Obama to Lift Ban on Family Travel, Remittances to Cuba

[Orangepeel]

Source: Wall Street Journal

President Barack Obama plans to lift a longstanding U.S. ban on family travel and remittances to Cuba, a senior administration official said Friday, in what could be an opening gesture toward more openness with the Castro regime. The move will fulfill a campaign promise and follows more modest action in Congress this year to loosen travel rules.



Read more: http://wsj.com#mod=djemalertNEWS

[Mari333]

1. kudos for the obama admin for this one

see? when I like what he does I will say I do. when I dont like what he does, I will say that also.

[pinto]

2. Good move.

:thumbsup:

[lamp_shade]

3. Good news to hear.

[antimatter98]

4. Excellent News. If Bank of America wanted to be there, Cuba would fully open 'this weekend.'

The next Dubai--banking, tourist center is 90 miles off Florida. Either China/Venezuala will do it
or we will. Who will be the first?

[Vidar]

5. Good start, but lift the embargo.

[roody]

6. That leaves me out since I am not of Cuban descent.

Oh well, I refuse to ask for or accept permission to go to Cuba. I am a free human being. I will go where I wish.

[tomreedtoon]

7. Why would you, a non-Cuban, want to go to Cuba?

First of all, there is no reason for an American to travel to any foreign country, since they all hate us and want to kill us.

But of all the nations for you to seek your death in, why Cuba? It hasn't been a genuine island paradise since the Batista days. All you have there is old hotels, beaches, propaganda, sixty year old cars and propaganda posters. No dancing girls, no gambling, no booze, and no drugs, the only four reasons anyone ever had for going there.

ON EDIT: Listen to Donald Fagan's song "The Goodbye Look." That will tell you all you need to know about Cuba...

Last night I dreamed of an old lover dressed in gray.
I've had this fever now since yesterday...
Wake up darling! They're knocking! The Colonel's standing in the sun,
With his stupid face, the glasses and the gun.

I know what happens,
I read the book.
I believe I just got the goodbye look.

[SharonAnn]

8. We'd like to go and we're not Cubans. But my husband grew up there and

had to leave when the office of the multi-national firm that his dad worked for was closed and moved out of Cuba.

My husband would like to go back to where he was during his high school and college years. Kind of like a class reunion would be for me.

And it's sad that he can't go back just to visit and see the sights and see if any of his old friends are still around.

[roody]

25. It is easy to go to Cuba. Use cash.

Go from Mexico or any other sensible country.

[roody]

22. Cuba has plenty of dancing girls and boys!

[dipsydoodle]

11. Change your nationality

to any EU country and then go wherever you please. :)

[roody]

23. It is definitely an option. Especially since I am 55 and starting

to ponder how I will fare as a senior citizen in the USA without universal health care. Cuba takes care of its elderly.

[Zynx]

12. This is a good first step. No need to shit all over it.

[roody]

21. I am accustomed to equal rights.

[roody]

24. No shitting here.

[Staph]

9. Is this intended as a Friday news dump?

Trying to avoid a big, negative reaction in Miami?

[spag68]

14. Cuba

I think you are dead wrong about the negative reaction in Miami. I lived in Miami for 7 years and have many friends there. Our collective opinion is that the first Golden arches that goes up in Havana is the beginning of the end of Castro's Cuba. Cuba is a beautiful island and Havana according to my parents was more fun then Vegas. Don't forget that Cuba's rulers before Castro were brutal dictators with no vision of what their island could be. Just give this new policy a chance and we might be surprised at how fast Cuba becomes a tourist paradise.

[Staph]

15. I'm not referring to Miami in general,

but using that as a shortcut to refer to the anti-Castro hardliners. I think that those folks will be absolutely livid.

[Orangepeel]

16. I think there is a big difference in how younger and older Miami Cubans feel

I lived in Miami for a while and it seemed that way to me. The older people had spent so many years defending the policy, they couldn't admit it had failed. The younger ones were more willing to see.

[spag68]

26. Miami

This was the point I tried to make. A vast majority of the cuban exiles are long gone. There are now third generation Cuban-Americans, who have no idea what their grandparents were talking about. What they want to do is visit their homeland just like Italians want to go to Italy.

[and-justice-for-all]

10. The entire Cuba embargo thing is such bullshit...nt

[Hope And Change]

13. K & R!

[Orangepeel]

17. better link

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879435046687885.html

[MikeNearMcChord]

18. Now go all the way, Mr. President!!

Full relations with Havana, return Gitmo to Cuba, free the Miami 5! The US needs to grow up from the cold war years, if we can have relations with Vietnam, we can have it with Cuba.

[Snarkoleptic]

19. So nice to see that our President realizes we expend too much effort on being the worlds douchebag.

[fujiyama]

20. Definitely a good move

Especially reassuring after Biden's comments recently.

[Hissyspit]

27. Obama to Loosen Restrictions on Policy with Cuba

Source: New York Times

Obama to Loosen Restrictions on Policy With Cuba

By ERIC SCHMITT and DAMIEN CAVE
Published: April 4, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to abandon longstanding restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba, an administration official said Saturday, fulfilling a campaign promise in a pivotal swing state and signaling a possible warming of relations with the Castro government.

The White House is expected to announce the action before Mr. Obama travels to Trinidad and Tobago for a meeting on April 17 of Latin American and Caribbean leaders. The House and Senate are considering legislation that would go even further than the administration and allow all Americans unlimited travel to Cuba.

While precise details of the plan are still being worked out, Mr. Obama is not expected to call for the lifting of the trade embargo on Cuba, which would require Congressional approval, the administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the policy change has not been formally announced.

Cuba analysts said Friday that they did not expect any new diplomatic initiatives toward the island nation. “It’s a humanitarian step, but it doesn’t get at the root of our foreign policy problem with Cuba because we don’t have full contact,” said Philip Peters, a Cuba specialist and vice president at the Lexington Institute, a policy research center. Cuban-Americans are now permitted to travel once a year to the island to visit close relatives. The Treasury Department also issues licenses to travel to Cuba for specific purposes, including academic research, official government business, news reporting and other nontourism related activities.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/world/americas/05cuba.html?_r=1&ref=us

[Cha]

28. Thanks for this link and thanks to the OP, too.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that this place was aflame because somebody(I forget who) besides Obama said he had no plans to change the current policy.

This is a welcome surprise!

[Mika]

29. Americans without relatives in Cuba (99.7%) remain travel banned!

Not the change needed.

Creating a special class of citizen/resident alien (Cuban-Americans and Cuban US resident aliens w/family in Cuba) at the expense of keeping the rest of us travel banned 2nd class citizens is absurd!

[IndianaGreen]

30. Let all Americans travel to Cuba freely

The federal government should not be telling us where to travel.

[Arugula Latte]

31. Fabulous!

This is long overdue.

[Mika]

33. Why?

I'm still travel banned. So are about 99.7% of Americans. Not fabulous. Ridiculous.

[EFerrari]

32. Why is the Federal government telling us where we can travel?