Adios Fidel, Hola Cuba?*
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 02.19.08 | 10:09 AM ET
What does today’s big news of Fidel Castro’s retirement mean for American travelers now barred from visiting Cuba? Likely very little in the short term, experts agree. But Reuters, among other outlets, is taking the opportunity to review the presidential candidates’ positions on Cuba. Who knows? They could actually be relevant now.
Hillary Clinton hasn’t sounded eager to change U.S. policy, saying significant change in Cuba “has to be a precondition” to normalizing relations with the country.
John McCain “has vowed not to lift the U.S. trade embargo against Havana until it holds free elections,” Reuters reports.
Barack Obama has given the most hope to Americans who’d like to see the travel embargo lifted, saying, “I will grant Cuban-Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island.” His call to lift travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans—which conventional wisdom says wouldn’t help him win the conservative state of Florida, prompted Time magazine last year to ask, Will Obama’s Stance on Cuba Hurt?
Given today’s news, the candidates will no doubt be further explaining their positions in the coming days.
* Updated, 10 a.m. PT: Obama and McCain have chimed in, calling for the release of political prisoners in Cuba. “Mr. Obama…said that the United States should be prepared to take steps to normalize relations with Cuba and to ease the longstanding embargo on trade with the island nation, if its government ‘begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change,’” reports the New York Times.
Related on World Hum:
* Americans Defy Cuba Travel Ban Before ‘Other Americans…Ruin it All’
* Eating Cuban on Miami’s Calle Ocho
* A Traveler’s Take on Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
Barbara Benham 02.19.08 | 1:03 PM ET
Maybe Adios Fidel, Adios Cuba? The place will be forever changed once U.S. firms are allowed to enter the tourism sector.
Jen 02.19.08 | 3:05 PM ET
It looks like Cuba may be fairly unchanged if Raul steps in…which means Americans still might not have access.
Source
Barbara Benham 02.19.08 | 3:11 PM ET
I saw that. Whenever it happens, big changes. I’d hoped to get there before that. It does not seem to be in the cards. Pero quien sabe ...
Julia Rosien 02.19.08 | 5:23 PM ET
I think change is going to be a relative term in Cuba for a while yet. It’s true Americans may not be let in tomorrow, but the power exchanging going on could make for a volatile environment.
Right now Cuba is a popular vacation spot for Canadians and Europeans, but little brother’s ability (or inability) to maintain the status quo could make it a place to avoid in the near future:
http://www.gogirlfriend.com/travel-news/cuba-after-castro-6780
Emily 02.21.08 | 12:36 PM ET
End the Blockade Against Cuba is what needs to happen.
Rod Chapman 02.23.08 | 11:07 AM ET
I haven’t seen the effect of the blocade in several decades. Many Cuban/Americans just go to Mexico on their way home.
Realistically, I’ve always thought thet normalizing relations with Cuba would be a great “first step” in “mending fences” between us and South/sun17Central America