UPDATE: Dang, erm, well I was wrong, read the NYT headline and jumped to conclusions. Only some restrictions have been changed that could be done under current law. Have updated title to be less broad about which restrictions have been eased. My apologies. Still, seems like good news overall!!!
I can’t believe I am actually crying.
I grew up having to climb under my f*cking desk in school to duck and cover. At 66 years old, I thought I would probably die before I ever saw this happen.
I could go into a long tirade on US Foreign Policy, but I won’t.
I have no illusions that easing travel restrictions there will mean the end of problems for the Cuban people.
Still, I am very glad to see this move by the Obama Administration.
Happy Day.
Tuesday, Mar 15, 2016 · 10:33:40 PM +00:00 · divineorder
Apparently still not opening up for regular tourism, but ‘people to people’ tours will have it easier.
The new regulations include:
▪ Individual travel — Americans on people-to-people educational tours to the island used to have to travel in organized groups. Now they can plan their own itineraries as long as they keep records for five years showing they’ve engaged in a full-time schedule of educational exchanges.
Individual travelers can also make trips under the auspices of an organization that sponsors people-to-people exchanges in which case the burden of record-keeping falls to the sponsor.
“These changes, coupled with the arrangement recently announced by the Departments of State and Transportation allowing up to 110 non-stop flights daily between the United States and Cuba, will significantly increase the ability of U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba to directly engage with the Cuban people,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
“We have enormous confidence in the American people to act as ambassadors for the things we care about,” Rhodes said.
But Americans still aren’t allowed to go to Cuba to lounge on the beach. “Travel for tourist activity remains prohibited by statue,” said Andrea Gacki, acting deputy director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.