More trouble for those trying to travel to Cuba. The Bush Administration is cracking down even harder on agencies that specialize in travel to the forbidden island of Cuba. In the last few months, audit investigators from the U.S. Treasury Department suspended the licenses of four travel agencies and six religious organizations for illegally providing travel to Cuba. Religious organizations!?! Since when does the Bush Administration crack down on religious organizations? Old Jeb must really be courting that Cuban constituency hard!
Cuban-Americans who once supported the ban, however, are not as enthusiastic about it as they once were. Prior to 2004, they could legally travel back to Cuba to visit relatives. But then Bush tightened the reigns and passed legislature limiting the definition of “family” to exclude nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. These relatives are no longer considered family and are prohibited from traveling to Cuba just like the rest of us. Only siblings, parents, grandparents and stem cells are allowed to visit.
And just how are these new sanctions affecting Castro’s authoritarian rule? Are they chipping away at his power and slowly toppling his regime as no doubt intended? Hardly. Check out this article in yesterday’s LA Times highlighting Castro’s recent crackdown on entrepreneurs and capitalism. Years of American sanctions haven’t done a bit of good.