BREAKING: Obama Set to Lift Ban on Family Travel to Cuba

[FourScore]

Obama Set to Lift Ban on Family Travel to Cuba
By LAURA MECKLER

WASHINGTON -- 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.

The president has authority to loosen these rules on his own, and the move is likely meant as a signal of a new attitude toward both Cuba and other Latin American countries that have pressed the U.S. to alter its policy.

The president does not intend to call for lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba, which would require congressional action, nor is any specific diplomatic outreach contemplated, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But advocates for greater openness with Cuba said the move was significant in and of itself, signaling a willingness of the Obama administration to take a fresh look at Cuba policy early in his presidency.

The timing of the announcement was unclear, but several Cuba experts speculate that it could come ahead of this month's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

"I will immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island. It's time to let Cuban-Americans see their mothers and their fathers, their sisters and their brothers," Mr. Obama said last May in a speech in Miami. "It's time to let Cuban-American money make their families less dependent on the Castro regime. That is the commitment I'm making right here."

The travel and remittance bans both stem from the embargo, put in place in 1961 after Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba. The travel ban lapsed during the Carter administration, and for a few years, all U.S. citizens could freely travel to the island, just 90 miles off the Florida coast...

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

[Dramarama]

1. nice

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[On the Road]

3. Nice --

This is a great way to proceed politically.

Nobody is going to all red-baiting on Obama because of family travel.

[NightWatcher]

4. mmmm, you can almost feel the Progressive

very nice, how long now before I dont have to hop scotch via Jamaica?

[TahitiNut]

5. I think ALL Americans should be permitted to travel to Cuba.

I don't like selective prohibitions based on ethnicity. :shrug: