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U.S. allows unlimited visits to relatives in Cuba |
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 WASHINGTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Americans with "close relatives" in Cuba can visit the island as long and often as they would like under new rules lifting some travel and telecommunications restrictions, the U.S. Treasury said on Thursday. The rules, effective immediately, fleshed out an announcement by President Barack Obama in April to ease the U.S. trade embargo enforced on Cuba after Fidel Castro's leftist revolution half a century ago. But the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Americans could spend only $179 per day on visits to family members in Cuba, including aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins.
That is the same amount as the U.S. State Department's per diem rate for official visits, and it will change when the State Department rate changes. The new OFAC rules also allow Cuban Americans to send unlimited amounts of money to family members in Cuba, and permit U.S. banks to set up exchange arrangements with Cuban financial institutions. Until now, Cuban-Americans had been allowed to travel to the island only once a year and were limited to send only $1,200 per person in cash to needy family members in Cuba. U.S. telecommunications companies will now be allowed to set up fiber-optic cable and satellite links with Cuba, start roaming service agreements and permit U.S. residents to pay for telecoms, satellite radio and satellite television services provided to individuals in Cuba, according to the OFAC rules. (Reporting by David Lawder, Editing by Anthony Boadle) |
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OAS ends Cuba suspension after 47 years |
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BY Anahi Rama
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (Reuters) The Organization of American States lifted its 47-year suspension of Cuba on Wednesday in a move backed by Washington, but Cuban state-run TV said Havana had no interest in rejoining the group. "Cuba has not asked for nor does it wish to return to the OAS, which is steeped in a submissive and shady history," said anchorman Randy Alonso. There was no immediate reaction from officials of Cuba's communist-run government. But former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said in April that Cuba had no desire to rejoin the OAS, which he has criticized as an instrument of U.S. policy, and did not want to "hear the vile name of that institution." The 34-member hemispheric body, meeting in Honduras, unanimously scrapped a 1962 decision at the height of the Cold War that barred Cuba as revolutionary leader Fidel Castro took it toward communism and an alliance with the Soviet Union. While leftists in Latin America hailed the OAS vote as a diplomatic victory for Cuba, Washington said it had succeeded in ensuring that Cuba could not rejoin the group without moving toward democracy and respect for human rights. U.S. President Barack Obama has taken steps toward a more open relationship with Cuba, lifting restrictions on travel and cash remittances to Cuba for Cuban-Americans with relatives on the island. But his administration had said Havana should not be allowed to return to the OAS until it embraces democratic principles and makes progress on human rights. Cuba's allies in Latin America instead called for Cuba to be allowed back in from the cold with no conditions, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came under heavy pressure at the OAS meeting here this week. In a diplomatic compromise, the group's member countries agreed that Cuba's re-entry would be "the result of a process of dialogue" that Cuba has to request and must be in line with OAS principles. Clinton said Cuba's return to the group -- which is little known in the United States and Canada but carries diplomatic weight in Latin America -- would now "turn on Cuba's commitment to the organization's values." That was a reference to the OAS's commitment to defend democracy and human rights under a 2001 Democratic Charter. "I am pleased that everyone came to agree that Cuba cannot simply take its seat and that we must put Cuba's participation to a determination down the road - if it ever chooses to seek re-entry," she said. REJECTION FROM CUBA Alonso, who anchors the state-run evening television news program, Mesa Redonda (Roundtable), said Havana "recognizes the political courage, the symbolism and defiance" represented by the decision to lift the suspension. But hours before the OAS vote, Fidel Castro described the body as an "accomplice" to crimes against Cuba. Cuba's leftist allies in the region had pushed for the suspension to be lifted and treated the vote as a diplomatic victory for Cuba. "The Cold War has ended today here in San Pedro Sula. We have made a wise and honorable decision," Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said. Despite opening up to Cuba, Obama has refused to drop the decades-old embargo on the island, saying its communist leaders need to free political prisoners and improve human rights. U.S. officials sought to cast the outcome as a victory, arguing they had staved off the possibility of the OAS simply throwing open its arms to Cuba by rescinding the suspension without any insistence on democracy and human rights. "The ball is now in Cuba's court to abide by the principles of human rights and democracy embodied in the Inter-American Democratic Charter," said Representative Eliot Engel, chairs of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Staunch opponents of the Cuban government in the Cuban- American community were not happy with the OAS decision. U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, from Miami, called it "an affront to the Cuban people and to all who struggle for freedom, democracy and fundamental human rights." "Rather than upholding democratic principles and fundamental freedoms, OAS member states, led by the OAS Secretary General, could not move quickly enough to appease their tyrannical idols in Cuba," Ros-Lehtinen said. The OAS move could allow Cuba to request loans from the Inter-American Development Bank, although it was not clear if it would first have to apply for membership or if the lifting of the suspension would be enough. (Reporting by Anahi Rama in Honduras, Jim Loney in Miami and Esteban Israel in Havana; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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In Cuba,Richardson says US travel ban should end |
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By James Anderson (AP)
August 28, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO DE PAULA, Cuba — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that he's just a governor on a trade mission and carries no message from the U.S. government as he visits Cuba this week. But he does plan to report his impressions to President Barack Obama. Richardson spoke outside Havana while visiting Ernest Hemingway's former home, where he donated a replica of a telephone used by Hemingway to curators on behalf of his state. He said all U.S. citizens should be able to visit such cultural gems. "I think enhancing cultural and artistic and educational ties is a prelude to diplomatic and commercial ties. It always happens that way," Richardson told The Associated Press. "I'm for enhanced tourism travel for Americans." Richardson said that travel should go beyond the so-called people-to-people educational and cultural contacts promoted by the Bill Clinton administration. Richardson insisted he is not in Cuba on Washington's behalf and is not bringing any message from the U.S. government. But he is meeting with senior Cuban officials, including a scheduled encounter Thursday with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and a Monday meeting with Ricardo Alarcon, president of parliament. So far, everyone has brought up the U.S. embargo and other aspects of U.S. policy, Richardson said, without elaborating. "I'm not an envoy of the (Obama) administration. I'm carrying no message. I'm here as a governor seeking agricultural trade," he said. "Obviously I do plan to submit my impressions to the administration after I conclude," he said. "I will do that as a citizen and as a governor. They're my impressions alone." As a congressman, Richardson secured the release of three Cuban political prisoners during talks with then-President Fidel Castro in Havana in 1996. As U.N. ambassador in 1997, he held talks on terrorism with then-Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina. Richardson supported Obama's declaration during last year's U.S. presidential campaign that he would be open to meeting current President Raul Castro without preconditions. The governor also has opposed lifting the U.S. embargo, while advocating negotiations withCuba to promote human rights. The Obama administration has relaxed restrictions on Cuban Americans' travel and money transfers to family on the island. Most U.S. citizens cannot visit — technically, the U.S. Treasury Department bars them from spending money in Cuba — in tandem with the U.S. embargo imposed in 1962 to weaken Cuba's Communist government. The U.S. and Cuba also are resuming talks on migration and direct mail, but they have sparred over a U.S. suggestion that Havana release its political prisoners. Cuba insists that any dialogue have no preconditions. Richardson and state Cabinet officials are promoting exports of New Mexico beef, corn, wheat, potatoes and apples. Despite the embargo, U.S. states can sell agricultural and certain other products to Cuba, though sales on credit are prohibited. To promote cultural ties, New Mexico will inaugurate an exhibition of Cuban modern art next week. |
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Cuban American travel to Cuba on the rise |
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HAVANA (Reuters) - The number of Cuban Americans visiting Cuba is up 20 percent so far this year and will likely keep rising as Washington eases travel restrictions, the Cuban tour operator for U.S. traffic said on Wednesday. Antonio Diaz Medina, vice president of Havanatur, said arrivals picked up after the U.S. Congress in March eased a Bush administration measure that restricted Cuban American visits to once every three years. "The flights from the United States carried about 85,000 last year and so far this year arrivals have been about 40,000," Diaz said in an interview. Diaz said an additional increase in visitors was expected during the summer after President Barack Obama signed an executive order last month lifting all restrictions on Cuban Americans visiting relatives. Diaz spoke as Cuba's annual tourism convention unfolded at the colonial-era Morro Cabanas fortress overlooking Havana Bay, where talk among officials and tour operators centered on whether the gathering would be the last without a large American presence. Legislation lifting all travel restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba was introduced in Congress just over a month ago, and with a slight thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations under way, is given a good chance of passing. Cuba has been mostly off-limits to Americans since the U.S. imposed a trade embargo against the communist-led island three years after Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution. Tour operators from more than 50 countries at the convention dubbed the prospect of open travel from the United States "the American Tsunami" and said it was just a matter of time. "You know what, I love Americans. Go Obama. Cuba will still be Cuba, the same place with a few Americans added. It's just like adding another spice to the stew," said Richard, a Canadian tour operator who did not want to give his full name. Cuban officials appeared relaxed about the prospect of the Americans arriving, with one saying "there is no reason to make it a big deal now. They could come in three months or three years." "I do not expect any tsunami. What's certain is that there will be a convention in 2010, with or without the Americans," Diaz said. "If they come, too, that's fine. It will simply mean we are going back to normal where all markets are open," he said, adding inquiries from U.S. tour operators had increased significantly. The Obama administration denied licenses to U.S. tour operators seeking to attend this year's convention, according to John McAuliff of the New York-based Fund for Reconciliation and Development. "We could have brought 100 operators here," he said. "Next year we will, and if all restrictions are lifted there will be hundreds, maybe even a special event." (Editing by Jeff Franks and Doina Chiacu) |
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