American Visits to Cuba Are Down. Fines Are Up. Way Up.

Cuban officials aren’t happy about the state of American tourism in their country. Cuban-American visits to Cuba in 2004 apparently fell off by half from the previous year, and visits from other Americans also declined. Meanwhile, fines levied by the Bush administration against U.S. citizens who have visited the island nation without authorization are way up. According to an AP story in USA Today (via Gadling), the Cuban government reports that “In the first quarter of 2005, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control fined 307 Americans for unauthorized travel to Cuba — almost as many as the 316 people fined all of last year.” And what kind of effect is all this having on Cuba? Fidel Castro is still in power, and the Cuban people, many of whom make their living from tourism, are suffering more than ever.

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