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U.S. aggressively enforcing Cuba travel restrictions
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration on Monday identified 10 foreign companies -- most of which are involved in the travel business -- that it believes are linked to Cuba and thus are forbidden from doing business in the United States. The Treasury Department's action marks the latest development emerging from President Bush's call for more stringent enforcement of provisions that forbid most travel to Cuba. Under current rules, there are exceptions that cover working journalists, relatives of Cuban citizens, providers of humanitarian aid and others. "We're cracking down. We mean business," Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a speech to a group of Cuban Americans in Miami. "We're cutting off American dollars headed to Fidel Castro, period." The 10 companies identified by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control are believed to be owned or controlled by the Cuban government or Cuban nationals. Nine of the companies provide travel services and one allows people to buy gifts and send them to Cuba. Any assets or property of the companies found in the United States must be frozen and people in the United States are forbidden from doing business with them. President Kennedy imposed economic sanctions against Cuba in 1963 during the Cold War. The basic goal is to isolate the Cuban government economically and deprive it of U.S. dollars, the government says. The travel companies identified Monday "provide easy access to Cuba to those U.S. individuals who choose to break the law," the department said. "Many of these entities use the Internet to advertise and sell Cuban tourism to the U.S. public. U.S. law enforcement officials have intercepted a number of unauthorized travelers whose tour packages were purchased through one of these entities." The government late last year stepped up enforcement of the travel ban by intensifying training of customs inspectors as well as inspections of travelers and shipments, especially certain flights out of Miami, New York and Los Angeles. As a result, around 275 people were denied travel on charter flights to Cuba after examinations revealed they did not qualify for one of the travel exemptions, the department said. Last year, both the Republican-led House and Senate voted to end the travel ban, but congressional negotiators stripped that provision out of a compromise measure to finance the Treasury and Transportation departments. The White House had threatened to veto legislation that would have weakened the travel ban. Snow defended the department's decision last March to get rid of a "people-to-people" education license that allowed Americans to travel to Cuba for educational purposes unrelated to academic course work. "The license had increasingly been abused for trips that amounted to little more than tourist travel, thus undermining the intentions of the U.S. sanctions against Cuba. So we got rid of it." Snow said. The 10 companies named in Monday's action a Travel companies: Canada Inc., Montreal and Quebec; Corporacion Cimex S.A., Havana and all other locations worldwide; Havanatur S.A., Havana and other cities in Cuba; Havanatur, S.A., Buenos Aires, Argentina; Havanatur Bahamas Ltd, Nassau; Havantaur Chile S.A., Santiago, Chile; Cubanacan Group, Havana; Cubanacan International B.V., Zevenhuizen, Netherlands; and Cubanacan U.K., Limited, London. The gift company: La Compania Tiendas Universo, S.A., Cuba, and operates an Internet shopping site, www.cuba-shop.net. -- ***/***/*** When life gives you lemons Skull**** everyone in sight! http://wonderofitall.com/ ***/***/*** |
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U.S. aggressively enforcing Cuba travel restrictions
"james_anatidae" wrote in message ...
"Mark Hewitt" wrote in message ... Mindbogglingly stupid! Agreed and it's also hypocritical to believe that trade with Cuba is wrong because it is communist, but trading with China and Vietnam is just fine. Which ignores the actual reason for the Cuba ban, but it does make it easier to call them hypocritical. |
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U.S. aggressively enforcing Cuba travel restrictions
"me" wrote in message
om... "james_anatidae" wrote in message ... "Mark Hewitt" wrote in message ... Mindbogglingly stupid! Agreed and it's also hypocritical to believe that trade with Cuba is wrong because it is communist, but trading with China and Vietnam is just fine. Which ignores the actual reason for the Cuba ban, but it does make it easier to call them hypocritical. And what would that reason be? Human rights violations? Because we all know China and Vietnam treat their populations with kid gloves. -- MST3K Info Club #94931 Goliath & Wildwing's Storage Room http://anatidae.homestead.com/ |
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U.S. aggressively enforcing Cuba travel restrictions
james_anatidae wrote:
"me" wrote in message om... "james_anatidae" wrote in message ... "Mark Hewitt" wrote in message ... Mindbogglingly stupid! Agreed and it's also hypocritical to believe that trade with Cuba is wrong because it is communist, but trading with China and Vietnam is just fine. Which ignores the actual reason for the Cuba ban, but it does make it easier to call them hypocritical. And what would that reason be? Human rights violations? Because we all know China and Vietnam treat their populations with kid gloves. We all should remember that it is because the Cuban government too over the property of some US fat cats. That was the initial justification. FFM |
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