Democrats Introduce Legislation Opening Up Travel To Cuba

Via anonymous emailer comes word that Democrats in the House have introduced a bill to allow travel from the US to Cuba.

The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act introduced in the U.S. House on Wednesday would allow American citizens unrestricted travel to Cuba for the first time since 1963. The bill by Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., and eight cosponsors also would lift limits on travel by Cuban exiles living in the United States. The president would not be able to regulate travel to the island unless an armed conflict arose.

Bay of Pigs veteran Miguel Reyes, founder of the Cuban American Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., thinks that the bill doesn't matter much. He has no plans to travel to Cuba and doesn't care if other people do.

"As an American, I think I have the right to go wherever I want to without anyone stopping me," said Reyes, whose views are independent from the club.

"It's a betrayal, and it's not going to resolve anything," said Jose Lopez, president of the Broward County Latin Chamber of Commerce. Lopez left Cuba in 1961.

Tourism dollars spent in Cuba will inject more oxygen into the dying Castro regime, he said. Lopez also thinks Cuban exiles who want to return to the island whenever they please are abusing their refugee privilege.

If passed, it would be the first time that travel between the US and Cuba was allowed since before Fidel Castro rose to power.

Cuba used to be a beautiful country with lovely beaches and it used to have a vibrant travel and tourist industry. Now, it is a shell of its former self, largely because of the collapse of Soviet Union and the lack of capital to support the industry.

While I wouldn't mind a vacation to Cuba at some point in the distant future when the Castros are no longer in any position of power, I think any such travel now would still benefit the privileged classes - those connected to the Castro clan, rather than the people of Cuba who are still oppressed under the harsh restrictions of the Cuban economic and political system.

Then again, unrestricted travel to Cuba would show just how blighted the socialist "paradise" truly is. It would reveal that the vaunted medical care system in Cuba is nothing more than wishful thinking and that medical tourism provides two-tiers of service - one that brings income to Cuba for the privileged (the part that Michael Moore highlights in his agitprop movie Sicko), and the rest of the country gets substandard care that borders on the criminal.

Cuba continues to hold political prisoners and maintains restrictions on speech and conduct of business is strictly regulated. In fact, Cuba's elites are little more than a criminal gang.

Unusually, organized crime in Cuba is run by the state. This is a result of the decision to bolster the Cuban military and intelligence apparatus by granting its top generals control over the lucrative tourism and hospitality industry. The island nation’s security and intelligence apparatus, estimated at 20,000 strong, is part of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. This means the Cuban security and intelligence community is also a major business operator on the island, overseeing the country’s booming tourist industry, cigar production and distribution of illicit goods.

Don't expect any of that to change anytime soon.

Yet, the Democrats are looking to change the policy even though the Castro regime has shown that it is unwilling to hold free and fair elections or release political prisoners. It is still a dictatorship.