“U.S. law lets American citizens travel to any country on earth, friend or foe -- with one exception: Cuba. It's time for us to scrap this anachronistic ban.”  -Congressman Berman and Senator Lugar

Yesterday, in an op-ed published in the Miami Herald, Chairman Berman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senator Richard Lugar, ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, endorsed the freedom to travel to Cuba just in time for the long-awaited committee hearing on Cuba travel.  Here we go.  The leadership in Congress is firmly in favor of change and not afraid to say so.

The hearing is tomorrow.  If you’re close to Washington, DC, come out and show your support.  The embargo supporters will be there en masse, and we need to demonstrate clearly that the majority of U.S. citizens are in favor of the freedom to travel to Cuba. Here are the details.

Time: 10:00am

Location: Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building
Note: The event will be packed.  We recommend that you get there at 7:00am.

You can enter through the Longworth House Office Building at the South Capitol entrance.  The Rayburn House Office Building door will open at about 7:30am.  There will also be an overflow room nearby.  Your presence is needed!

If you can’t make it to DC, you can watch the hearing by live webcast here.

It may also be broadcast on CSPAN.

The scheduled witnesses at the hearing are:

General Barry R. McCaffrey, USA, Retired
Ambassador James Cason, Former Chief of Mission, U.S. Interests Section, Havana
Miriam Leiva , Independent Journalist and Founder of Ladies in White
Ignacio Sosa, Executive Board Member of Friends of Caritas Cubana
Berta Antunez, Sister of former political prisoner
Philip Peters, Vice President of Lexington Institute