By Jay Amberg Bloomberg Lifestyles.
Bloomberg.com. Tue, 22 May 2001,
12:20pm EDT
London, May 21 -- A Bloomberg subscriber and avid cigar aficionado in London
said that during visits to Cuba in the past three years he has seen increasing
numbers of U.S. citizens on the streets of Havana.
The subscriber asked if there were any official figures published regarding
U.S. visitors to the island and how many made the trip legally.
Bloomberg's response: Granma, Cuba's state-run newspaper, has reported that
170,000-190,000 U.S. citizens visited Cuba in 1999 (most current figures
available), compared with 276,346 visitors from Canada and 182,159 German
citizens, the two top countries sending tourists to Cuba.
Cuba estimated 30,000 of the U.S. citizens visiting Cuba did so with the
permission of the U.S. government, meaning they had a license to travel to Cuba
from the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC).
The remainder apparently traveled illegally through other countries like
Mexico, Panama, Jamaica and the Bahamas.
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