Apr 13, 2009 10:54 pm US/Eastern
Obama To Allow Travel And Money Transfers To Cuba
WASHINGTON (CBS4) ―
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President Barack Obama speaks on improving veterans health care at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., April 09, 2009.
Aude Guerrucci/AFP/Getty Images
President Barack Obama has announced his administration will allow unlimited travel and money transfers from Cuban Americans to family in Cuba. The changes are intended to help the Cuban people become less dependent on the Castro regime. The White House believes this would help the Cuban people in their push for political freedom and a democratic government.
The White House will allow gift parcels to be sent to Cuba, and will issue licenses to increase communication amongst the Cuban people. The administration also will begin issuing licenses to allow telecommunications and other companies to provide cell and television services to people on the island, and to allow family members to pay for relatives on Cuba to get those services.
The changes made good on a promise President Obama made while a presidential candidate. It has been known for over a week that he would announce them in advance of his attended this weekend of a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
"There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans," Obama said in a campaign speech last May in Miami, the heart of the U.S. Cuban-American community. "It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers. It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent upon the Castro regime."
Francisco Hernandez, head of the exile group the Cuban American National Foundation, was once a staunch supporter of travel restrictions but supported Obama's announcement, saying he hopes it will inspire both sides to reconsider long-held positions.
It will help Cubans become more independent of the state "not only in economic terms but in terms of information, and contacts with the outside world," said Hernandez, who was imprisoned by the Cuban government for nearly two years after participating in the 1961 failed Bay of Pigs invasion.
"I think it is a good idea to help family, but it's a regime and I don't care to spend money for that regime; still I believe it is a good idea and can help out," said Miami resident Lazaro Bueno.
Some lawmakers, backed by business and farm groups seeing new opportunities in Cuba, are advocating wider revisions in the trade and travel bans imposed after Fidel Castro took power in Havana in 1959.
Miami travel agent Tessie Aral said her phone has been ringing nonstop in anticipation of the announcement, with a tenfold increase last Friday alone.
"Policy to travel to Cuba has been used in a way by all our regulators to make a statement on how the relations should work," said Aral, owner of ABC Charters. "We're used as little pieces in a chess match."
U.S. Senator Mel Martinez issued a statement immediately following the announcement made a little after 3pm on Monday. "The announcement today is good news for Cuban families separated by the lack of freedom in Cuba. Likewise the change in remittances should provide help to families in need," Martinez said.
Click here to apply online to visit a family member in Cuba.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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