Rep. Kendrick Meek opposes remittances to Cuba

[Mika]

Rep. Kendrick Meek opposes remittances to Cuba
http://www.miamiherald.com/1469/story/998570.html
Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek is wary of President Barack Obama's
plan to let Cuban Americans send unlimited remittances to relatives in Cuba.

Miami Democrat Kendrick Meek said he will be among six members of Congress traveling with President Barack Obama on Air Force One this week to the Summit of the Americas -- though he disagrees with part of the administration's new Cuba policy.

At a Monday morning rally for his U.S. Senate campaign, Meek said he supports curbing the amount of money Cuban Americans can send to their relatives because the communist government takes a 20 percent cut.

Later Monday, Obama announced that he would allow Cuban Americans to freely send cash to needy relatives, and he called on the Cuban government to confiscate less of the money. The announcement was timed to coincide with the summit that begins Friday in Trinidad.

Meek said he was unaware that Obama had pledged during his campaign to lift the limits on remittances put in place under President George W. Bush.

''I want to talk to the president about the unlimited remittances, if that's what he said, because that could be counterproductive to our mission in Cuba to turn it toward democracy the way we'd like to see it,'' he said.

He later issued a statement that said free-flowing remittances would amount to ``further propping up a regime that suppresses human rights, freedoms and personal mobility. . . . To have remittances meant for family members in Cuba siphoned off by the regime in Havana would be a deep insult to Cuban Americans everywhere.''

Other members of Florida's delegation share Meek's concerns, reflecting Cuba's status as one of the issues that unites Democratic and Republican politicians from a state that is home for hundreds of thousands of politically influential exiles.

Republican Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami said in a statement that Obama made ''a serious mistake by unilaterally increasing Cuban-American travel and remittance dollars for the Cuban dictatorship.'' Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston suggested doubling the $1,200 annual limit instead of lifting the cap. But other Democrats in Congress and the White House argue that the restrictions have failed to weaken the regime and instead hurt the Cuban people.

Meek represents one of the most Democratic districts in the country, and his stance on Cuba stands out against a mostly liberal voting record. On Monday, he received his fourth union endorsement, from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Meek is a co-sponsor of a controversial bill that has become organized labor's top priority. The legislation would make it easier for unions to recruit new members by collecting signatures instead of holding secret-ballot elections.

Meek's endorsements and nearly $1.5 million in donations have given him an early leg up in the campaign to replace Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, who is retiring in 2010. The other major Democratic contender, state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami, has raised about $400,000.

Gov. Charlie Crist would immediately become the Republican front-runner if he decides to run for the Senate.

''Kendrick jumped out in front early and has picked up steam ever since,'' said Diana Pitarelli, who currently serves as vice chair of the Broward Democratic Party.

``It's not going to be easy to beat Charlie Crist. I know Democrats who like Charlie Crist.''

[Bacchus39]

1. people should be able to send as much to their families in Cuba as they want

however, I am curious of how Cuba's government will handle that. will it be stolen and used by the Cuban government instead of the individuals it was intended for? we certainly don't want to generate inequality now do we?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Isn't that a shame? He's such a nice guy, too. The Cuban winger Congressmen have taken him & Debbie

Wassmerman Schultz hostage.

I'm sure his mother, when she was in goverment had an arrangement with them to support their projects in order to get them to throw a little support for Haiti. Lotta good that did her, huh? Haitians are whipped right back to Haiti as fast as they can get them there without using a gigantic catapult.

They're also simply screwn over any possible hope for a "Haitian Adjustment Act!" They get treated like dirt, and hustled off after getting to sit in jail for a long time, usually.

This is so sad. It's the cost of trying to be in government in South Florida as long as the reactionary Batista maggots control everything there.

[Mika]

3. I REALLY don't think that its the gusanos any more.

Reeks of false flag cover ops. (Meek is a puppet on a string seeking an office.) Its the military industrial congressional complex at work (disaster capitalism) in US campaign funding, payola, etc. What FC has been speaking to all along.

[magbana]

9. Mika, you are right on target. It can't be the gusanos anymore.

The group itself is too small and less and less influential. I think, lying beneath the disaster capitalism machinations, it is the US Gov't. that is preventing the US Gov't. from normalizing relations. The Cuban exiles did a lot of the US' dirty work around the world over the last 40 years including right here in the US. There are plenty of Brigade 2506 veterans still alive who can tell you stories about the US Gov't. that would make your hair stand on end.

Yet, everything is right for normalization: general public favors it, increasing numbers of Cuban-Americans support it, fewer and fewer people give a damn about what Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts say, corporate America is salivating over the idea(this includes a lot of foreign companies who are hog tied by the blockade as well), and Latin America is ready to eat the US alive and is likely to end up in very embarrassing confrontation for the US. I think there are employees of the CIA whose sole job has been over the last 40 years to keep a lid on a very nasty secret that the exiles were in up to their necks. The exiles didn't get their asses kicked at the Bay of Pigs and betrayed by JFK to have the US engage in normalization talks with Cuba in their lifetime. These guys have and are willing to go to any lengths to prevent this.

So, I think disaster capitalism is the driving force concerning lifting the blockade. But, underlying all this are secrets that the US is quite willing to look like a fool to keep covered up. Of course, it has to be a VERY big secret and it must have to do with the US gov't. assassination of JFK.

brought to you by conspiracy theory, inc. ha!

[Bacchus39]

4. wow, so Cuba does steal the money. 20% off the top

I should have read the article first. that changes things somewhat. I see Meek's position now.


"At a Monday morning rally for his U.S. Senate campaign, Meek said he supports curbing the amount of money Cuban Americans can send to their relatives because the communist government takes a 20 percent cut."

why should the Cuban government get it?

[Mika]

5. Income tax?

10% on the exchange to Euros and then 10% on the exchange to Pesos. :shrug:

Where did this 20% number come from? An exile from Cubanet whispered this in Meeks ear, and then gave him a wink? :shrug:

[Bacchus39]

6. maybe you can look into this for us. find out what the government takes off the top n/t

s

[Mika]

7. I've called Meek's office, and am waiting for a response.

No one there knew the answer, waiting for Meek to return my call.

[Bacchus39]

8. how much do your Cuban friends say is taken by the Cuban government?

that might be a good source.

I read today that the current policy is Cuban-Americans can send up to $100 a month which is 5 times as much as the Cuban government pays in salaries.

Kind of ironic isn't it, the revolution being financed by the enemy and evil capitalism.

[Mika]

10. Meek's press officer says that's the number the media uses, that came from Debbie Wasserman Schultz?

I called Wasserman Schultz' office and was told that was the number straight from Cuba - provided by "independent journalists" in Cuba (Cubanet).

A nice loop they (the anti trade industry) have got going.

Provide funding for "independent journalists" (enough to make them VERY wealthy by Cuban standards), and these so called journalists provide pseudo justification for anti trade campaign fundraising and policy making by fabricating stories.

My Cuban friends say remittances are taxed 3% exchange rate for pesos. Cuba no longer allows US dollars as a "second" currency, The euro has replaced the dollar as this "second" currency (for tourists mainly).

[Bacchus39]

11. websites seem to suggest its 21% for dollars and 11% on other currencies

http://www.habanasol.com/cuba/send-money.htm

http://www.cubacurrency.com/sending_money_to_cuba.html

http://www.guide-sejour-linguistique.ch/fr/send-money-to-cuba/index.htm

http://www.uts-transaction.com/en/money-transfer-cuba.htm

are you sure you included all the different types of taxes levied?? it seems though some of these say they manage to avoid paying a portion of the tax. any thoughts on that?

[Mika]

12. Miami Herald: Going to Cuba? Pack lots of cash

Going to Cuba? Pack lots of cash
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1002304.html
Going to Cuba? Take plenty of cash, because the exchange rates can be
staggering and U.S. credit cards will not work in the island nation.

BY MARTHA BRANNIGAN
[e-mail]

Travelers heading to Cuba will need cash -- and a good bit of it.

Visitors suffer sticker shock at the island's lofty prices almost as fast as they notice Havana's colonial architecture.

Most of the basic needs of travelers -- hotels, rental cars and restaurants -- are expensive compared to other Latin American countries. However, there are alternatives for traveling on the cheap, such as casas particulares, private homes whose owners have government permission to rent rooms to visitors.

Earlier this week the Obama administration lifted restrictions on travel to Cuba by Cuban Americans as well as the limits on remittances they send to their families there, a move that is expected to prompt many South Floridians with family ties to make more frequent trips.

Cuba may be just across the Florida Straits, but it's a world away: U.S. credit cards and debit cards won't work on the Communist island; neither will U.S. travelers' checks, so travelers should take plenty of cash.

Cuba has two currencies: the Cuban peso, known as moneda nacional, which Cubans typically get as salaries and use in routine purchases; and the Cuban convertible peso, which is called the CUC (pronounced kook) and informally known as the chavito by Cubans on the island.

A Cuban convertible peso is worth 24 Cuban pesos, though most travelers have little use for the latter.

Cuba officially sets the value of the CUC at $1.08, but the currency exchanges typically charge a rate of $1.12 for one CUC.

On top of that, the Cuban government imposes a 10 percent surcharge to exchange dollars, which in effect makes $1 worth 0.804 CUCs at the currency exchanges or cambios. Conversely, it costs about $1.24 to get a CUC after all is said and done.

The surcharge means travelers are better off switching dollars for euros, Canadian dollars or Swiss francs before leaving the United States. Those currencies don't get hit with the extra 10 percent fee.

''If you take dollars down, they get you in essence twice,'' says John S. Kavulich, senior policy advisor to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a New York-based group that tracks the Cuban economy. ``Most people use Canadian dollars or euros.''

CADECA, the government-run currency exchange, has locations throughout Cuban cities and towns for converting foreign money to pesos.

Hotels and other tourist haunts will also change money, but they give even worse exchange rates.

For a decade, from 1994 to 2004, the U.S. dollar circulated on the island as an über currency that could be used in so-called dollar shops that sold consumer goods such as electronics, clothes, toys and food items not available elsewhere.

But in 2004, the Cuban government banned the use of U.S. dollars for most transactions in response to a Bush administration move tightening remittances to Cuba. Bush limited travel to once every three years for Cuban Americans and restricted remittances to $300 quarterly to a specific relative.

That was when the Cuban government, as part of a ''de-dollarization,'' instituted the 10 percent surcharge on converting U.S. dollars to Cuban convertible pesos.

The surcharge also applies to dollar-based remittances to family members on the island -- something U.S officials hope Cuba will change in response to the Obama administration's new policy.

At a White House briefing this week, Dan Restrepo, special assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said the United States expects Cuba to ``stop charging the usurious fees that it does on these remittances.''

Most people visit Cuba because of family ties, curiosity, business or cut-rate prices at seaside resorts, so the island isn't trying very hard to compete with other spots in the Caribbean.

''Business travelers are the proverbial bread and butter of revenue streams,'' Kavulich says. ``I tell people if you think you're going to spend $200 a day, take $400, because it's expensive, and generally you're going to want to do something for someone.''

[Bacchus39]

13. it would seem there is a pretty hefty tax then, I am sure most who send

money to the island use one of those services that avoid the tax by converting currency to euros or something else. I am sure most want the money to go to the intended recipients rather than the Cuban government.

[Mika]

14. Well, the tax money does go to Cuba's social infrastructure.

Florida, on the other hand, levies hefty tourist dollar taxes to built stadias for multimillionaires. Then the RW state gov gives tax cuts to those multimillionaires at the same time as slashing school funding and firing teachers and cutting special ed and many other social support programs.

Cuba has been building-up their social infrastructure using tourism/remittance tax dollars, increasing pay for teachers and doctors, plus expanding their school system and health care access for all Cubans.

I am certainly not going to criticize Cuba's economic impetus.

[Bacchus39]

15. yep, I'm sure the Cuban government uses those taxes for their programs, however;

if I were sending money there I would do it in such a way that I and the recipient would pay the lowest amount of taxes and fees possible. I am sure the recipient would be most appreciative since it means more cash in his/her pocket.