by Emily Chow
on November 01, 2012
While many of us are facing the difficult task of rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy’s devastation along the north Atlantic coast, there are many others who face this undertaking with few or no resources, even without food reserves to face the days that have followed. Those living in Cuba’s second largest city, Santiago de Cuba, and in other towns in eastern Cuba were directly hit by Sandy’s wrath a few days before she reached the shores of the United States. On October 25, winds of 110 miles per hour devastated homes, businesses, and agriculture in the eastern provinces of Cuba for up to five hours. Now the Cuban people, just like many here in the United States, are in the recovery stages.
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by Emily Chow
on October 16, 2012
The Cuban government has lifted travel restrictions for its citizens. Yes, you’re reading that correctly…the Cuban government.
Reuters reports that the announcement was made official today in the Cuban state newspaper, Granma. “The government now is set to lift requirements to obtain an exit visa permitting departure from Cuba and a letter of invitation from someone in the destination country. Instead, starting on January 14, Cubans will simply have to show a passport and, if needed, a visa from the country to which they are traveling, Communist Party newspaper Granma said.”
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by Emily Chow
on October 26, 2012
People-to-people travel has been one of the few successful elements of U. S current policy towards Cuba. However, this category of travel has been under constant attack since its implementation by the Obama Administration in January 2012.
According to the Treasury Department, approximately 160 organizations were granted people-to-people licenses in the past year. Now about 140, a sizeable number, of those people-to-people travel licenses are languishing in the bureaucratic depths of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, pending renewal. Twenty applications of the total 160 have been newly granted or renewed within the past month, but some very respectable organizations have been denied their renewal. In 2010-2011 we worked tirelessly to reinstate this category of travel, and we will not stand by quietly and watch it shrivel and disappear.
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by The LAWG Cuba Team, Mavis, Emily and Robyn
on September 14, 2012
While most members of Congress were on recess in August, we weren’t. Instead of hanging up our hats, we are prepping for what may come this fall. This means educating ourselves and you on some of the harsh aspects of our current policy towards Cuba.
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by Guest Blogger, Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick
on October 19, 2012
I have been curious about Cuba since 1999 when a friend told me to get there before the United States invaded because there would be a Gap store on every corner. Her photos showed a uniqueness, an old authenticity that I didn’t think I had experienced before. As a long- time wanderlust sufferer, if a highly-regarded worldly friend tells me a place is a “must see,” it goes on the list. I never did my homework about Cuba but rather, like many of us, allowed myself to be fed the random dogma and propaganda from the news. My curiosity lingered, and in 2007 while working for the U.S. government in the Caribbean, I learned the HIV rates in Cuba were thought to be among the lowest in the world. This was largely accomplished through quarantine. If you had HIV, you were segregated. How awful, I thought. What a terrible and demoralizing way to treat people. This rounded out my perceptions about Cuba. A place full of culture and antiquity but drowning in oppression and prejudice. I still wanted to go. In May of this year, while trolling the net for Cuba trips, I discovered Global Exchange; and as crazy luck would have it, Busboys and Poetswas taking a group to Cuba the same week I was free! [editor’s note: Busboys and Poets is a restaurant, bookstore, lounge, and theater in Washington, D.C., founded in 2005 by Andy Shallal. It has been described as a haven for writers, thinkers and performers from America's progressive social and political movements.]
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by The LAWG Cuba Team, Mavis and Emily
on September 10, 2012
In light of both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Cuban Americans for Engagement (CAFE), has a message for them from the Cuban-American community:
“We, as Cuban Americans and American citizens, urge both parties to not fall into the trap of viewing our community as a monolithic voting bloc that is in favor of the United States' embargo on Cuba. We are a diverse body of voices with a majority that favors a policy of engagement and, ultimately, normalization of relations between the two nations.”
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Action Center
Since the 1990’s the Latin America Working Group (LAWG) has been a go-to source for all questions regarding Cuba policy here on Capitol Hill for our activists across the nation (without the political wonkiness, of course). We’ve provided opportunities for you to take action and make your voice heard above all the other talking points that overload the halls of our government. Now, you have the opportunity to support us so we can continue to move our Cuba policy forward.
