The Economist. Jul 29th - Aug 4th 2000
THE forbidden fruit always tastes the best—or so Philip Agee, a former CIA whistleblower, is hoping. He has set up a joint-venture dot.com company with Fidel Castro’s government to encourage Americans to defy their government by holidaying on the forbidden island. Now that the United
States House of Representatives has voted to ease the travel ban to Cuba (see article), the prospect of their actually making the trip seems less implausible.
Mr Agee’s website, called Cubalinda.com and designed for the American market, offers travellers an "unforgettable adventure". The thrill, he assured potential clients ahead of this week’s Havana carnival, would be provided by the exotic dancers and festival floats, rather
than the firm hand of an immigration official on the shoulder when visitors returned to the United States after breaking the travel ban against the island.
Mr Agee has been a thorn in the Americans’ side ever since he left the CIA at the end of the 1960s to write books denouncing the United States for dirty wars across Latin America. Now he wants to further a rebellion against the American embargo. "I would like to see people ignore the
law," he says. "That’s what happened in the 1920s with prohibition; all our grandfathers were making bath-tub gin."
As it stands, American law bans the spending of any money in Cuba, rather than visits outright. Exceptions are made for academics, students, musicians and others who can get special permits. Some institutions, like Harvard University, have general licences allowing any member to visit Cuba. "You
could join a photo club in Maine on-line, which has a general licence," explains Mr Agee, "and then legally come to take pictures of the carnival." The Cubans say that more than 160,000 American citizens visited the island last year, many of them legally.
Judging by the response to his website so far, there is plenty of potential interest. Mr Agee says that he got more than 600,000 clicks during its first three months. Not all the messages were friendly however, particularly those from exiles in Miami.
Now that the Americans have begun to hint at an easing of the sanctions that have been in place for the past 38 years, it may be that adventurous American sorts will feel readier to take the risk right away. Cubalinda insists that even now there is no real risk for American visitors. "To
our knowledge, no-one has ever been prosecuted for simply visiting Cuba," it declares. "It is simply a law designed to intimidate, but it is not enforced."
As for Mr Agee himself, he makes no apologies for advocating a breaking of the travel ban. "I stayed away from the United States for 17 years on legal advice," he says. "If I find I can’t go back now, it will not bother me in the least." |