Action Alerts

Short and sweet: we want to get Cuba removed from the terrorist list! (Don’t know what the terrorist list is? Check out our informational video)

On March 1st, 1982, Cuba was added to the U.S. Department of State’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. Why? Because “at the time, numerous U.S. government reports and statements under the Reagan Administration alleged Cuba’s ties to international terrorism and its support for terrorist groups in Latin America,” says a 2005 Congressional Research Services report. 

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.

Will you show us your support so we can continue to support you?

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.

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.”

People-to-people travel has been one of the few successful elements of our current policy towards Cuba.  Now, that could all change.

Many of about 140 existing people-to-people travel licenses are languishing in the bureaucratic depths of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, pending renewal.  And we know of only three that have been renewed. In 2010-2011 we worked tirelessly to re-instate this category of travel and we will not stand by quietly and watch it shrivel and disappear.

First things first, we want to apologize for the quietness on our end these past few weeks. There have been several weighty developments in U.S.-Cuba policy which we've been working on the ground, pushing back. This is a catch-up email to get us all back on the same page and provide you with a couple actions by which to re-activate your constituent (and clicking) power!

1. Tell Congress to address April's terrorist attack in Miami

2. Let the State Department know that you denounce the visa denials of Cuban academics

Are the Florida Straits getting smaller, or are more bridges being built?

In mid-January of 2011, President Obama eased travel restrictions for ordinary U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba through organizations holding "people-to-people" licenses, granted by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). He also granted general licenses (no pre-authorization required) for religious organizations and educational institutions. While this is substantial progress, our work is far from over.

So there is no suspense, you did it! Through your calls and emails, forwarding of the action alert, and commitment to retaining unrestricted travel to Cuba for families, the Diaz-Balart policy rider has been removed. President Obama’s regulations allowing the reunification of Cuban families stands firm—and without government interference.

DC wouldn’t be what it is without power struggles, complicated and indiscernible Hill jargon and impending government shutdowns. But what we have never witnessed before in the nation’s capitol is a hold placed on the funding of the entire U.S. government over the right for Cuban-American families to travel and see their relatives in Cuba. Here’s what happened:

In the spirit of the holidays, Cuban-American members of Congress are at it again with their Grinch-like tactics. Rolled into a spending “Megabus” bill that is being pushed through Congress is language that would restrict family travel to Cuba for Cuban Americans to once every three years, no exceptions. However, not only does this amendment, led by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, separate families, it also redefines what constitutes a family circle. Cuban Americans, TAKE NOTE: What this means is that your cousins, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, etc., will no longer qualify as "family." As one of our Cuban-American friends said, “The very idea that some U.S. entity is going to tell a Cuban who is your family and who is not is something so beyond the pale that it might suffice to turn water into wine . . ."

This summer, conservative House of Representatives Republicans, led by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, proposed rolling back President Obama’s executive order that allows Cuban Americans to travel to Cuba to visit their relatives without any restrictions. In response, President Obama threatened to veto any legislation that imposed limits on Cuban-Americans’ right to travel freely to visit their families. He is aware that this is an important issue about family values and that it is very important to Cuban-American families in Florida, New Jersey, and across the country.

Today, we have learned that House of Representative Republicans are about to succeed with their punitive campaign against Cuban-American families. They are including rollback language in the “Megabus” appropriations bill now being finalized in the Congress that would prevent Cuban Americans from visiting their relatives more often than once every three years and would limit the remittances they can send. President Obama needs to live up to his promise and say “no” to these efforts to once again divide Cuban families. He must insist that he will not sign this bill if the family travel provision is not removed.

Happy 20th Anniversary! Or maybe “un-happy” anniversary.

Today for the 20th year in a row, the UN General Assembly has voted to condemn the United States’ 50-year-old economic embargo on Cuba. How did the votes turn out this year?

YES (against embargo) – 186
NO (in favor of embargo) – 2
ABSTAIN – 3

Greetings from post-earthquake and post-hurricane Washington, DC. The next (un)natural disaster due to hit our nation’s capitol is the return of the Congress to Washington after Labor Day (shout-out to Rep. Jeff Flake, see below).

With the lingering, humid, August heat, we’re looking forward to the upcoming cooler days of the fall season. But, as we all are well aware, the heat never seems to subside when it comes to our work on Cuba! So, while the weather may cool off, we will actually be kicking up the heat on our efforts to restore the right for all Americans to travel freely.

Just when we thought things were somewhat under control (i.e., Rep. Diaz-Balart’s amendment to restrict family travel to Cuba to Bush-era regulations – see our last e-alert here – would not remain in the final bill), another nasty amendment reared its ugly head.

First, let’s take a moment to exhale…

Yesterday, President Obama and his staff in the White House released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) that provided Congress with the Executive Office’s views on H.R. 2434, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012. This is the appropriations bill that was approved by the House Appropriations Committee on June 23rd, which included Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s (R-FL-21) amendment that intends to restrict Cuban-American family travel and remittances to Cuba.

Today the House Appropriations Committee voted in favor of an amendment, put forth by Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida (R-FL 21st), to the FY 2012 Financial Services Appropriations bill. This amendment, which passed by voice vote, rescinds changes that President Obama made in 2009 to Cuban-American family travel and remittances regulations. If this amendment were to become law, Cuban Americans would only be permitted to visit their families in Cuba once every three years, with a limited definition of what constitutes family, and with no humanitarian exceptions. Cuban Americans would also be limited in what they could send in remittances to Cuba. We would be back to Bush Administration-era regulations on family travel. This is totally unacceptable.

We fought for "travel for all" and we got "travel for some." Now we face the possibility of "travel for none. "

The House Appropriations Committee is meeting first thing tomorrow morning, and Cuba may very well come up. Opponents of exchange with Cuba will likely offer amendments to the financial services appropriations bill that will reverse the changes the President has made during his term in office – which has allowed travel by Cuban-American families, students and professors, religious groups, academics, musicians. We can't let this happen.

We’ve all been chomping at the bit waiting for the final piece of the new travel regulations puzzle: the Treasury Department guidelines. The guidelines were issued on Thursday, April 21. Now we have the full picture; let the travel begin.

Many of you responded to our email update 10 days ago on the Presidential action easing some of the regulations on travel to Cuba. You wanted to know how to respond. Clearly there is more work to be done to change U.S. policy toward Cuba, but we think a “thank you” to the President and encouragement to do more is appropriate. By clicking here, you can send an email to the White House with a message of thanks and a request for more.

Thank you, Mr. President. After this summer’s buzzing rumors regarding some kind of White House action, the Obama Administration has today announced new regulations governing U.S. citizen travel to Cuba. It is a large step forward, and comes in the wake of a disappointing missed opportunity by the Congress to change the law. We congratulate the White House on their forward-looking decision. And we congratulate all of you for the hard and dedicated work you contributed to this achievement. Thank you, Cuba Advocates!

The LAWG and our supporters have always advocated for exchange between U.S. citizens and the Cuban people through the arts and culture, academic and student travel, religious/humanitarian groups, sports, and other people-to-people exchanges. At this critical moment, we are calling on everyone across the United States who supports increasing people-to-people contact between Cuba and the United States to join this advocacy campaign directed at the White House!

We expect you have been pondering the impact of the recent elections on the work we have been doing together to end the travel ban on Cuba and move our two countries toward a respectful, humane relationship. We have been doing the same, and we want to share some thoughts with you.

The electoral outcome has left us, as they say, “Close, but no cigar.”  (We could skip the cigar  . . .  although a mojito, maybe two, could help after working so hard these past couple of years.)

On Tuesday, September 28 the much-awaited mark-up and vote on HR 4645 in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs was postponed. Here is the statement from Chairman Howard Berman, upon announcing the postponement:

 

We've been doing everything we can--pulling out all the stops, as they say--to restore U.S. citizens' freedom to travel to Cuba. That's why we've come to you time and time again (and time and time again), asking you to make one more email or one more phone call to your congressperson; but we've also been mobilizing new advocates and as-of-yet untapped networks throughout the country to give us the best chance of getting the job done this year, in this Congress.

It's not every day that we get to write you about a historic legislative victory for a more humane, sensible, and just U.S. policy towards Cuba; but today isn't just any old day. In a thrilling "mark-up" session Wednesday in the House Committee on Agriculture, H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act was passed by 25 votes to 20, putting us one step closer to ending the travel ban this year, in this Congress.

Freedom to travel's moment has arrived. Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 30, the House Agriculture Committee will vote on H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, championed by Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson. What happens Wednesday will determine if this landmark legislation--which restores U.S. citizens' right to travel to Cuba, creates jobs here at home, and puts food on Cubans' tables--sees the light of day on the House floor this summer or dies in committee.

We're back! We're sorry for the recent radio silence for some of you; but we've been putting all of our time, energy, and wits into wringing every possible YES vote for H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, out of the House Committee on Agriculture. Our recent alerts have been directed to those of you who live in districts with members "on the fence." But now is the time for ALL of us to activate.

Today in Washington, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN), Congressman Jerry Moran (R-KS), and at least 31 of their House colleagues introduced new legislation (HR 4645) that would put the United States and Cuba firmly on a path towards engagement by (finally) restoring U.S. citizens' right to travel to Cuba and facilitating needed U.S. agricultural sales to the island that were initially approved by Congress in 2000.

Urge Obama to Take Decisive Action: Give the Nod to Congress and End the Travel Ban

The United Nations has voted (187-3) again to condemn the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.  For the 18th consecutive year, the General Assembly passed this resolution with nearly universal support.  Such an unpopular policy surely deserves a second look; it deserves to be stopped.  And the time is NOW.

***But we're not finished yet. The day was a big success -- both in Washington and in communities throughout this nation, and we need to continue the momentum for a common-sense Cuba policy.

First and foremost, a much-deserved THANKS to everyone who participated! We cannot stress enough how important your support and participation were in creating CubaGO! To the Cuba policy advocates, Cuban Americans, world travelers, agricultural and business representatives, policy wonks, students, church activists, salsa lovers, cigar aficionados, and friends from all over the country, we thank you for making the day a tremendous success in moving us toward the freedom to travel for all. Whether you organized events, made calls, or traveled to DC, each effort was crucial to making CubaGO! - go. So again, thank you for stepping up and supporting the Freedom to Travel to Cuba.

Are you ready to CubaGO!? Today is the day to make history by making the travel ban history. Call your members of Congress NOW and get all your friends and family members to do the same.

CubaGO! is upon us and as promised here is the detailed information you'll need to take action. See a message by Danny Glover asking YOU to call Congress on Wednesday.  

CubaGO! is three weeks away . . . and that means it's time to kick our organizing efforts into high gear. We've created some tools that we hope will help you create activities for September 30th, the national call-in day to End the Travel Ban on Cuba. Below is a link to our new tool that helps create an event, publicize it and share it with others. Are you going to be part of this action?

We’re organizing a National Day of Action called CubaGO!  Strategically-identified delegations from across the country will be coming to DC to meet with their members of Congress. But in order to really make an impact, the delegations will need back-up from you.  That is why we’re encouraging you to “Call in for Cuba!

It’s time to get active!

The movement is growing. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act is gaining support in the House and the Senate. Please take a minute to support the brand new End the Travel Ban Facebook page.

We've been keeping up the pressure on Congress for months to end the travel ban on Cuba.  The "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" legislation introduced in the House and Senate this spring now has more co-sponsors than any Cuba bill in memory.

Mark your calendars!  The end is in sight, but we need one more BIG PUSH to make the co-sponsor list jump.

We're soooo close!  We are within reach of changing "travel-to-Cuba" policy.  Now we just need YOU to get us one more co-sponsor.  Will you?  There are specific members that we need; read on for details.  Within the last few short weeks we've seen some promising developments in U.S.-Cuba policy coming from the White House - on travel and remittances for Cuban Americans and on some limited diplomatic re-engagement.  This is good news, and we hope to see these changes continue in a positive direction.

But, as you probably know, only an act of Congress can actually end the full travel ban. That's why we are asking you to contact your members of Congress AGAIN today using a new advocacy tool that presents you with either a letter thanking your member of Congress for cosponsoring the "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act"; or, if they have not yet cosponsored the bill, the letter urges them to do so.

Contact all your members of Congress at once here!

The White House issued a statement today that lifted all restrictions on transactions related to the travel and remittances of family members to Cuba. Check our blog for details and comments. Here is the White House fact sheet on today's action.

On April 2, Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), along with Representatives Farr (D-CA), McGovern (D-MA), Emerson (R-MO), DeLauro (D-CT), Chaffetz (new member, R-UT), Lee (D-CA), Berry (D-AR), and Edwards (D-MD), plus important leaders within the Cuban-American community, participated in a block-buster press conference announcing HR 874, the House companion to the Senate travel bill, S 428.  The Cuban Americans hit it out of the park, leaving no doubt about the support for "travel for all" from the Cuban-American community. We wish you could have been there. 

On Tuesday, March 31 at noon, Senators Dorgan (D-ND), Enzi (R-WY), and Dodd (D-CT), along with representatives of the American Farm Bureau, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Human Rights Watch, publicly announced S. 428, "The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" in a press conference so well attended that reporters were standing in the halls. LAWG was there capturing the excitement of the moment and representing all of you.

New OFAC regulations on travel to Cuba

On March 11, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) posted a new regulation, plus a guidance letter outlining how the provisions in the FY 09 omnibus spending bill would be implemented, as related to Cuban-American family travel and ag sales. See the pdf containing the regulation and the guidance letter here.

This is big news for all of us that have been fighting for change in Cuba policy; we should celebrate, and our job is not completed.  

S. 428, "Travel for All," is the Senate companion to H.R. 874 introduced two weeks ago by Representatives Delahunt (D-MA) and Flake (R-AZ). The Senate bill, introduced by Senator Dorgan (D-ND) with Senators  Enzi (R-WY), Lugar (R-IN),  and Dodd (D-CT), calls for the lifting of travel restrictions so ALL Americans can travel freely to Cuba.

Big news! We now have legislation in the House of Representatives calling for an end to the travel ban on Cuba for all Americans. "Travel for All" instead of "Travel for None" or even "Travel for Some." Take action now: ask your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 874.

This is an exciting time to be active in our country's decision making process. There are certainly no shortage of opportunities to get involved in responding to our new President's call to "…pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

Now that a new President and a new Congress have been elected, you can take action that will help change U.S. policy toward Cuba.

November 4th marked an historical change for the United States of America. President-elect Barack Obama represents CHANGE on many levels, and many people expect CHANGE in a great many things: the economy, two wars, a planet in peril, etc . . . you know the list by now.

Hurricane Gustav tore through the Gulf of Mexico earlier in the month and took a particularly devastating toll on Cuba. The storm leveled houses and flooded streets throughout the western provinces of Pinar del Rio and the Isla de Juventud leaving in its path an estimated 500,000 residents without shelter or access to food or water.

A House subcommittee (Financial Services) on June 17th added language to the appropriations bill that would ease travel restrictions for Cuban Americans wishing to visit family and would facilitate agricultural sales to Cuba. The result of the subcommittee meeting is an appropriations bill that allows for Cuban Americans to travel to Cuba once per year and expands the definition of family to include cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.

We want to begin by thanking you for your generous contributions to our Cuba policy work; we are within a few hundred dollars of reaching our goal! With these kind donations, we are hard at work setting up book parties and travel trainings around the country. If you’d like to be part of this cross-country training effort, be sure to contact us so we can work with you to add your group and location to the schedule.

We hope that you have been keeping up with the news on Cuba (one great source is through signing up for weekly news reviews from CubaCentral.com ), as Cuba has been getting a lot of ink in the past couple of weeks. We last sent you an update on February 19 with the news about Fidel's resignation. Since then, as you certainly know, Cuba has a new President, the Bush Administration has reacted predictably, and Congress is making noise about re-visiting U.S.-Cuba policy-with an eye to revising it. House Letter, Senate Letter

By now you have seen the news - Fidel Castro announced early this morning that he will not seek or accept the position of President or Commander and Chief of Cuba. His announcement comes less then a week before Cuba's National Assembly is scheduled to meet to vote for the next President of the island.

Happy New Year! Things are starting to get back into swing in DC after the holidays - the House came back into session this week, the Senate comes back next week, and, of course, the presidential election primaries are on everyone's mind.

Our alert today has three parts - we want to announce the publication of our Cuban-American family photo exhibit into a moving photo essay book, Love, Loss and Longing: the Impact of U.S. Travel Policy on Cuban-American Families; we will give an update on what we can expect (or not expect) from Congress for the remainder of the year; and we will comment on President Bush's Cuba-policy speech last Wednesday.

Love, Loss and Longing

LAWGEF and our partners at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) are pleased to announce that Love, Loss and Longing: the Impact of U.S. Travel Policy on Cuban-American Families has been published and is currently being distributed all over the country. If you haven't seen the book yet, take a look at it here The book is the published version of the photo exhibit many of you saw on tour in your area. The book includes the photos, testimonies, and expanded text about the effect of U.S. travel policy on all Americans.

The book has been delivered to every member of Congress; it would be great if you would call your members' offices (U.S. Capitol switchboard is 202.224.3121) to ask if they have seen it and encourage them to pay attention to it. This is another chance for you to send a message to your member of Congress that you care about Cuba policy. If their copy has been lost (or thrown away, as unfortunately often happens when congressional interns are opening the mail and have to assess the importance of each piece!), we would be happy to hand-deliver another copy to the appropriate staff person in your member of Congress' office - with your compliments. The offices just need to let you or us know that they need a replacement. We have also sent the book to our Cuba media contacts, and we are in the process of having the book be distributed through local progressive bookstores and on Amazon.com.

We need your help distributing the book! Do you have friends, family, co-workers, or distribution lists that should know about our book? Let us know and we'll be happy to send you promotional information to forward to your network. Do you know of bookstores in your area that should sell the book? Let us know so we can send review copies to them.

What's going on in Congress? (Be prepared; this is a discouraging section.)

In June, the House voted to increase the mismanaged "democracy assistance" funds supposedly intended to assist Cuban dissidents. Reps. Albio Sires (D-NJ) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) attached an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill in June to increase the funding from the $9 million the committee recommended to the $45 million the Bush Administration requested. Regrettably, the amendment passed 254-170.

Similar amendments were offered in the Senate to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) offered three negative amendments to the bill - one to increase the funding for Radio and TV Marti, one to increase the funding to the $45 million dollar level the Bush Administration requested for "democracy assistance" and one to significantly increase the funding for fumigations in Colombia. In final negotiations, Senator Martinez offered to withdraw two of the negative amendments in exchange for increasing the "democracy assistance" funding. (No surprise, as a GAO report from November 2006 shows a significant portion of this money stays with his constituents in Florida.)

And in late July, the House of Representatives voted 185-245 to defeat an amendment by Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), a long-time advocate for changing Cuba policy, to facilitate the sales of U.S. farm products to the island. Unfortunately, many of our usual allies voted against this amendment. See our e-alert of July 26, 2007 for some analysis of this vote. These two losses have left many of our congressional allies frustrated and hesitant to offer other legislation that might also result in a loss. Add this on top of Congress' priorities of the war in Iraq, important votes on children's health care, and trying to prevent another war in Iran, and it is highly unlikely that we will see more congressional action on the Cuba issue for the remainder of the year. And, actually, we don't want to push for a vote before we are certain that it would be a winning vote.

So . . . we need to gear up to pave the way for action in 2008 - with educational activities and messages, calling to account our members of Congress who have abandoned this effort or reversed their vote (there are about 46 non-freshman democrats and republicans who used to be solidly with us but voted against the Rangel amendment), agitating for change (we're working with partner organizations on a plan), and adding to the support we have to be able to demonstrate that we CAN win this issue on the floor of the House and Senate.

One example of how we can agitate
We have been working with our partners at the Center for Democracy in the Americas, the Center for International Policy, and the Washington Office on Latin America to put together a Presidential Candidate Scorecard to rank presidential candidates' overall positions on Cuba. Just to be clear, the scorecard is NOT an endorsement of any candidate, but it is a valuable resource for evaluating candidates' positions. We expect to have the scorecard completed and a copy posted on our website within the next week. We will send you a quick note letting you know it's up. We hope you will use it to inform and educate in your state.

We will share the scorecard with members of the press, and we encourage you to review the scorecard and thank candidates that have positions that favor engagement and travel and question those who support the status quo. We will have more suggested actions when we send it out.

President Bush's Speech

**For more coverage of the speech, read this New York Times article

On Wednesday, October 24, President Bush made a speech at the State Department and announced several "new initiatives" on Cuba policy. The speech called for U.S. citizens to stand with the people of Cuba (Bush's version of "standing with" differs from ours!) in the "time of transition" and announced a program to license NGOs and faith-based groups to provide computer and internet access to students, invited Cuban youth to participate in a Latin American Youth scholarship program in the United States, and announced the creation of a multi-billion dollar so-called "Freedom Fund for Cuba." The President encouraged countries world wide to contribute to the fund, although it is unclear from where the President believes the political capital to create this fund would come, the U.S. leadership role and credibility in the world being as diminished as it currently is. Even the allies that President Bush mentioned in his speech - the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary - have consistently voted against the U.S. embargo in the United Nations.

Speaking of the United Nations, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted 184-4 October 30, in the 16th consecutive loss by the United States, to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba. You can read more in this New York Times story.

President Bush's speech demonstrates how isolated the United States has become in efforts to have a voice in the debate on Cuba's emerging transition. If the President intends that the United States play any part (read: appropriate, non-interventionist) in Cuba's future, he would be wise to pursue a policy of engagement - as the majority of U.S. citizens wish - rather than continuing the failed policy of isolation and hostility.

Most dangerously, the President seemed to call for upheaval in Cuba - certainly not what the policy of the United States should be in any country. He said that "stability" was not the U.S. goal, rather "freedom." 

The speech came at a time when the President needs a distraction from the declining situation in Iraq, sagging political support in Florida, and the United Nations vote condemning the United States' embargo on Cuba.

The LAWG urges the administration and the Congress to become relevant and begin an immediate process of engagement, dialogue and policy change. Opening up trade and unrestricted travel to Cuba would be a good beginning.

Well, that's it for now. If you've read to the end, we hope you aren't discouraged. Your energy is needed even more now to keep the issue of Cuba policy before our legislators and our presidential candidates. As opportunities arise, we'll be coming back to you with requests for action and advocacy. Right now, please help us publicize and distribute the Love, Loss, and Longing book with policy makers and the public; help others to understand that Cuba policy is one of the keys to improving U.S. foreign policy in Latin America; be encouraged that change will come.