Conghaileach
5th July 2002, 15:20
GRANMA
July 2 , 2002
New bill to end restrictions for Cuba travel
True interests of the U.S. public and members of
Congress . Major supporters
BY GABRIEL MOLINA [ Granma editor ]
DESPITE the May 20 speech against Cuba made by President Bush II, on
June 25, 20 members of the U.S. House of Representatives presented a
bill to end current restrictions on traveling to Cuba.
The bill's main promoter, Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, announced his
third attempt to end the ban preventing U.S. citizens from freely
traveling to the island. A large majority approved his previous
initiatives, but they never became law due to maneuvers by Republican
leaders who favor the blockade.
Flake told a press conference that he was confident that this time,
they would have an even bigger majority. The bill reflects a change in
the congressional viewpoint on the blockade of the island, which has
lasted over 40 years and has been tightened since 1999.
The initiative will also introduced in the Senate by Democratic Senator
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, amplified Flake. He called President
George W. Bush's policy on Cuba "inconsistent," pointing out that the
White House promotes trade and contacts with China as keys to
encouraging more open relations, but affirms that the same measures
would have a different effect in Cuba.
Flake asked how it was possible to expect that trade and contacts would
not benefit the Cuban people.
INCREASED SUPPORT FOR TRADE
Also on June 25, the Advisory Council of the Americans for Humanitarian
Trade with Cuba (AHTC) has released a surprising list of the
organization's new members. The Council backs the bill presented by
Congressman Flake, who leads the Cuba Working Group, comprised of 44
legislators from both parties.
AHTC Co-President Sam Gibbons, former member of Congress for Tampa who
is included in Tom Brokaw's book The Great Generation, stated that
freedom to travel is essential for ensuring food and medicine for Cuba,
and that a clear majority in Congress support ending this un-
American restriction of freedom of movement.
Gibbons welcomed the new members together with the other co-president,
Craig Fuller, president of the national association of drug store
owners and Vice President George Bush I's former chief of staff.
Joining the already impressive Advisory Council membership are Melinda
Bush, president of Hospitality Resources Worldwide; Cuban-American
Alberto Coll, dean of the U.S. Naval Academy; Peter H. Coors, president
of Coors Brewing Co., Colorado; Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, former
congressman and current general secretary of the U.S. Council of
the Churches of Christ; Milton Friedman, renowned economist famous for
his work at the University of Chicago and now a member of the Hoover
Institute; and former Congressman Mark Sandford, the South Carolina
Republican who has opposed the travel ban in Congress for some years
now.
All these have joined an eclectic list that already included David
Rockefeller, former U.S. trade representative in President George Bush
I's administration; Carla Anderson Hills; Paul Volcker; Frank Carlucci,
Ronald Reagan's former national security advisor; James Schlesinger,
former CIA director; John Whitehead, President Nixon's
defense secretary; General Jack Sheehan, former NATO supreme commander;
movie director Francis Ford Coppola; Archer Daniels Midland President
Dwayne Andreas; Michael Dow, mayor of Mobile, Alabama; Bob Odom,
Louisiana's agricultural commissioner; and many more. The AHTC also has
an advice network in 23 states of the Union.
68% OF AMERICANS IN FAVOR OF TRAVEL TO CUBA
ATHC Executive Director Lissa Weinmann* has urged the U.S. president
and Congress to rescind all restrictions on the sale of food and
medicines, as well as travel to Cuba. She stated that those measures
make it hard to meet with Cuban counterparts, that they block
humanitarian trade efforts and violate U.S. citizens' freedom of
movement.
In July 2001, Flake proposed an amendment in the House
of Representatives which would have ended funding for enforcement of
the travel restrictions; the amendment was approved by 240 votes to
186, including 93 Republican votes in favor.
This year, Flake reintroduced the amendment, but at the same time
presented a separate bill to end the restrictions, modifying articles
on the two laws that reinforce the blockade: the misnamed 1992 Cuban
Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act.
According to a May 2002 poll carried out in Miami - bastion of the
Cuban counterrevolution - some 46% of Cuban-Americans are in favor of
total freedom to travel to Cuba, while 47% support the prevailing
restrictions.
Sally Grooms Cowal, president of the Cuban Policy Foundation (CPF),
which advocates the end of the blockade, indicated that 68% of U.S.
citizens believe that obstacles on travel to Cuba should end.
TOURISM SECTOR IS LOSING MORE THAN $500 MILLION USD
The CPF called the press conference to present a report stating that
ending restrictions would bring significant economic benefits to the
United States.
The report, produced by experts at the University of Colorado Business
School, maintains that an increase in travel to Cuba would produce
$545.6 million USD in the first year and create 3,800 jobs. By the
fifth year, benefits to the U.S. tourism industry could rise to $1.9
billion USD and more than 12,000 new jobs.
According to the CPF - an organization that applies pressure on the
government and Congress to lift the blockade and whose members include
former Republican diplomats - lifting the economic blockade of the
island could bring tens of millions of dollars in business for tourism
companies, cruise companies and airlines.
A previous CPF report indicated that because of the blockade, the U.S.
agricultural sector loses $1.24 billion USD each year in exports.
Former ambassador Grooms has said that banning travel to Cuba endangers
the U.S. economy because U.S. people want to visit the island.
Thanks to the blockade, U.S. citizens cannot enter Cuba as tourists
because they can't spend money here. Only those with express Treasury
Department authorization for humanitarian, sports, academic and other
such reasons can visit; on their return to the United States, they must
show that they spent no money on the island.
EXCEPTIONAL SALES IN 2002
In 2000, with President Clinton's endorsement, Congress approved a
change in the law on trade with Cuba, allowing the authorization of
sales of agricultural products and medicine from the United States to
the island. However, Cuban-American legislators allied with the extreme
right managed to get approval for a clause prohibiting any public or
private financing to carry out such sales.
Both the Cuban government and the U.S. farmers backing the bill, along
with various of their congressional representatives, declared it was
impossible to have sales without financing. But last November's
Hurricane Michelle facilitated exceptional sales of 100 million
dollars, which Cuba paid in cash. Many international analysts
considered that deal a blow to the blockade.
At the beginning of 2001, Senator Byron Dorgan tried to include an
amendment to allow such financing, as part of the 2002 Agricultural
Appropriations Act. But following the September 11 tragedy, Congress
decided not to discuss the budget amendment, to avoid controversial
themes.
Members of Congress from agricultural states, farmers and large food-
producing companies are interested in the idea of expanding trade
opportunities. Most of those who favor the idea do so not out of
sympathy with the Revolution, but rather to protect U.S. political and
economic interests. One example of this was former assistant
Undersecretary of State Bernard Aronson's June 19 statement, to the
effect that these proposals would have a subversive effect on Cuba.
Aronson made these comments in testimony to the Senate Committee on
Western Hemisphere Affairs, which analyzed a bill proposing increased
bilateral humanitarian and scientific exchanges between the two
nations, relax travel restrictions to Cuba, allow financing for food
and medicine sales, and end the limit on the amount of money
in remittances sent by Americans to their families to Cuba.
The bill's author, Senator Christopher Dodd, stated that Cuba's
meningitis B vaccine and other products could save many lives in the
United States, adding that the proposals, which have 26 co-sponsors
from both parties, would accelerate the transition to democracy on the
island.
Some years ago, President Fidel Castro told President Clinton that he
would accept that challenge if the game was played fairly.
* Lissa Weinmann launched a call to the American people to register
their opinion via the AHTC. Send your thoughts to:
http://tbutton.prnewswire.com.prn/11690X3235593 or call
(718) 416-1653.
(Edited by CiaranB at 3:24 pm on July 5, 2002)
July 2 , 2002
New bill to end restrictions for Cuba travel
True interests of the U.S. public and members of
Congress . Major supporters
BY GABRIEL MOLINA [ Granma editor ]
DESPITE the May 20 speech against Cuba made by President Bush II, on
June 25, 20 members of the U.S. House of Representatives presented a
bill to end current restrictions on traveling to Cuba.
The bill's main promoter, Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, announced his
third attempt to end the ban preventing U.S. citizens from freely
traveling to the island. A large majority approved his previous
initiatives, but they never became law due to maneuvers by Republican
leaders who favor the blockade.
Flake told a press conference that he was confident that this time,
they would have an even bigger majority. The bill reflects a change in
the congressional viewpoint on the blockade of the island, which has
lasted over 40 years and has been tightened since 1999.
The initiative will also introduced in the Senate by Democratic Senator
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, amplified Flake. He called President
George W. Bush's policy on Cuba "inconsistent," pointing out that the
White House promotes trade and contacts with China as keys to
encouraging more open relations, but affirms that the same measures
would have a different effect in Cuba.
Flake asked how it was possible to expect that trade and contacts would
not benefit the Cuban people.
INCREASED SUPPORT FOR TRADE
Also on June 25, the Advisory Council of the Americans for Humanitarian
Trade with Cuba (AHTC) has released a surprising list of the
organization's new members. The Council backs the bill presented by
Congressman Flake, who leads the Cuba Working Group, comprised of 44
legislators from both parties.
AHTC Co-President Sam Gibbons, former member of Congress for Tampa who
is included in Tom Brokaw's book The Great Generation, stated that
freedom to travel is essential for ensuring food and medicine for Cuba,
and that a clear majority in Congress support ending this un-
American restriction of freedom of movement.
Gibbons welcomed the new members together with the other co-president,
Craig Fuller, president of the national association of drug store
owners and Vice President George Bush I's former chief of staff.
Joining the already impressive Advisory Council membership are Melinda
Bush, president of Hospitality Resources Worldwide; Cuban-American
Alberto Coll, dean of the U.S. Naval Academy; Peter H. Coors, president
of Coors Brewing Co., Colorado; Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, former
congressman and current general secretary of the U.S. Council of
the Churches of Christ; Milton Friedman, renowned economist famous for
his work at the University of Chicago and now a member of the Hoover
Institute; and former Congressman Mark Sandford, the South Carolina
Republican who has opposed the travel ban in Congress for some years
now.
All these have joined an eclectic list that already included David
Rockefeller, former U.S. trade representative in President George Bush
I's administration; Carla Anderson Hills; Paul Volcker; Frank Carlucci,
Ronald Reagan's former national security advisor; James Schlesinger,
former CIA director; John Whitehead, President Nixon's
defense secretary; General Jack Sheehan, former NATO supreme commander;
movie director Francis Ford Coppola; Archer Daniels Midland President
Dwayne Andreas; Michael Dow, mayor of Mobile, Alabama; Bob Odom,
Louisiana's agricultural commissioner; and many more. The AHTC also has
an advice network in 23 states of the Union.
68% OF AMERICANS IN FAVOR OF TRAVEL TO CUBA
ATHC Executive Director Lissa Weinmann* has urged the U.S. president
and Congress to rescind all restrictions on the sale of food and
medicines, as well as travel to Cuba. She stated that those measures
make it hard to meet with Cuban counterparts, that they block
humanitarian trade efforts and violate U.S. citizens' freedom of
movement.
In July 2001, Flake proposed an amendment in the House
of Representatives which would have ended funding for enforcement of
the travel restrictions; the amendment was approved by 240 votes to
186, including 93 Republican votes in favor.
This year, Flake reintroduced the amendment, but at the same time
presented a separate bill to end the restrictions, modifying articles
on the two laws that reinforce the blockade: the misnamed 1992 Cuban
Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act.
According to a May 2002 poll carried out in Miami - bastion of the
Cuban counterrevolution - some 46% of Cuban-Americans are in favor of
total freedom to travel to Cuba, while 47% support the prevailing
restrictions.
Sally Grooms Cowal, president of the Cuban Policy Foundation (CPF),
which advocates the end of the blockade, indicated that 68% of U.S.
citizens believe that obstacles on travel to Cuba should end.
TOURISM SECTOR IS LOSING MORE THAN $500 MILLION USD
The CPF called the press conference to present a report stating that
ending restrictions would bring significant economic benefits to the
United States.
The report, produced by experts at the University of Colorado Business
School, maintains that an increase in travel to Cuba would produce
$545.6 million USD in the first year and create 3,800 jobs. By the
fifth year, benefits to the U.S. tourism industry could rise to $1.9
billion USD and more than 12,000 new jobs.
According to the CPF - an organization that applies pressure on the
government and Congress to lift the blockade and whose members include
former Republican diplomats - lifting the economic blockade of the
island could bring tens of millions of dollars in business for tourism
companies, cruise companies and airlines.
A previous CPF report indicated that because of the blockade, the U.S.
agricultural sector loses $1.24 billion USD each year in exports.
Former ambassador Grooms has said that banning travel to Cuba endangers
the U.S. economy because U.S. people want to visit the island.
Thanks to the blockade, U.S. citizens cannot enter Cuba as tourists
because they can't spend money here. Only those with express Treasury
Department authorization for humanitarian, sports, academic and other
such reasons can visit; on their return to the United States, they must
show that they spent no money on the island.
EXCEPTIONAL SALES IN 2002
In 2000, with President Clinton's endorsement, Congress approved a
change in the law on trade with Cuba, allowing the authorization of
sales of agricultural products and medicine from the United States to
the island. However, Cuban-American legislators allied with the extreme
right managed to get approval for a clause prohibiting any public or
private financing to carry out such sales.
Both the Cuban government and the U.S. farmers backing the bill, along
with various of their congressional representatives, declared it was
impossible to have sales without financing. But last November's
Hurricane Michelle facilitated exceptional sales of 100 million
dollars, which Cuba paid in cash. Many international analysts
considered that deal a blow to the blockade.
At the beginning of 2001, Senator Byron Dorgan tried to include an
amendment to allow such financing, as part of the 2002 Agricultural
Appropriations Act. But following the September 11 tragedy, Congress
decided not to discuss the budget amendment, to avoid controversial
themes.
Members of Congress from agricultural states, farmers and large food-
producing companies are interested in the idea of expanding trade
opportunities. Most of those who favor the idea do so not out of
sympathy with the Revolution, but rather to protect U.S. political and
economic interests. One example of this was former assistant
Undersecretary of State Bernard Aronson's June 19 statement, to the
effect that these proposals would have a subversive effect on Cuba.
Aronson made these comments in testimony to the Senate Committee on
Western Hemisphere Affairs, which analyzed a bill proposing increased
bilateral humanitarian and scientific exchanges between the two
nations, relax travel restrictions to Cuba, allow financing for food
and medicine sales, and end the limit on the amount of money
in remittances sent by Americans to their families to Cuba.
The bill's author, Senator Christopher Dodd, stated that Cuba's
meningitis B vaccine and other products could save many lives in the
United States, adding that the proposals, which have 26 co-sponsors
from both parties, would accelerate the transition to democracy on the
island.
Some years ago, President Fidel Castro told President Clinton that he
would accept that challenge if the game was played fairly.
* Lissa Weinmann launched a call to the American people to register
their opinion via the AHTC. Send your thoughts to:
http://tbutton.prnewswire.com.prn/11690X3235593 or call
(718) 416-1653.
(Edited by CiaranB at 3:24 pm on July 5, 2002)