AFP
Saturday, April 19, 2008
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) - Speculation was rife yesterday that Cuba could soon
scrap unpopular policies requiring citizens to get costly permits to
leave and return to the country, ending what amounts to a decades-old
effective travel ban.
As hundreds of would-be travellers lined up at the migration office for
regulation exit permits, an official, asked about any policy change,
told AFP here there was no news yet on the expected changes.
"Nothing yet ... Like the whole country, we are here waiting for
changes. But everything is in effect as it always has been," he said.
The potential shift would be the most momentous to date by President
Raul Castro, who took office from his ailing brother, Fidel, in February
and has ended several smaller prohibitions.
The Spanish daily El Pais cited an unnamed government official in a
report yesterday as saying Castro will give a green light soon to
migration reform, simplifying exit and entry permits and ending the
requirement for people to get permission to leave the country.
In an economically stressed country of more than 11 million people, such
a policy change would test Cuba's stability, as the nearby United States
grants automatic residency to all Cubans who reach US soil.
"I hope it happens ... We are waiting. My son has lived in Miami for 14
years and if they take restrictions away it would be very good for us,"
said Georgina Rodriguez, 73, waiting in the hot sun in the migration queue.
Mandatory permits and a passport add hundreds of dollars in travel costs
in a country where most workers make under US$20 a month. Many critics
see the regulations as just short of an effective travel ban for Cuban
nationals.
Tuesday, former diplomat and ex-intelligence official Pedro Riera
Escalante submitted to the National Assembly a petition for Castro's
government to consider eliminating the permits.
For the petition to be considered as a bill by the assembly, it first
has to be signed by 10,000 Cuban citizens. Riera Escalante said he asked
the assembly to publicise the effort and help gather the signatures.
The assembly officially received the paperwork, he said. It has 60 days
to issue a response.
"This is a problem that is weighing down heavily on Cuba," he said.
"There is a general underlying feeling among the people that it is
necessary to end these restrictions."
Far from tapering off, what often is described as a "silent exodus" has
actually picked up since Raul Castro stepped in as interim leader in
2006, before his official takeover in February, despite the modest
reforms unveiled.
Raul Castro recently lifted a series of bans on Cubans renting cars and
hotel rooms and purchasing goods such as pressure cookers, DVDs,
electric bikes and cell phones.
He is also considering agriculture reforms that include opening up the
sector to greater foreign investment and closing down inefficient
farming co-operatives.
The United States yesterday dismissed Castro's modest reforms as merely
"cosmetic" changes in the Americas' only one-party communist regime.
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