Subject: [big campaign] Bloomberg: Overturning Cuba Travel Ban May Pass House This Year, Farr Says
From: Aniello Alioto <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:01:47 -0400
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&sid=a5R62TiRNi00

Overturning Cuba Travel Ban May Pass House This Year, Farr Says
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By Fabiola Moura

Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Legislation to end a ban on Americans traveling to
Cuba has enough support in the U.S. House of Representatives to win approval
by year-end, said Representative Sam
Farr<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sam+Farr&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
a California Democrat.

The bill to let U.S. citizens resume travel to the Caribbean island except
in times of war or cases in which they face imminent danger has 181 votes in
the House and needs 218 to pass, said Farr, a co-sponsor of the legislation.
The plan is backed by travel groups such as the United States Tour Operators
Association <http://www.ustoa.com/> and the National Tour
Association<http://www.ntaonline.com/join-nta/about-nta/>and human
rights groups such as the Washington
Office on Latin America <http://www.wola.org/> and has been helped by
President Barack
Obama’s<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack+Obama%3Fs&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>election,
he said.

“It is believed we can get to this before the end of the year,” Farr, 68,
said in an interview in New York. “We haven’t had a policy about Cuba. We’ve
had policies about getting votes in Florida and Obama changed that by
getting those votes.”

The U.S. ended restrictions on Sept. 3 on Cuban-Americans travel and money
transfers to relatives in Cuba. The new rules also allow U.S.
telecommunications companies to provide service in Cuba for mobile
telephone, satellite radio and television. Exceptions to the 1962 trade
embargo on communist Cuba include $500 million per year in agricultural
exports, Farr said.

“If you are a potato, you can get to Cuba very easily,” he said. “But if you
are a person, you can’t, and that is our problem.”

Pressure

Obama is under pressure from Latin American leaders to end the trade embargo
to help improve relations in the region. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio
Lula<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Luiz+Inacio+Lula&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>da
Silva will ask Obama to end the embargo during the United Nations
General
Assembly this week, spokesman Marcelo
Baumbach<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Marcelo+Baumbach&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>said
Sept. 17.

Obama announced in April he would lift travel limits for Cuban-Americans
visiting family in Cuba. At the same time, Representatives Lincoln
Diaz-Balart and Mario
Diaz-Balart<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Mario+Diaz-Balart&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
both Florida Republicans, issued a statement that the president had made
“unilateral concessions to the dictatorship” that would “embolden it to
further isolate, imprison and brutalize pro- democracy activists.”

Cuba’s former President Fidel
Castro<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Fidel+Castro&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
who handed power to his brother Raul
Castro<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Raul+Castro&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>last
year, called on Obama to completely lift the trade embargo.

White House officials have said there are no plans to lift the embargo. At
the same time, the administration is undertaking a full review of policy
toward Cuba with the goal of advancing “the cause of freedom” in the country
less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the coast of Florida, Daniel
Restrepo, a special assistant to Obama, said in April.

March Proposal

A group of House and Senate lawmakers proposed in March ending restrictions
to allow all U.S. citizens and residents to travel to Cuba. Farr said the
legislation, known as the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act,” also has enough
votes to clear the Senate, where Senator Byron
Dorgan<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Byron+Dorgan&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
a North Dakota Democrat, and Republican Senator Michael
Enzi<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Michael+Enzi&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>of
Wyoming introduced the legislation.

“There’s a lot more openness in the Congress,” Geoff
Thale<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Geoff%0AThale&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
program director in the Washington Office on Latin America, said in an
interview in New York. “Support is building. The travel industry and
business community are not just formally in support but actively engaged.
That’s why I think we’re going to see a difference.”

Senator Robert Menendez<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Robert+Menendez&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
a New Jersey Democrat who is of Cuban descent and sits on the Foreign
Relations Committee, has vowed to fight the easing of travel restrictions.

Philip Peters<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Philip+Peters&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
a vice president and Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute, a public policy
research group in Arlington, Virginia, said proponents of the bill may
succeed in winning congressional approval as public opinion grows among
Americans that U.S. rules on Cuba aren’t in line with much of the country’s
foreign policy.

‘Good Shot’

“They’ve got a good shot,” Peters said in an interview. “Certainly right now
they’re in striking distance and they’ve got plenty of time left in the
session.”

Ending the travel ban may lead as many as 1 million Americans to visit the
island every year, Lisa Simon, president of the National Tour Association,
known as NTA, said in an interview. It would also help push forward talks on
human rights issues, Thale said.

“We’ve had a policy for 50 years of isolating Cuba and it hasn’t done
anything about the human rights situation,” Thale said. “I don’t think there
is some magic solution. I don’t think ending the travel ban will cause Fidel
to say let’s have elections, let’s release all the political prisoners
tomorrow. What it will do is open the process of dialogue.”

Obama’s administration has been showing a “gradual relaxation and diplomatic
opening” toward Cuba, Thale said. He cited the government’s decision to
reinitiate talks on migration and direct mail, and also to put down the
billboard operated by the U.S. government outside its special interests
section in Havana, which he said often displayed anti-Cuba messages.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fabiola
Moura<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Fabiola+Moura&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>in
New York at
[email-masked]
Goodman<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Joshua+Goodman&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>in
Rio de Janeiro at
[email-masked];
*Last Updated: September 21, 2009 16:47 EDT*

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