Students and faculty from a Manhattan high school are in the news after
an apparently illegal trip to Cuba in March; reports are noting that the
student travelers have set themselves up for possible fines of up to
$65,000 each. Two New York politicians who wrote endorsement letters for
the trip are saying they didn't know the Beacon School students were
traveling without federal sanction. Hmmm.
A few minutes of research will show that travel and engaging in any kind
of commerce in Cuba by any US citizen has been problematic for all and
illegal for most since the '60's, though possible for college students
engaged in relevant, school-sponsored study. Educational travel to Cuba
was historically a bit easier, but September 2004 Bush administration
guidelines severely restricted all educational Cuba travel for any
reason; US residents may travel to Cuba for academic research now but
must generally show plans to stay in Cuba for 10 weeks, among other very
precise criteria which, if met, will grant the applying school and,
subsequently, associated travelers a license issued by OFAC (the U.S.
Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control). OFAC guidelines
show that only undergraduate college and graduate students may even
apply for a Cuba travel license; travel by US high school students may
not even be considered, and any educational traveler to Cuba "...must
carry a letter from the licensed institution stating: 1) the
institution's license number; 2) that the student is enrolled in an
undergraduate or graduate degree program at the institution; and 3) that
the travel is part of an educational program of that institution."
According to reports, the Beacon Hill group apparently traveled to Cuba
without a license after city education officials and the school's
principal each indicated that they denied the group permission. During a
press conference April 17, New York Lt. Governor David Paterson, who
wrote a letter endorsing the trip, apparently said he did not know the
students had not obtained a license, and that he questioned whether Cuba
travel restrictions were intended to keep students from learning about a
Communist dictatorship, as exists in Cuba, and said "...education can be
a tool to fight dictatorships." The New York Post is reporting that NY
Congressman Jerrold Nadler also supplied a letter of support, in which
he referred to global citizenship and cultural exchange.
Those very benefits of travel to Cuba are well known by the many
educational institutions which had to cancel ongoing Cuba study programs
in the wake of the tightened restrictions enacted in 2004. Many Cuba
study programs went by the wayside because of the expense-creating
requirement mandating that participants spend at least ten weeks in
Cuba. DC's Inside Higher Ed says, "Experts estimated that, of several
hundred Cuba programs that existed before the rule changes, fewer than a
dozen remain." In 2005, Florida enacted legislation that essentially
forbids academic travel to Cuba (Miami-Dade politician David Rivera said
of the resulting furor, "Legislators just don't pay too much attention
to what academics think.")
Failure to meet those qualifications, among others, can net huge fines;
in 2006, a small Minnesota college became the first school to agree to
pay a fine ($9000); Augsburg College students traveled to Cuba for study
between 1998 and 2004. If you decide to go, know that you must meet the
government's criteria before you travel to Cuba, or face possible fines
and even criminal prosecution, whether you are traveling through Mexico,
Canada or the Caribbean. Parents and teachers must also accept the
responsibility for understanding that Cuba educational travel is highly
regulated, and that any kind of student travel should be researched.
Frankly, I'm shocked to hear that a politician willing to be involved in
Cuban travel plans in any way wouldn't understand the Cuba travel
restrictions, considering the rules are political in nature and have
been for decades. However, it can only be a good thing if a few more
folks figure out that the US government does restrict travel to Cuba and
decide to look into the reasoning behind those restrictions. The Post is
reporting that NY Mayor Bloomberg said, "There is a problem when the
federal government has regulations that you can't travel to some place."
If you agree, consider making some noise and writing to your Congress
representative rather than flouting the law.
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