Anger at Cuba travel ban decision

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3269601.stm

US lawmakers have come under attack for dropping a provision that
would have allowed Americans to travel to Cuba for the first time in
40 years. Lawmakers removed from pending legislation terms which
would have prevented money being spent on enforcing the ban.
[...]

Correspondents say the president is trying to keep the powerful Cuban
exile lobby in Florida on board ahead of next year's presidential election.

"Politics have triumphed again over principle," said Republican congressman
Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Business lobbies have also said they are angry, as they had hoped to export
food to Cuba under an exception passed in 2000.
[...]
The US Treasury Department estimated that about 160,000 Americans visited
Cuba legally last year, half of them Cuban-Americans who are allowed to
make one visit a year.

Diplomats, politicians, journalists and academics are allowed to visit
Cuba without restrictions, but thousands of Americans made illegal visits
through third countries.

Cuba has said it expects about a million Americans to visit in the first
year if the ban is lifted.

(BBC News)
--
Ken Tough