Cuba might not be at the top of your list (or maybe it is!!) as we move into the holiday season, but there are some items of interest that we thought we’d communicate to you before the rush begins.

First of all, we’d like to thank you all for your hard work this year. It was a very difficult climate here in Washington, with the pending election overshadowing most policy decisions. We were very much at risk this year of losing ground on the Cuba travel and remittances issues, which we have won for many years in a row. But that did not happen thanks to your hard work pressuring Congress to hold firm in the face of intense administration pressure. To recap, remember that we:
* Won inclusion of a travel amendment in the Senate appropriations committee;
* Won a vote to overturn gift package restrictions in the House, 221-194;
* Won a vote to reverse new restrictions on Cuban-American travel in the
House, 225-174;
* Won voice votes on educational exchanges and financing of agriculture sales in the House;
* And held our ground in a House vote to end the entire embargo (188-225).

None of these provisions made it through the convoluted end-of-the-year appropriations process, where all the spending bills were wrapped up into one omnibus measure; but the victories were important nonetheless to show the administration and Republican leadership that their Cuba policy is out of touch with the majority of Americans and that we are not backing down.In addition to your hard work supporting these legislative measures, we’d like to especially thank those of you who donated to support our work this year. Because of you, we were able to reprint and distribute “Ignored Majority,” our publication about the moderate Cuban-American community; bring Cuban-American moderates to Washington to participate in a press conference and educate members of Congress about the increasing divide in their community over the embargo; conduct a successful media campaign highlighting this divide; and finally to print and distribute 15,000
brochures recruiting people to this email list. We genuinely couldn’t have done this without your generous financial support. Thank you!

That said, we have to address the impact of another Bush Administration on
Cuba policy. As we have seen in the past several years, the administration has pursued a policy of increasing hostility and aggressive action against Cuba, including actions against organizations with travel-related activities and now companies engaging in the growing trade with Cuba. The continuing effort to strangle the Cuban economy and to isolate Cuba, in the face of world-wide condemnation of the embargo and of a majority domestic opinion against the embargo, shows no signs of abating. Even though Congress has repeatedly moved to dismantle the embargo, its decisions have been repeatedly neutralized by the White House and the congressional leadership.

The outlook for the year ahead is best summed up with “more of the same.” We
anticipate another year of legislative battles over the right to travel and a struggle over the new Cuba provisions that the Bush Administration enacted in June 2004. In a meeting with our key hill allies in late November, it was clear that the members in the House and Senate are ready to attack this issue with renewed enthusiasm. They believe that this coming year will be one of the most important in the past several years on the Cuba issue. A strong push from Congress to an administration not facing re-election could break the travel logjam. You can have a huge impact on how this plays out.

An impediment to this push will certainly be the new senator from Florida, Cuban-American Mel Martinez. Senator-elect Martinez has made clear that his stance will be hard-line on this issue, and he will be working at the behest of the Bush Administration in the Senate to halt efforts to ease the embargo. In an interview with the Miami Herald, Senator-elect Martinez said that he hopes to become a leading voice for the cause of a “free Cuba . . ., aggressively planning for a post-Castro Cuba.” He takes pride in having “helped President Bush shape policy toward Cuba,” and he “looks forward to playing a larger role in legislating future U.S. attitudes and positions toward a post-Castro Cuba.” It’s our job, as Cuba policy advocates, to push our senators to stand up to Mr. Martinez and represent the interests of the rest of the nation, which supports an easing of the embargo. And Mr.
Martinez should also be hearing from his moderate constituents, emphasizing that Floridians do not all support a hard-line approach to Cuba policy.

As for the new House members, we’ll be sending you an analysis of the new
members shortly—when we do, please be ready to begin educating them on the need for a new Cuba policy. The positions that new members, especially Republicans, adopt early in the congressional session are critically important to our ability to add to the vote counts on Cuba amendments. We’ll likely be coordinating, along with several other organizations, a large education day on the Hill here in Washington, DC, focusing on educating members of Congress, (especially new ones) about Cuba policy. We’ll send more details as they become firm. For those that can’t make it to Washington, DC, we’ll also be coordinating a simultaneous national Cuba Call-In Day in support of a change in policy. Again, details will be coming.

In summary, we had a successful year last year—in spite of a hostile political atmosphere. You should congratulate yourselves for a job well done. We think that next year could be a very important year for changes in Cuba policy. We’ll be in touch soon with the new House member analysis.