Destination: Cuba
In Cuba, ‘Fidel Has Always Felt Revulsion Toward Tourism’
by Michael Yessis | 08.02.06 | 6:40 AM ET
With word coming out of Cuba that Fidel Castro has temporarily handed his presidential powers to his brother Raul, American travelers who’ve long wanted to visit Cuba legally may be wondering whether that day is now on the horizon. It’s obviously too soon to say, but for now, they can find a terrific glimpse inside present-day Cuba in the July 24 issue of the New Yorker. The well-timed story by Jon Lee Anderson, written before the latest news story broke, focuses on how the rest of Fidel’s reign might play out.
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Yahoo! BuzzThe New Che Play: “School of the Americas”
by Jim Benning | 07.10.06 | 2:12 PM ET
Restoring Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea” Boat
by Jim Benning | 04.04.06 | 10:15 PM ET
Good news for literary-minded preservationists: Ernest Hemingway’s 40-foot fishing boat, Pilar, which has been suffering damage from termites and humidity on his old farm outside Havana, is about to be restored. American conservationists made the announcement last week, although Cuba will pay for the work so that no U.S. organizations run afoul of (ridiculous) U.S. trade sanctions. Hemingway used the boat for outings that inspired his classic novella, “The Old Man and the Sea.” CNN International has details.
Carnival Cruise Ship Rescues 28 Cuban Migrants
by Michael Yessis | 03.21.06 | 5:52 AM ET
According to the Houston Chronicle’s Cynthia Leonor Garza, the Cubans—25 men and three women—were found off the coast of Jamaica last Wednesday and brought on board Carnival’s Conquest cruise liner. The migrants, she writes, soon will be taken into custody on a U.S. Coast Guard boat so that immigration officials can interview the migrants and hear asylum claims. It’s the second time in a month that the Conquest has picked up Cuban migrants on the open seas.
Church Leaders to Bush Administration: Stop Restricting Religious Travel to Cuba
by Michael Yessis | 03.16.06 | 1:14 PM ET
Representatives from churches around the United States and members of congress met with executive branch officials yesterday to protest new travel restrictions to Cuba. “The meeting,” writes Pablo Bachelet in today’s Miami Herald, “was in response to a March 3 bipartisan letter signed by 105 lawmakers, asking the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to explain why travel licenses for some U.S. church groups were not being renewed.”
Jon Stewart on the Zagat Prison Guide
by Jim Benning | 02.22.06 | 2:27 AM ET
Americans, Finns and Danes Have Most Freedom to Travel Visa-Free
by Jim Benning | 02.03.06 | 7:38 AM ET
I’ve been spending the week in Grand Cayman working on a story and chatting with travelers and ex-pats from around the world. Twice I’ve found myself struggling to explain the United States’ ban on travel to Cuba to people understandably baffled by it. When they ask what I think, I find myself saying that whatever you think of Fidel Castro’s government, and I’m not a fan, you should have the right to visit the country and make up your own mind. Besides, the policy has proved remarkably ineffective. The man is still in power. All this was on my mind when I came across this AP headline on CBC.com: Citizens of Denmark, Finland, U.S. have most freedom to travel without visas. It turns out that citizens of these countries can travel to 130 countries without having to get a visa, according to a landmark report. Germany, Ireland and Sweden tied for a close second place, with their citizens able to visit 129 countries without visas.
Cuba Stories on Public Radio’s “The World”
by Jim Benning | 01.20.06 | 4:18 PM ET
Reflecting on Key West, Cuba and Whether Misfortune Makes for Great Travel Stories
by Tom Swick | 01.10.06 | 8:03 AM ET
“I Tried to Conquer the Evil Yankee Imperialists and All I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt”
by Jim Benning | 11.01.05 | 1:27 PM ET
That’s the message that writer Ryan Clancy would like to see on the next generation of T-shirts featuring the iconic image of Che Guevara. Clancy isn’t happy that Che has become a symbol of idealistic rebellion around the globe. “Che demanded worldwide revolution, even if it meant a stream of death and misery,” he writes in Monday’s USA Today.
Human Rights Watch: Cuba Travel Ban Hurts Families
by Jim Benning | 10.19.05 | 4:09 PM ET
They may be blowing in the wind, but Human Rights Watch has issued a major report slamming the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba, as well as the Cuban government’s restrictions on travel for its own citizens.
American Visits to Cuba Are Down. Fines Are Up. Way Up.
by Jim Benning | 10.04.05 | 6:26 PM ET
The Politics of Cuba-U.S. Travel
by Jim Benning | 02.06.04 | 9:27 PM ET
Government Penalizes Bush Interpreter For Trip to Cuba
by Jim Benning | 01.06.04 | 9:21 PM ET
Just how absurd is the crackdown on U.S. citizens traveling “illegally” to Cuba? The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that one target of the Bush administration’s get-tough policy is an official interpreter to the president. Fred Burks, 45, who has worked on contract with the State Department for a decade, visited Cuba four years ago with his girlfriend, who was a fan of the “Buena Vista Social Club.” The pair said they were vacationing in Mexico when they saw cheap flights advertised to Cuba and decided to go. When they passed through U.S. immigration upon returning home and were asked where they’d been, they told the truth. Then came the $7,590 fine. Burks’ girlfriend negotiated a lower penalty and paid it. He refuses to pay anything more than $100 and has been haggling with the government ever since. “I never intended to make a big deal out of this,” he told the Times. “But I’m going to do what it takes to establish a precedent. I just don’t agree with this policy.” If only Burks and his money had stayed away from Cuba, the country today would be a free and democratic nation, right? Right.
Arthur Frommer Makes the Case Against the Cuba Travel Ban
by Jim Benning | 11.12.03 | 8:35 PM ET
“It is time to stand up for our right to travel in peacetime to wherever we wish,” he writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. “Time to build not simply a majority in Congress against the travel embargo, but a veto-proof majority. Time to proclaim that travel for learning is a constitutional right. ” Right on.