
01/16/2015 5:22 PM 01/16/2015 5:57 PM

Before the latest relaxation of the United States' Cuba-travel policy,
American travel to Cuba had become such a trendy topic that National
Geographic categorized a stay in Havana as a "best family trip."

To illustrate the choice, the respected magazine and travel institution
featured on its website an excerpt from the book 100 Places That Can
Change Your Child's Life by Keith Bellows, who narrates the experiences
of an American father exposing his two children to "the Cuban
perspective on living in a socialist society."

It's a window on what can be expected as more Americans travel to the
island: engagement only with state-sanctioned people and institutions,
overly generous acceptance of the lack of rights (something Americans
wouldn't tolerate at home but often admire elsewhere) and oodles of
gullibility.

"The kids learned about [revolutionary leader] Che Guevara from his
often present image around town," the father says. "We actually had a
'Che-spotting' game."

I wonder at what point he tells the children about the summary
executions Guevara presided over. Maybe when they spot the bullet holes
at the grisly execution wall in the 4 1/2-star-rated tourist attraction,
La Cabaña, the Spanish fortress turned prison?

History is hard to hide, and so is reality; that's the beauty of travel
and engagement versus the nothingness of isolation. American travel to
Cuba, however, is not likely to bring the cure to what ails the nation.
At this historic juncture it might be worth noting that, except
politically, Cuba hasn't been as isolated from Americans as many think.

For years, some of the colorful tour catalogs periodically arriving at
my Miami house and via email from travel websites, have included Cuba as
a destination — one that, judging by the oversized reactions to the new
Obama administration guidelines — many thought forbidden.

For years, I've seen on social media photo albums of jaunts to Cuba —
cigar-savoring Americans, for example, dining in a Havana restaurant so
chic I had to double-check the location. And that mandatory photo of
Americans posing with old Cuban cars is already a boring cliché.

Now, in the aftermath of a presidential seal of approval on increased
social and economic engagement with Cuba, and under travel guidelines
speedily enacted Friday that make the short trek easier, there's —
surprise! — outrage from Miami-Dade's congressional representatives, and
jubilation from people who believe they can finally travel there.

Where has everyone been?

Obviously, not plugged into reality — or, in the case of political
leaders, playing the political moment for all it's worth with calls for
perfunctory condemnation of what has existed since the Clinton
administration first enacted the "People-to-People" engagement policies.

Truth is that under the categories of travel allowed — family and
religious visits, humanitarian work, scholarly research and anything
that qualified as "educational experiences," which is all travel — it
wasn't all that hard for a travel provider to obtain a Treasury
Department license. And it wasn't all that hard for travelers to connect
with a licensed provider, if they really wanted to go to Cuba.

Sample the repeat offering from my National Geographic Expeditions catalog:

"Cuba: Discovering Its People and Culture" promises a nine-day tour that
begins in Havana's Revolution Square, includes historic Cienfuegos and
Bay of Pigs, and ends with a visit to a kitsch artist in the eastern
fishing village of Jaimanitas before returning to the capital for a
question-and-answer session with an American and a Cuban journalist, a
farewell dinner, and the flight home.

The only difference from other destinations is the end-note that "a
special People-to-People" license from the Treasury Department was
required and the warning that departures hinged on whether those could
be obtained and renewed.

What's changed now?

That license is no longer required.

But travel to Cuba for Americans, under President Obama's historic
diplomatic thaw, remains regulated.

Rules have been relaxed — licenses for 12 categories of travel are no
longer necessary and there are unprecedented commercial allowances — but
it's not a free-for-all.

Americans are still required to travel to the island in supervised group
travel — something I fail to understand, since that supports travel to
official sites rather than independent contact with ordinary Cubans.
Only now virtually any organization or company can arrange travel to
Cuba — and Americans can use their debit and credit cards to pay for
expenses on the island without a dollar-limit.

If you're a world traveler, the changes are meaningful. Anything that
makes travel anywhere easier — and stimulates competition among vendors
— is a plus. With more options, the one thing that might change is the
hefty price tag of a trip to Cuba, much higher than for other Caribbean
islands.

That short and unsophisticated National Geographic tour that promises
"meaningful interactions with Cubans" doesn't mention their state
connections, costs $5,995, same as "Holland in springtime" — and airfare
is not included. A longer and richer trip to faraway Peru costs $1,000
less. No doubt there will be more travel providers jumping in to provide
better and cheaper tours.

But the real problem Americans will encounter traveling to Cuba is the
Cuban government, which, for example, dictates arbitrary currency
exchanges that devalue the dollar.

That kind of "socialist living" experience might just be priceless.
Better than a dumb Che T-shirt.

Source: Fabiola Santiago: American jaunts to Cuba are nothing new | The
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article7025714.html

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