Cuban-American travel OK'd; Americans must report whom they see/account for every dollar spent

[seafan]

For relatives, travel to Cuba just got easier


BY FRANCES ROBLES
March 12, 2009

Cuban Americans are now free to visit relatives on the island once a year and stay as long as they like, using a new license issued by the Obama administration.
The general license for travel by Cuban Americans removes a tricky loophole Congress created in its 2009 budget bill, which removed funding for enforcing travel restrictions but did not lift the restrictions. ..... With the new license, created late Wednesday, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control officially lifted the tightened restrictions enacted by President Bush in 2004, which had limited trips to every three years and only to see immediate relatives.

.....

A posting on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) website indicates Cuban Americans can follow regulations that existed before Bush tightened the rules in June 2004. The rules now allow:

• A trip every 12 months with a general license that does not require an application process.

• Passengers wanting to travel again within the same year can apply for ''specific licenses.'' Approval will be given case by case.

• A broader definition of who qualifies as family and can be visited.

• A per diem spending of $179.

.....

While advocates for liberalized travel to the island welcomed the news, they cautioned that it is still not what President Barack Obama promised on the campaign trail: no restrictions at all.
''This is a step in the right direction,'' said Silvia Wilhelm, executive director of the Cuban American Commission for Family Rights, which advocated for the change. ``This is not a presidential executive order removing all restrictions.''

.....

But the White House hinted Thursday that more changes could come.

''The guidance issued yesterday by the Treasury Department was issued pursuant to a law passed by Congress,'' White House spokeswoman Gannet Tseggai said Thursday.
''The president was not involved in the drafting of that provision, and it does not take the place of his own review of family visits and family cash remittances,'' she added.
Travel to Cuba became a thorny issue among Cuban-American politicians, who were largely divided along party lines. South Florida's Republican representatives have argued that increased travel to Cuba infuses the Castro regime with hard currency that helps keep it afloat.

The congressional spending bill passed this week also created a new general license for Americans who want to travel to Cuba to sell medical and agricultural goods to the Cuban government.
That license will be formalized soon, Treasury spokeswoman Heather Wong said.

The Cuban-American travel license starts immediately.

Chris Dodd is chastizing the Obama administration for the way it plans to carry out congressionally-sanctioned changes to US-Cuba policy.

The move comes as the Treasury Department begins issuing general licenses allowing annual visits with no time limits by Cuban Americans who want to visit relatives on the island. But that's not the provision angering the Connecticut Democrat.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Dodd says he's concerned about what he called "onerous, invasive reporting requirements" for Americans traveling to Cuba on business. Among the requirements: American citizens would have to record and report the names of Cubans they meet with and "account for every dollar spent."

Dodd said the requirement is a "serious step back from advancing people-to-people relations and challenges the most basic privacy and associational rights of U.S. citizens. These sorts of onerous, invasive reporting requirements are incompatible with American values."

Dodd is right to be concerned over the continuing restrictions for American citizens. We will see whether additional changes are forthcoming.

[Deja Q]

1. Will Cuban cigars still remain an exception?

http://www.guerillaimports.com/republicans-love-cubans.php

[bluestateguy]

2. I want that Cuban vote in 2012

It's kind of important to me that we get those people on our side.

[NaturalHigh]

3. How will the hookers be accounted for?

Will they be considered an entertainment expense?