US lawmakers introduce bill to ease Cuba travel

US lawmakers introduce bill to ease Cuba travel

news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON, (AFP) – Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have introduced a bill to permit US citizens unrestricted travel to Cuba, according to the Library of Congress website.

The "Freedom To Travel to Cuba Act," which would overturn the 46-year-old US policy strictly limiting travel to the Caribbean island, will be subject to debate after being referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The bill, introduced by Massachusetts Democrat Bill Delahunt and backed by eight other lawmakers, states that "the President may not regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly, travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents."

Currently US nationals are supposed to request Treasury Department permission to visit Cuba. They are not routinely allowed to spend money in Cuba -- the Americas' only one-party communist state -- creating an effective travel ban.

US President Barack Obama has said he would speak with all foreign leaders in sharp contrast to successive US administrations which have sought to isolate Havana.

But he has offered few details on how far he might be willing to go in reaching out to Cuba.

During his campaign for the presidency, Obama said the Cuba embargo had not helped bring democracy to the island, led by President Raul Castro, 77.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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www.thomas.gov

This Bill is bi-partisan and includes co-sponsors such a Ron Paul(R-TX). It is about time we started easing restrictions on travel to Cuba. 50 years of sanctions and embargo has gone absolutely no where. And this is very good news for my mother as she has not been able to visit her family in Cuba for over 30 years. And she's been having a difficult time with the Bush era restrictions on sending money.

Kudos to those who support this bill, it is about damned time to start reversing a 50 year old failed policy made worse by the Bush Administration.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

They should have ended the embargo and sanctions a long time ago. This country has never had the capability to hurt us IMO. The US should have accepted it as as is and restored all ties to ease the burden of the Cuban people.


US shouldn't feel so proud about keeping this country in check for so long.

All it has done is draw the Cuban regime closer to other regimes that hate us. The people of Cuba are NOT anti-American. This is something that needs to be set in stone now. They are anti-American Consumerism which, until the revolution, they were suffering the consequences of.

For example, under the US-backed Batista Regime, the US Corporations would buy their sugar, their coffee, and tobacco at cost price and sell it back to the Cubans at HUGE mark up. The economy of Cuba, because of policies like this(There were many this is just ONE example) suffered bouts of huge inflation, and poverty much worse than they face now.

They want normal relations with American and FAIR trade, not "Free" trade, which, as we all know because of NAFTA, don't do either party in the agreement a bit of good. This is positive news in a sea of so much negativity, and I welcome it with open arms.

OOOPs - I was writing a thread about this - as you were, so I will close mine down............. BUT - I am going to post here, EXACTLY how I posted my thread:

Because there are important "reasons" WHY they are doing this NOW!!

So here it is,




I find this quite funny, considering I predicted this, due to Cuba finding 20 Billion Barrel's oil within their borders in Oct. 08.

see link to article: Cuba Finds 20 bn barrel Oil Field

Mother nature, it emerged this week, appears to have blessed the island with enough oil reserves to vault it into the ranks of energy powers. The government announced there may be more than 20bn barrels of recoverable oil in offshore fields in Cuba's share of the Gulf of Mexico, more than twice the previous estimate.

If confirmed, it puts Cuba's reserves on par with those of the US and into the world's top 20. Drilling is expected to start next year by Cuba's state oil company Cubapetroleo, or Cupet.

"It would change their whole equation. The government would have more money and no longer be dependent on foreign oil," said Kirby Jones, founder of the Washington-based US-Cuba Trade Association. "It could join the club of oil exporting nations."

So, I emailed this article to friends and family and said at that time....

Watch the U.S. will FAST try and become Cuba's friend once more, I also said, if I was Cuba - I would tell the U.S. to get lost!

Well, funny funny - look at a bill we have in Congress now...... seems the U.S. is reaching out with an Olive Branch after 46 years!

Oh, could the U.S., being doing this out of the goodness of their hearts? I wonder...........hhhmmm - lets think about that........................NO

The U.S, will try and get a foot hold into Cuba now, so Exxon, Mobil or Shell can get ahold of that oil field!

So, here we go...

link to article: www.sun-sentinel.com...

The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 4 would allow American citizens unrestricted travel to Cuba for the first time since 1963. The bill by Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., and eight co-sponsors would also lift limits on travel by Cuban exiles living in the United States. The president would not be able to regulate travel to the island unless an armed conflict or armed danger arises.

So, all bets are off, personally, if I was Cuba, I would look at this VERY suspiously!

I posted a link to the Bill in the Related links. Cuba could benefit ALOT from selling oil to America. Like I said before though, Cubans want fair trade, not NAFTA. They won't put up with that crap because they still remember what the revolution was all about.

I'm from Canada and I went to Cuba a couple f weeks ago. I noticed at my departure that there was an American Eagle Flight doing Holguin - Miami.

So I guess some US companies are already positionning to start dealing with Cuba....


Any thoughts ??

I told the mods, they can close my thread, since you have one up already.
not a one liner

reply to post by projectvxn


I think Cuba, will be able to find "other" friends to get the oil out of the fields. I think it is great we will lift the travel restrictions...... but - I believe it is ONLY because the U.S. has an EYE on that oil field!!!

I got this story directly on the wire last night through my AP app and held off on posting it until after I could read the bill. It actually took some effort to find the damned thing.

The bill itself has nothing in it about economic cooperation, but oil may, indeed, play a huge role in this. Why do any offshore drilling when we can just buy cheap gas from the Cubans somewhere down the line? It could be a mutually beneficial relationship so long as it is mutually respectful.

This is kinda cool, Cuba has always held a mystique for me for some reason.
Sounds like I may be saving for a new vacation destination.

Castro will suddenly go away in one form or another, I guarantee that. He goes away and we come on in...wait and see

Finally we can get some good stogies around here without the black market, should be a good investment for those enterprising few.

Well not just yet. As I said there are no economic agreements. Those have to be hashed out by the State and Commerce dept. This is just to allow people to visit Cuba, and it is also in the interests of helping the Cuban-American population regain some contact with their seemingly distant, yet painfully close relatives.

and Cuban cigars remain outlawed in the USA?

Yes, under current policy they are still banned in the US. This bill will not change that. Again the State and Commerce Depts. have to hash that out, but that likely won't be happening, even this year.

[edit on 11-2-2009 by projectvxn]