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Cuba makes a slow welcome
The pristine
Caribbean Island off Cuba's coast is limited
to foreign tourists.
By Tracey Eaton, Knight-Ridder
Tribune, Keynoter
, FL, July 9, 2004.
This pristine island off Cuba's southern
coast has what you might expect: 17 miles
of unspoiled beaches, eight hotels and a
cozy marina. What's surprising is what Cayo
Largo does not have namely, native Cubans.
Not a single Cuban lives on the island full
time. Cubans work here in 20-day shifts,
serving the thousands of foreign tourists
who visit every month, then returning to
their hometowns for 10 days. Cayo Largo
is an example, albeit extreme, of how Cuba
would like to run its tourist industry,
analysts say.
Everything is tightly controlled, crime-free,
almost Disney-like. And virtually all tourism
proceeds go to Fidel Castro's government,
not to private entrepreneurs. It's part
of a broader government effort to consolidate
control over the tourist industry, which
brings in about $2 billion in revenue per
year, more than any other enterprise. The
number could be billions more, if not for
the strict U.S. regulations, which prohibits
most citizens from visiting the communist
country.
"The government has control,"
said Ninoska Perez, a director of the Cuban
Liberty Council, a prominent anti-Castro
group in Miami. "And as long as the
government is in control, there will not
be any change."
It's a controversial debate in South Florida
and Washington. The Cuban Liberty Council
and other Miami groups want the U.S. government
to maintain its strict ban on American travel
to Cuba, saying that such travel only props
up the Castro government. But many U.S.
lawmakers, business organizations and others
have increasingly insistent that the ban
be lifted.
"Unrestricted travel by Americans
will unleash a flood of contact with Cubans,
transmitting information, ideas and values,"
Cuba expert Philip Peters testified before
the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance in
September.
Wayne Smith, the former top American diplomat
in Havana, agrees.
"Americans believe that the travel
of American citizens abroad is one of the
best means of spreading the message of our
democratic system. Why should it not have
that effect in the case of Cuba?" he
told the same committee.
The stakes are high for the Cuban government,
analysts say. If the ban remains, growth
in the Cuban tourist industry could be sluggish,
which would hurt the economy. But if the
prohibition is removed, an estimated 1 million
American tourists would arrive in the first
year, infusing the government with much-needed
cash. U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.,
is fighting to prevent that from happening.
"Mass tourism" from the United
States, "and the billions of dollars
it would generate," is Castro's "No.
1 policy objective," he said in a March
opinion piece in the Miami Herald. Lifting
the ban "would be tragic and unconscionable."
An American, visiting Cayo Largo in violation
of the U.S. ban, said he objects to the
travel restriction, but isn't eager to see
Cuba overrun with American tourists.
"If Americans came here freely, it
would be impossible to get a spot on one
of these boats," said the man, a 47-year-old
Dallas doctor who spoke on the condition
of anonymity.
He was aboard an 18-foot Sea Pro fishing
boat that was churning toward one of the
hundreds of tiny islets of sand near Cayo
Largo. He would spend the day fly fishing,
stalking bonefish and other elusive creatures
in shallow waters.
"My job is pretty stressful,"
he said. "I just wanted to get away
from it all. And this is getting away from
it." There were only six small fishing
boats in the surrounding waters that morning.
"If Cuba had a pure capitalist system,"
he said, "you'd see 100 boats out here.
And you'd have to get up at 5 a.m. to stake
out your territory."
Under U.S. law, Americans who violate the
travel ban can be fined thousands of dollars;
$55,000 per violation is the maximum civil
penalty. The Bush administration has stepped
up enforcement, inspecting more than 95,000
passengers traveling to or from Cuba since
October and detecting several hundred who
allegedly violated the travel ban. Cuban-Americans,
some business people, journalists, diplomats
and academics are eligible to travel to
the country legally, but tourists aren't
allowed.
Most Cubans aren't allowed to stay overnight
at hotels, even if they have the money to
pay for the rooms. Nor are they allowed
to board the old Soviet planes that carry
tourists to such spots as Cayo Largo. Perez
said she can't understand why there was
such international outrage over apartheid
in South Africa while Cuba's policies seem
to get little scrutiny.
"There's a double standard when it
comes to Cuba," she said.
Lizbet Calero, an employee at the 296-room
Sol Cayo Largo hotel, said the island would
lose its appeal if Cubans settled there.
"Right now, it's very isolated and
people can enjoy the beaches with hardly
anyone else around," she said. "If
there were a town here, it wouldn't be as
peaceful."
Hugo Senecal, 30, a businessman from Holland,
said he is astonished by the place because
it seems almost devoid of Cubans.
"You never see them on the beach,"
he said. "It's not like Havana where
Cubans tend to stick to you until they get
some money out of you. Here we don't see
Cubans at all."
More than 2 million tourists are expected
to visit Cuba in 2004. Most will arrive
from Canada and Europe.
Copyright
© 2004, Keynoter Publishing Company
Inc. All rights reserved.
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