Hearing: Is it Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba?
This post was written by CIP Intern Hannah Brodlie This morning at 10:00 am the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing to examine whether to lift the travel ban to Cuba. The committee heard from those both in favor and against repealing the travel ban, and began with opening remarks by Chairman Howard L. Berman, who co-authored an article in Tuesday's Miami Herald with Senator Richard Lugar, entitled "Lift the Ban-- Let Americans visit Cuba." Rep. Berman did his best throughout the hearing to keep everyone's remarks to time, as well as keep the discussion civil, though the hearing proved to be contentious and lively, lasting just under four and a half hours. The Committee heard testimony from six diverse witnesses (click on their name for a copy of their testimonies): General Barry R. McCaffrey, Ambassador James Cason (Former Chief of Mission, U.S. Interests Section, Havana, Cuba), Ms. Miriam Leiva (Independent Journalist and Founder, Ladies in White), Mr. Ignacio Sosa (Executive Board Member of Friends of Caritas Cubana), Ms. Berta Antunez (Sister of Former Political Prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ("Antunez") and Pro-democracy Activist), and Mr. Philip Peters (Vice President of Lexington Institute). Below is an abbreviated play-by-play of today's hearing, "Is it Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba?". You can view a webcast of the hearing here. In his opening remarks Chairman Berman stated, "... Let's face it. By any objective measure, the nearly fifty-year old travel ban hasn't worked... It's clearly time for a change... Letting U.S. citizens travel to Cuba is not a gift to the Castros - it's in our own national interest. Waiting for a concession from Havana before we do something on behalf of our own citizens perversely puts the Cuban government in charge of that decision." From there however, many members of the committee expressed their strong disagreement with the Chairman's position on the issue. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said that if Americans want to go to a tropical climate, instead of traveling to Cuba to give their money to the Castro regime, they ought to travel to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, or a destination within the Congresswoman's own state of Florida. Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV) echoed these remarks, and suggested that if you want to travel, don't go to Cuba, go to Las Vegas. In response, Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said, "I was elected to be a Member of Congress, not a travel agent. American's should be able to travel wherever they want. They don't need our advice and shouldn't have to ask our permission." Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) asked (rhetorically) why we would ever subsidize the enemies of the United States, recalling the old Soviet Union days. Likewise, Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) (remember: "You Lie!"?) recalled growing up during the Cold War, remembering the great threat of Fidel Castro. Ranking Member Connie Mack (FL) emphatically expressed his continued support for the travel ban, as he had to be repeatedly reminded by the committee chairman that his time was up. Representative Ron Klein (D-FL) asserted that we may only consider lifting the full travel ban once the Cuban government responds in kind and responds to the legitimate claims of the U.S. In support of lifting the ban, both Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Representative Lee pointed out that Cuba is the only nation in the world where Americans are forbidden to travel by their own government. Rep. Meeks argued that it is the freedom of the American people to be able to choose where they want to go. The Testimony: General McCaffrey argued that our current policy doesn't work. He stated that "We've got Mr.Castro with one foot in the grave" and a "power transition looming in the current years." While he underlined the fact that tourism is not the final solution, he emphasized that "I do not believe that the Cubans are in any way a threat to our national security interests " since the actual military capability of the Cubans is almost nonexistent. Ambassador James Casen argued against lifting the ban. Among other things, he asserted that because Cuban authorities strictly limit interactions with foreigners, no American tourist would be able to find a regular Cuban in their hotel. Ms. Miriam Leiva announced that she and her organization fully support lifting the travel ban. She appeared at the hearing via teleconference, unfortunately accompanied by a four-second delay in transmission. Mr. Ignacio Sosa addressed the criticism that Canadian and European tourism has thus far failed to produce any change in Cuban society. He argued that American tourists are much more likely to share cultural and demographic ties with Cubans. He promoted the pursuit of policies "that increase people to people contact." Ms. Berta Antunez detailed her struggles, particularly the struggles of Afro-Cubans, against the Castro regime and stated that allowing American tourists to enter Cuba would only aid the Cuban government and "would be fatal for us and the space we've won for ourselves." Mr. Philip Peters said that "conditionality has yielded no leverage for the United States." He argued that the travel ban creates divisions along ethnic lines, where one group may travel without restrictions and the rest of us may not. He also conceded the point that American travelers will not magically transform the political situation in Cuba. However, it will increase our influence at a pivotal time in Cuban history. In addition, he pointed out that the Cuban government has tried to make the U.S. a scapegoat for the failure of its own policies; reversing this policies would place the blame where it belongs: on the Cuban government. Follow-up Questions: A very unprofessional exchange occurred between Representative Ros-Lehtinen and General McCaffrey, when Ros. Lehtien quoted Gen. McCaffrey on intelligence and national security matters. Answering, Gen. McCaffrey pointed out that Ros-Lehtinen had failed to address him as "General," instead calling him "Mr. McCaffrey." Gen.McCaffrey said that "I'm offended by your deliberate marginalization of my viewpoints," and the exchange was mostly downhill from there. Ros-Lehtinen continued to to interrupt him, saying "I have five minutes, I can do whatever I want with my time." Gen. McCaffrey called her views silly and said they don't "represent reality." Representative Bill Delahunt (D-MA) followed, saying "I want to go on the record and say that I consider you a great American patriot," to much applause. Rep. Delahunt then cited a letter signed by a number of major military personal, which said that "U.S. policy has not only failed in its principle objectives, but has harmed our interests across the board." Responding, Gen.McCaffrey said, "I think it's a very sensible viewpoint." Representative Delahunt also responded to a point made by Ambassador Casen: "I had never heard the viewpoint that it would be useless [to lift the travel ban] because we don't speak Spanish and no one's gonna talk to us," and quoted the census statistic cited by Mr. Sosa, that 34.5 million Americans speak Spanish as their first language. Representative Flake called out Ambassador Casen for assuming that American tourists who travel to Cuba "go their for rum, sex- this list of pejoratives; I think it's deeply offensive to Americans who go there for a number of reasons." He then asked Casen whether he could cite a time when we've had a travel ban that has actually fostered democracy. Incredibly, Casen answered, "Well, I don't think we have a travel ban." Ranking Member Mack announced that he'd found the silver lining to the day's hearing: we should apply the same restrictions on travel to countries such as Iran, North Korea, and Syria, a suggestion which was not taken seriously. Mack went on to admonish Mr. Sosa for bringing racial and ethnic politics to the discussion, and for somehow suggesting that U.S. policy and the American people are to blame for the Castro regime. Mr. Sosa denied saying these things. Representative Barbara (D-CA) Lee responded to Ranking Member Mack, asserting that the issue of race is both relevant and important to mention. Representative Woolsey (D-CA) aptly compared the discussion to "an old song. Something we've all heard before, except it does not fit the 21st century." She then asked whether there is a difference of opinion between first and second generation Cubans? The general consensus among the witnesses was "yes." Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) asked Gen. McCaffrey and Mr. Peters if they would help get him in to Cuba to visit political prisoners. Both men answered in the affirmative. He also brought up the issue of cop-killer JoAnne Chesimard, who killed a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 and then fled to Cuba where she has lived ever since. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), who supports lifting the travel ban, discussed the similarities between the struggles of African Americans in the United States and Afro-Cubans, and offered her personal support to Ms. Antunez in her non-violent struggle for human rights in Cuba.