CUBA
Cuban exiles divided over travel rules, sending money
New leaders in Havana and Washington spur speculation and hope for
policy changes on both sides of the Florida Straits.
By OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com
restrictions on travel to Cuba
From Hialeah to Westchester, Cuban Americans wonder what the recent
changes in leadership -- in both Havana and Washington -- will mean for
the communist island.
Some hold out hope for a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations. Democrats took the
leadership posts in Congress last week for the first time in more than a
decade -- just five months after Fidel Castro temporarily ceded
authority to his brother, Raúl Castro.
In Hialeah, the local political beachhead for Cubans who recently have
arrived from the island, many new arrivals think Democrats should lift
tight restrictions on travel and remittances, which prohibit visits to
family in Cuba more than once every three years and to send more than
$100 a month to close relatives, such as a parent or spouse.
Those restrictions were imposed by the Bush administration in 2004, just
a few months before the president's reelection.
''I have a 20-year-old daughter in Cuba, and it's been two years since I
saw her,'' said Haydee Prado, who came from Cuba two years ago. ``They
should change the policy that keeps families apart.''
Changes in Washington and Havana could redraw the battle lines over Cuba
policy and give new hope to opponents of U.S. sanctions limiting travel
and remittances.
Ana Maria Ruiz, 51, manager of Mesa Laundromat in Hialeah, said Cuba is
starving for democratic changes. But she said U.S. policy is not helping
to make that happen. She has not been able to visit a sick sister
because she went to Cuba two years ago, and wants to send more money to
help her family. ''We should be able to send money that we earn here and
pay taxes on,'' she said. ``We should be able to send as much as we want
of our own money.''
The Treasury Department's tightened rules ban exiles from sending money
to aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces or nephews in Cuba, allowing
remittances only for immediate relatives. Many of the newer arrivals
still have family on the island, and are most affected by the restrictions.
But older, more established exiles, who arrived decades ago, are more
likely to be registered to vote and believe the restrictions help
strangle the Castro government. Many of them don't have close family
left in Cuba -- or when they did, the Cuban government didn't allow
travel there.
`STABS IN THE BACK'
Most vote Republican. Alberto González, a retired truck driver shopping
for groceries at a Winn-Dixie in West Miami-Dade on Friday, mistrusts
Democrats.
''We will never forget what Kennedy did with the Bay of Pigs invasion,
with the October crisis with the Russians and with Elián González,''
said González, 67. ``Those are three stabs in the back that the
Democrats did to my generation of Cubans, and we will never forget that.
The younger generations might feel differently.''
Hilda Mendez, 24, who was born in Venezuela to Cuban parents, said the
Cuban government is making its people suffer, but the U.S. government's
travel restrictions are also harsh.
''I've never seen something so inhumane in my life,'' said Mendez,
referring to U.S. travel restrictions. ``You should be able to go to
your country as many times as you want.''
Alison Diaz, 26, a student at Florida International University, said her
father and brother are ''conservative Republicans'' who wouldn't want
money going to Cuba, but she doesn't see the good that the travel
restrictions have done.
''I have an aunt who has been trying to go see her family in Cuba, but
she can't because I guess it has to be an immediate family member,''
Diaz said. ``It would be good to lift those restrictions so that people
who want to see family . . . [can] see them.''
`I'M TORN'
For Emilio Alvarez, 41, a small-business owner born in Miami to Cuban
parents, discussing a softening of the U.S. embargo is a complicated
issue. It was a particularly difficult day on Friday as he ran errands
to prepare for his mother's funeral.
''I wish I could bring my mom back and go to Cuba with her,'' he said.
``As a Cuban American, I'm torn between those views. All four of my
grandparents passed away here in Miami, very adamant about not visiting
the island while Fidel is still in power. My mom . . . passed away very
adamant about that.''
He said his family felt that any visit was aiding the Cuban government.
``But yet I always dreamt of going with my mom to see where she lived
and where my grandfather's doctor's office was. And now I won't be able
to do that.''
Manuel Alvarez, who came to Miami during the 1980 Mariel boatlift and
was hanging around Tropical Restaurant in Hialeah on Thursday, said he
would never go to Cuba while it remains communist -- ``out of principle.''
''But I feel that they should let everyone travel,'' he said of the Bush
administration's travel rules for Cuba. ``Those restrictions haven't
changed Cuba yet. They are never going to change it.''
Read Oscar Corral's blog, Miami's Cuban Connection, in the blogs section
of MiamiHerald.com or at http://blogs.herald.comcuban_connection/
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/16423142.htm
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