FROM
CUBA
Cubans will not need visas to travel
to the island, says official
SANTA CLARA, Cuba, January 10 (www.cubanet.org)
- A high Cuban immigration department official
announced that shortly Cubans residing abroad
will in most cases, not need visas to travel
to the island.
The official, lieutenant colonel Lamberto
Fraga, in charge of the department, said
they are now in the process of implementing
procedures so that Cubans who have all their
documentation certified will be able to
travel in and out of Cuba as often as they
wish without the need for further permits
or visas.
Fraga said Cubans who have "a hostile
attitude against the Revolution" would
not benefit from the new measures.
In October, 2003, the Foreign Ministry
had announced the measures would be put
in place. "The decision is a signal
of the government's will to facilitate...
contacts between Cubans abroad and their
relatives in Cuba," read the ministry's
press release at the time.
Some economists estimate that remittances
sent to relatives and money spent during
visits by Cubans abroad constitute the second
most important source of income to the island's
economy, ranging upwards of 800 million
dollars a year.
Versión
original en español
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