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Support Move to End Cuba Travel Ban
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Progressive Portal
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Sep 08, 2003 18:28 PDT
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HOUSE EXPECTED TO VOTE IN SEPTEMBER
ON REPUBLICAN FLAKE'S AMENDMENT
[From the Center for International Policy <http://ciponline.org>]
[Update from ProgressivePortal.org, 8 September 2003: Mr. Flake has also
introduced a bill, H.R. 2071, that would prohibit the President from
blocking travel to Cuba. It was referred to the House Committee on
International Relations in May 2003, where no action has been taken as
of this writing.]
In September 2003, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote
on whether to give Americans back their freedom to travel to Cuba. The
"freedom to travel" amendment will be offered by Congressman Jeff Flake
(R-AZ) and other members of the House Cuba Working Group.
The travel ban has been on the books for more than forty years, and it
has served only to punish the Cuban and American people. The current
system, under which the Treasury Department authorizes limited
categories of travel, is a wasteful bureaucratic exercise that deters
even Americans who should qualify for a license, such as educators,
humanitarian donors, and religions groups. And George Bush has recently
acted to further restrict those categories.
Contact between Americans and Cubans should be promoted by allowing full
freedom of travel, not through a federal licensing process that requires
citizens to ask permission of their government to visit a neighboring
country.
Tell your Representative to vote "yes" on the Flake amendment to end the
travel ban and "no" on alternatives designed only to put off any real
change in current policy.
Take Action
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Send a message to your Representative at:
http://action.ciponline.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11394
Send a letter to George Bush, Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin
Powell, and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice calling for an
end to all travel and trade sanctions on Cuba at:
http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/global/cuba
More Information
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For talking points on the issue, see:
http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/countries/Cuba/flake-calls.htm
For a comprehensive analysis of the actual effects of the current ban,
see:
http://www.ffrd.org/cuba/travelpaper.htm
For the overall program of the Cuba Working Group in the U.S. House of
Representatives, see:
http://www.house.gov/flake/pressshop/cuba_policy_review.htm
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