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Travel restrictions not
in our best interest
Editorial: U.S. should
encourage people-to-people visits to Cuba
Posted on Thu, Feb. 01,
2007 in The
Miami Herald.
The U.S. government is blowing its best
chance to encourage a peaceful transition
in Cuba by holding fast to counterproductive
restrictions on travel to the island. Denying
a visit to Cuba by the World Trade Center
Palm Beach, a not-for-profit group, is a
perfect example.
At a time when Cuba's future is uncertain,
this U.S. business group could have promoted
the virtues of free enterprise and U.S.
humanitarian assistance. Instead, the White
House's insistence on an inflexible policy
snuffed this opportunity for a beneficial
people-to-people exchange.
Current travel and trade rules allow U.S.
citizens with special licenses to visit
Cuba for a variety of reasons, among them
educational, religious and humanitarian.
WTC Palm Beach planned to take 30 South
Florida professionals to establish ties,
offer assistance, learn about Cuba and ''familiarize
the right people about the positive aspects
of trade and industry in our area,'' according
to Louis Haddad, WTC Palm Beach's president.
This wasn't a trip for people masquerading
as an educational or religious group in
order to party and drop U.S. dollars in
Havana.
Possibility of change
U.S. travelers such as the WTC group carry
information to Cubans from abroad and dispel
ugly myths about the United States. Doing
so makes these visitors the best ambassadors
for democracy and free markets in Cuba.
When U.S. visitors offer humanitarian assistance,
they also help reduce the fear of change
among ordinary Cubans and even government
officials.
We support the U.S. embargo on commerce
with Cuba. But the current restrictions
go too far in restricting legitimate travel
by Cuban Americans and others, such as WTC
Palm Beach. Now that power shifts open the
possibility of change in the 48-year-old
dictatorship, U.S. policy should encourage,
not reject, constructive people-to-people
contacts with Cuba.
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