Legislators Press for Further Changes to U.S. – Cuba Policy

Washington, D.C. – Representatives Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) and James McGovern (D-MA), members of the Cuba Working Group, urged further changes in our Cuba policy, including passage of the bipartisan Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (H.R. 874) as a means to bring human rights and democratic change to Cuba after decades of a failed U.S. policy to the island nation. Also participating were Jose Miguel Vivanco, Director of the Americas Division, Human Rights Watch and Fr. Andrew Small, Director for the Church in Latin America, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

While President Barack Obama last month reversed years of an ineffective Cuba policy, lifting all restrictions on travel and financial support by Cuban-Americans to family in Cuba, a lifting of the ban on travel by all Americans to Cuba requires congressional action. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, introduced by Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), would repeal the ban on legal travel by all Americans to Cuba. The legislation continues to gain support and now boasts over 150 cosponsors, as well as the support of a diverse number of groups, including many in the religious, business, and educational communities. The American people by a two-to-one margin support a change in policy to allow all Americans to travel to Cuba.

"Even though our policy toward Cuba has yielded no progress on human rights or democratization, we continue to restrict travel there. This policy is illogical and must be changed," said Rep. DeLauro. "Only by engaging with the Cuban government and Cuban society will we have the platform or the leverage to seriously address our concerns without having them brushed aside."

"After nearly 50 years, it's time to concede that our current policy toward Cuba has failed," said Rep. Flake. "If we're serious about hastening democratic reforms in Cuba, we need to try a new approach."

"Cuban democracy activists support ending the travel ban," said Rep. Delahunt, who chairs the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight. "Here's what Oscar Espinosa Chepe, an independent economist who served time in Castro's jails, said in April: ‘Even by a simple conversation, sharing every day experiences, Americans would be demonstrating how your society is capable of constantly deepening and improving democracy, and could help our own efforts for democracy.' Shouldn't we listen to those who are on the ground in Cuba fighting for human rights?"

"Americans' freedom to travel is about more than the rights of U.S. citizens, it's about sharing our ideals of freedom and liberty with a neighbor. Only by engaging Cuba can we help to shape the nation during a crucial time. Travel restrictions are damaging to Cuban-American families, to all Americans who wish to freely travel to Cuba, and to our international relationship," said U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO).

"America's policy of principled engagement with China recognizes the value of American contacts with Chinese citizens in all walks of life. This has long been a missing element of American policy toward Cuba. Opening travel with Cuba will benefit Cuba and the United States in innumerable ways," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

A Human Rights Watch report, "Families Torn Apart," documented the human cost of the US restrictions on travel by Cuban Americans and found that they infringed upon the internationally recognized right to freedom of movement, and violated the international prohibition on the involuntary separation of families.