Cuba - by Sea & Air

In days gone by, when travel between Key West and Cuba was unrestricted, there were two ways to get between one and the other:

By Sea

or

By Air

Despite what you may have heard, there is no Key West - Havana Bridge-Tunnel

.

Two years ago Key West International Airport was approved to offer flights to Cuba.  However, the efforts of several potential operators (one of them was Cape Air)  to gain approval for such flights from both American and Cuban authorities failed for various reasons.  Now, however, there are reports that an operator, that is someone with planes and pilots, may be on the verge of success in getting the needed approvals.  We're following that and will provide updates as they become available.

As with everything related to Cuba, there will be significant restrictions on who can travel and what they can do while there.  The Huffington article gets into that.

As far as sea travel goes, there are no commercial operators who currently offer passage between the islands.  I asked one of the owners of the Key West Express fast ferry  several months ago if his company was making plans to offer such trips, and he assured me that they are,

The matter of Cuba opening up for Americans to travel freely across the windward passage (and for Cubans to do so also) has been a subject of conjecture for many years.  The impact of those events will very likely change the tourism dynamic for Key West in ways that are not yet well-understood.

Nevertheless, we're prepping ourselves to go over.  Although it might be nice to be among the first to go, we'll wait until we are free of any restrictions that wouldn't exist if we decided to go to anywhere else on earth.  Janet's 70th birthday is February 4th; maybe that'll be our target.

Cuba and the U.S. State Department

Here are some things that the U.S. State Department says about Cuba:

1.  Cuba is an authoritarian state that routinely employs repressive methods against internal dissent and monitors and responds to perceived threats to its authority.

2.  Human rights conditions in Cuba remain poor, as the Cuban government limits fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

3.  Cuba generally welcomes U.S. citizen travelers and U.S. citizens are generally well received

4.  Cuban Assets Control Regulations are enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and affect all U.S. citizens and permanent residents wherever they are located, all people and organizations physically located in the United States, and all branches and subsidiaries of U.S. organizations throughout the world.

5.  The regulations require that persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction be licensed in order to engage in any travel-related transactions pursuant to travel to, from, and within Cuba, or that the transactions in question be exempt from licensing requirements. Transactions related to tourist travel are not licensable. This restriction includes tourist travel to Cuba from or through a third country such as Mexico or Canada. U.S. law enforcement authorities enforce these regulations at U.S. airports and pre-clearance facilities in third countries. Travelers who fail to comply with Department of the Treasury regulations could face civil penalties and criminal prosecution upon return to the United States.

And it goes on and on.  It's -- schizophrenic!

OFAC (This Year in Cuba)

This is a direct link to the Cuba Sanctions Page at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Cuba Sanctions fall under the control of the Office of Foreign Asset Control.  OFAC is a sub-unit of the Office of Terrorism and Intelligence Analysis, which falls within this organizational structure.

OFAC enforces at least seven other Sanction Programs, including against against Iran and Iraq, terrorism, narcotics, and others.

The Cuba Sanctions are the particular focus of this posting.

What are the sanctions?

Well, apparently, there are enough of them and enough to say about them to fill a book.

It isn't a big book, only 21 pages, but dense and written in legalese that make it difficult to discern what may or may not be done by a traveler.  Because it is dense, and because it imposes requirements on an American citizen that don't exist for any other country, as far as I know.  With my U.S. Passport, I'm able to book a flight to any county in the world -- except Cuba.  To get to Cuba, I have to fill out a five page form to obtain a License that might or might not be approved.  The license restricts me from doing certain things that I might want to do.  It requires that I do things that I might not want to do, such as travel with a defined group or stay in an approved place.

Mind you, these aren't restrictions or licenses required by the Cuban government, they are required by MY government, and they aren't imposed on me for travel to any other country, and they aren't imposed on citizens of any other country but the United States.  Land of the Free?  Pah!

Here's an overview:

The Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR Part 515 (the “Regulations”), were issued by the U.S. Government on July 8, 1963, under the Trading With the Enemy Act in response to certain hostile actions by the Cuban Government. They apply to all persons (individuals and entities) subject to U.S. jurisdiction – including all U.S. citizens and permanent residents wherever located, all persons in the United States, and all branches and subsidiaries of U.S. organizations throughout the world – as well as all persons engaging in transactions that involve property in or otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The Regulations are administered by Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). Criminal penalties violating the Regulations range up to 10 years in prison, $1,000,000 in corporate fines, and $250,000 in individual fines. Civil penalties up to $65,000 per violation may also be imposed. The Regulations require those dealing with Cuba (including traveling to Cuba) to maintain records for five years and, upon request from OFAC, to furnish information regarding such dealings.

General and specific licenses are available to engage in certain transactions that are otherwise prohibited by the Regulations. A “general license” authorizes a particular type of transaction without the need for an application to, or further permission from, OFAC. A “specific license” authorizes specific transactions, and is issued to a specific person or persons, usually in response to an application. Types of specific licenses that OFAC frequently issues are set forth in the Regulations as statements of licensing policy. 

We'll delve into this more as time goes on.

Meanwhile, "This Year in Cuba" will be our watchword here at 90MilesToKeyWest.

Reader View: Cuba connection worth making - The Santa Fe New Mexican: My View

Reader View: Cuba connection worth making - The Santa Fe New Mexican: My View

Another view on the embargo and travel restrictions.

Cuban Five Case

Policy Paper on the Cuban Five case.

"The case of the Cuban Five is one which reflects abysmally on the U.S. juridical system. The Five, Gerardo Hernandez, Luis Medina, Antonio Guerrero, Ruben Campa and Rene Gonzalez, were members of the Cuban Intelligence Service sent to penetrate Cuban exile organizations that were carrying on terrorist activities against Cuba.  Once sufficient evidence of those activities had been gathered, the idea was to invite representatives of the FBI to come to Cuba and provide them with that evidence – in hopes that the U.S. would then take action to put a stop to these activities."

That didn't happen.

Cuban 'Medical Diplomacy'

Contrary to the official United States position, that Cuba is a State Sponsor of Terrorism, clear evidence shows that Cuba conducts its foreign policy by asking for friendship and mutually beneficial relationships with governments and people from  the rest of the world.  And it avoids the huge mistake of trying to militarily and economically enforce its ideas of how to govern upon other nations.

Granted, there was once a time when Cuba offered such military support as it could muster, to countries in far away places.  Now the Cuban government practices what others have called 'medical diplomacy', trading the services of doctors, nurses and other well-trained medical troops to bring healing hands to nations and regions that desperately need them.

In return they receive such aid as might be available to the counterpart country:  oil from Venezuela, food from throughout Central and South America, sugar purchases and, once, direct subsidies from Russia -- and direct payments for the thousands of medical personnel willing to work in clinics and hospitals in poor and remote areas of the world.

In the meanwhile, the U.S. uses its Agency for International Development (USAID) to destabilize Cuba economically, politically and spiritually.  Cuba is the only country in the world where AID is used in this way.

Cuba is also the only country in the world where [most*] American citizens are required to apply to the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) for permission to travel to Cuba legally.  These restrictive licenses severely limit what travelers are able to do while in Cuba, and they allow OFAC to impose large and punitive fines on any traveller who violates the license in any way.  To my knowledge, no other country imposes this on their citizens.

As a practical matter, thousands of Americans already go to Cuba every year. But they must use subterfuge to do it by traveling first to another country and then travel to Cuba from there.  The Cuban government cooperates by not stamping U.S. passports at its borders.

It is long overdue for the President and Secretary of State to remove the State Terrorism label and to end the economic embargo that robs opportunities from both sides -- the U.S. and Cuba.

It's also time to remove the onerous travel restrictions that prevent me and millions of other good citizens from going there to see for ourselves what's going on.

Sign the petition at the White House website:

Allow all American citizens to travel to Cuba under the same terms as to any other country

* American citizens who have family in Cuba can travel there free from the restrictions that govern the rest of us.  How unfair is that?

Another good Cuba blog

"The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has spent more than $200 million on these programs since 1996. They are explicitly designed to influence internal affairs in Cuba and boost freedom. And no matter how noble the cause might be, the programs are at odds with development work in most parts of the world."

"Into the Cuckoos Nest (May 2, 2013) , from blog "Along the Malecon"

"Douglas Dillon, under secretary of state during the Kennedy administration, helped set the tone in 1960 when he said it was Washington's duty to cause "rising discomfort among hungry Cubans."
The strategy continued in the 1970s, according to "Cuba Under Siege," which quotes a CIA officer as saying:

We wanted to keep bread out of the stores so the people would go hungry."  

[ibid.] 

"Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track."

"US AID Contractor Work in Cuba Detailed", Desmond Butler, AP.  February 13, 2012

C'mon, Mr. Kerry, c'mon Mr. Obama, do what's sensible.
Allow all Americans to travel to Cuba under the same terms as to any other country.

Sign the Petition

People to People Exchanges

Here are the 52 pages of regulations governing the travel of Americans to Cuba.  No such regulations govern or restrict the ability of Americans (from the land of the free) to travel to any other country, with the possible exception of the other two countries in the world also designated as sponsors of state terrorism.

These rules, however, apply only to Cuba.  They severely limit the things that may or may not be done by a traveler holding any one of the eight general and fifteen specific licenses that must be fully documented when making a request for one.

In addition, most travel to and from Cuba must be booked with one of the many "OFAC-authorized Travel Service Provider[s] (TSP[s]".  These companies charge exorbitantly high fees and charges for what ought to be an almost insignificant fare for the brief flights between Miami and Havana.  

As an example of the restrictive nature of the regulations, I refer readers to the paragraphs beginning on page 22 for ".... certain educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program .... which category also includes those people wanting to engage in People-to-People exchanges.

Here is a link to a recent article from the Christian Science Monitor that focuses on the so-called people-to-people exchanges.  It's an easier read than the dense legalese of the regulations.

Cuban citizens have an easier time traveling to the United States than U.S. citizens have traveling to Cuba.

Land of the free?  Indeed not.

End it now.