Author: Andrea Fernández Aponte
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In late May, the conservative media outlet The Daily Caller reported that Donald Trump was planning to make good on his campaign promise to “terminate” the Obama administration’s opening of engagement with Cuba. Just over two and a half years after the United States finally took steps to end more than half a century of hostility and restrictions on trade and travel, Trump wants us to go backwards.
Though we’re still anxiously waiting to learn the White House’s official position on U.S.-Cuba policy, we will not sit still and let Trump do away with all we’ve achieved so far.
That’s why the Latin America Working Group is partnering with The Nation to get Congress to pass the Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act (S.1287), which would guarantee Americans the right to travel to Cuba, as well as prevent the president from denying them that right. The bill already has 55 co-sponsors in the Senate, but we’re still a long way from claiming victory.
We need to expand, not reduce, our engagement with Cuba. As Peter Kornbluh reported for The Nation, the economic impact of increased restrictions on travel would be dramatic: he cites a recent study that concludes the U.S. travel industry could lose $3.5 billion and over 10,000 jobs. And the impacts go far beyond that, as Kornbluh notes:
“Trump is threatening to undermine years of concerted effort—inside and outside of government—to establish a civil, peaceful coexistence with an island neighbor after more than half a century of intervention, embargoes, and assassination plots. At stake is a model of responsible U.S. foreign policy—to be emulated, not repudiated.”
Here is the list of the 55 senators who are already co-sponsoring S. 1287:
If your senators have yet to agree to support this vital bill, write to them TODAY and demand they co-sponsor the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act >>
And don’t forget to thank your senators if they’ve already signed on!
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