Travel To Cuba

Not sure I care for the imagery conjured up in the article, but good news nonetheless.

(05-21) 09:15 PDT HAVANA, Cuba (AP) --

The forbidden fruit of American travel is once again within reach. New rules issued by the Obama administration will allow Americans wide access to communist-led Cuba, already a mecca for tourists from other nations.

Within months or even weeks, thousands of people from Seattle to Sarasota could be shaking their hips in tropical nightclubs and sampling the famous stogies, without having to sneak in through a third country and risk the Treasury Department's wrath.

Essentially, we are talking about more travel groups being able to obtain licenses to operate in Cuba.  The Bush administration clamped down in 2004, and began denying State Department licenses to many tour operators, under the guise that they violated the ban on tourism that is part of the U.S. embargo.  And Miami-based elected officials are beginning to come out against the plan.

Not so sure about the shaking hips and salsa dancing stuff, but I am particularly excited about the opportunities for educational exchanges.  They especially, are a win-win situation.

Florida to Cuba Travel Ban

An interesting case, out of Florida:

WASHINGTON — A controversial Florida law that restricts state colleges and universities from traveling to Cuba and other "terrorist states" could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court for review.

The high court on Monday invited the Obama administration to file a brief, outlining the United States' stance on the 2006 law, which bars public schools and universities in Florida from using state money for travel to countries considered by the federal government to be "sponsors of terrorism" — Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the faculty at the University of South Florida, the University of Florida and Florida International University in March asked the high court to review the law — which was declared unconstitutional in 2008 by U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz in Miami — but upheld by a federal appeals court in September.

There was no word yet Monday on whether the U.S. solicitor general, who would file for the administration, would file in the case. But the ACLU said it was pleased the high court was "taking this seriously."

Essentially the ACLU is arguing that allowing Florida to prevent such travel is tantamount to permitting states to maintain their own foreign policy.  Supporters of the ban believe it is a way to ensure public dollars are not used to subside travel to terrorist countries -- Cuba included in that definition.

These types of academic exchanges are precise examples of positive ways our two countries can come together.  Public and private universities in Florida are some of the best places in the word for the study of Cuban history and culture, as well as housing historical archives and other documents related to modern-era Cuba.  Cutting them off from the ability to visit Cuba is no way to achieve academic excellence.  Academic exchanges with Cuban universities such as the University of Havana offer an array of scholarly opportunities to both sides.

Not sure whether this is about the state of Florida maintaining its own foreign policy.  But suppressing the exchange of ideas within academic settings is never a good idea. 

Voices From Miami

From today's Miami Herald, on the acquitted of Luis Posada Carriles on Friday on all 11 charges of lying to immigration officials about how he entered the U.S. in 2005 and his alleged role in bombings in Cuba in 1997.

Several Cuban-American leaders in Miami said that while the verdict was a surprise, Posada Carriles got something most Cubans don’t: a fair day in court. They stressed that the prolonged trial dragged the community into a bygone era most had happily left behind.

“We are glad for Posada; at the end of the day he is a man who has struggled during his entire life for Cuba,” said Jose “Pepe” Hernandez, president of the Cuban American National Foundation. “This whole circus of a trial brought us back to the past, to things that happened or could have happened many years ago. The Cuban people, in Cuba and here, definitely are taking other paths to confront the regime, paths that are nonviolent. That’s the positive thing of all of this.”

Cuban exile leader Carlos Saladrigas said it’s time to move on.

“We will have to heal old wounds, and this is one of them,” Saladrigas said. “There were a lot of issues over the years that looked at in today’s light, don’t make sense. We can go back second-guessing 20 or 30 years ago. I think it’s time for the whole Cuban nation to begin moving forward, not taking steps backward.”

University of Miami Institute of Cuban and Cuban American Studies senior fellow Andy Gomez stressed that Posada got his day in court.

“He was given the opportunity to present his side. Are Cubans on the island allowed to do that?” Gomez said. “It does surprise me a bit, but he was acquitted based on the evidence that was presented to the court and the jury.”

A bygone era.  Others paths, paths that are nonviolent.  Time to move on.  Healing old wounds.  The WHOLE CUBAN NATION moving forward.

Let's get to work on it.

The Saga of Luis Posada Carriles

It happened in Texas, but it might as well be Little Havana:

A Texas jury on Friday acquitted an 83-year-old anti-Castro Cuban exile and former CIA operative, considered an archfoe by Havana, of charges he lied to U.S. authorities about his role in bomb attacks against tourist areas in Cuba in 1997.

Attorneys said the federal jury deliberated for three hours after a 13-week trial in El Paso and acquitted Luis Posada Carriles of 11 counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud.

Posada, who had been active in anti-communist operations across Latin America for decades, is described as a "terrorist" by Cuba's communist leadership.

In Havana, the government website Cubadebate scathingly reported the acquittal, calling it "Justice made in USA."

Although Posada is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela for allegedly masterminding the bombing of a Cubana Airlines plane, killing 73 people, this trial had nothing to do with that incident. This case centered on charges that Posada lied in order to the get into the U.S., along with his role in a series of bomb attacks in Havana in the late 1990’s.

Posada has eluded justice on several occasions – he escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1995 after being convicted in the Cubana Airlines case, and was arrested on immigration charges here in the U.S., but later had the case tossed out.

Most interesting about this case is that prosecution witnesses included Cuban government officials, something that made the Cuban exile community in Miami none-too-happy:

Prosecution witnesses included a former New York Times reporter, Ann Louise Bardach, who said the Cuban exile militant claimed credit for bombings in Cuba in 1997 and two Cuban government officials – Lt. Col. Roberto Hernandez Caballero and Dr. Ileana Vizcaino Dime — who described the bombings and the autopsy of the sole fatal victim, Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo.

Another key prosecution witness was a former crew member of the converted shrimper Santrina, Gilberto Abascal, who said Posada sneaked into the United States aboard the boat in 2005.

The wide chasm that in reality is only a 90 mile stretch between Miami and Cuba, just deepened yet a little bit more.

Easing Travel Restrictions to Cuba

The Obama administration is easing travel restrictions to Cuba.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration Friday said it will allow for more U.S. travel to Cuba, making it easier for schools, churches and cultural groups to visit the island.

A senior Obama official told The Miami Herald the much-expected move to expand cultural, religious and educational travel to Cuba is part of the administration's continuing ``effort to support the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their own future.

President Barack Obama is also restoring the amount of money ($2,000) that can be sent to nonfamily members to the level they were at during part of the Clinton and Bush administrations. There will be a quarterly limit on the amount that any American can send: $500 per quarter to ``support private economic activity.''

Cuban-American elected officials from South Florida are already condemning the move.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, said in a statement that the “changes undermine U.S. foreign policy and security objectives and will bring economic benefits to the Cuban regime.”

Said Ros-Lehtinen, “Loosening these regulations will not help foster a pro-democracy environment in Cuba. These changes will not aid in ushering in respect for human rights. And they certainly will not help the Cuban people free themselves from the tyranny that engulfs them.”

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also voiced opposition to the changes, saying the “weaken U.S. policy towards Cuba.”

By next week we should have more information on what this all means. A good place to keep up with the policy implementation is at The Latin American Working Group, www.lawg.org

In Other News: The Miami Edition

90 very, very long miles.

Well, it’s actually happening in El Paso, Texas and not Miami, but that’s just a technicality.

It was good to wake up to NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday and this story about Cuban exile and former CIA employee Luis Posada Carriles. He went on trial yesterday in federal court in El Paso, Texas on charges related to a series of hotel bombings in Havana in the mid-1990’s. And no story defines the wide chasm that in reality is only a 90 mile stretch between Miami and Cuba, better than the tale of Luis Posada Carriles.  

At 82 years of age, Posada is only a year younger than my own mother. He is a veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and worked for the CIA. It has long been thought that he was behind the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 – 73 people were killed. But this trial is about a bomb that went off in a Havana hotel in 1997, where an Italian tourist was killed. Prosecutors say they have transcript evidence of a Posada taking responsibility for the bombing.

In short, a life devoted to getting rid of Castro, by any means necessary.

Most interesting about the NPR piece, was reporter Greg Allen’s interview with Cuban-American writer and commentator Humberto Fontova. It so very clearly exemplifies the mentality that still exists in Miami among the elders of the refugee community – defense of Cuban militants, at all costs. Fontova begins by questioning the fact that the U.S. may introduce evidence on the Havana bombing gathered by the government of Cuba. Cuban officials will also testify.

Of the Cuban witnesses, he says...

Mr. HUMBERTO FONTOVA (Writer, Commentator): They're representatives of a totalitarian regime whose co-founder, Che Guevara, said the following: Judicial evidence is an archaic, bourgeois detail. Now, does it make sense to have officials from that regime at this trial?

ALLEN: Fontova says he doesn't know if Posada was involved in the bombing or not, but he explains his sympathy for Posada - and other aging Cuban militants accused of terrorism - this way:

Mr. FONTOVA: Put yourself in these men's places. The men of the Bay of Pigs generation, and the tremendous sense of betrayal that they felt, you know - to them, the battle wasn't over.

ALLEN: Posada isn't being charged with terrorism, but perjury related to testimony at an immigration hearing. In 2005, after decades of living abroad, Posada turned up in Miami and asked first for asylum, then naturalization. Eventually, that request was denied, and Posada was charged with lying and several other immigration violations.

The Obama administration significantly upped the ante when it added perjury charges related to the Cuban bombing to the indictment against Posada. The trial beginning tomorrow will mark the first time he'll have to answer in a U.S. courtroom to longstanding charges.

And indeed, when the trial began yesterday, the “distance” between Miami and Havana was once again obvious. The fraying of the "Cuban family," so close in distance and so far apart in interpretation of reality.

Outside, the two groups of demonstrators kept a respectful distance from each other on the broad plaza in front of the building.

About 60 protesters demanded that Posada be extradited to Venezuela or Cuba to face terrorism charges for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner in which 73 people were killed and a string of bombings of Havana tourism spots in 1997 that killed one Italian tourist.

About 50 feet away, a group of Posada supporters waved U.S. flags.

Despite lack of coverage, lots of people are watching this story.