Freedom House Statement

Obama Administration Should Pursue New Approach to Promote Democracy in Cuba
Washington

January 7, 2009

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=751

The United States should reinvigorate efforts to advance human rights and democracy in Cuba, Freedom House said today. One key element of a strengthened policy would be the lifting of U.S. legal restrictions on American citizen travel to the island.

Cuba has consistently received either the lowest or second-lowest ratings on political rights and civil liberties by Freedom House since it first began publishing the global Freedom in the World survey in 1972. Cuba’s citizens are denied most fundamental rights, including the right to elect their government, participate in political opposition, freely express their views, demonstrate, participate in trade unions, own property, travel, or access information free of government control. Since Raul Castro succeeded his brother as leader of Cuba, some nominal reforms have been announced, though their impact on the lives of Cubans remains negligible.

“Cuba remains one of the most repressive countries in the world,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “It is well past time to reassess a policy that impedes the ability of American citizens to freely interact with Cubans on a large scale and thus expose them to unfettered information about the outside world. We call on the incoming administration of Barack Obama to reexamine the embargo and to immediately lift the restrictions on remittances and travel to and from the island.”

The United States first began introducing economic sanctions against Cuba in 1960 following that government’s seizure without compensation of U.S. assets on the island. Current U.S. sanctions, which strictly limit trade with Cuba to cash-only sales of U.S. farm products and medical supplies, are unique to all other U.S. sanction policies in that they also prohibit U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba unless they obtain a U.S. government waiver.

“While the Bush administration expanded American support for democracy activists in Cuba, U.S. policy would be even more effective if Americans were allowed to engage more freely with Cuban counterparts,” Windsor continued. “Those countries that have moved from dictatorship to democracy in recent decades have done so in large part because of the movement of people and ideas across borders.”

The United States does not impose similarly restrictive travel sanctions on Americans to other regimes that receive Freedom House’s lowest freedom ratings, including Burma, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

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Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, has been monitoring political rights and civil liberties in Cuba since 1972.

US Civil Society Wants Change in US Policy

Few foreign policy issues produce such broad national support for change, or challenge as directly inside-the-beltway PAC financed entrenched interests. The FIU, Zogby, AP/Ipsos and Gallup polls have shown that two-thirds of our nation, including the same percentage of Cuban Americans, support freedom of travel to Cuba. Among Obama supporters the number favoring change is a remarkable 84%.

At least a dozen letters and reports have been produced in the past few weeks urging decisive action by the new administration on travel to Cuba and could be the basis for a substantive meeting with the transition team:

* from 12 business associations
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Society of Travel Agents
Business Roundtable
Coalition for Employment through Exports
Emergency Committee for American Trade
Grocery Manufacturers Association
National Foreign Trade Council
National Retail Federation
Organization for International Investment
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Council for International Business
USA*Engage
See text here

* from 13 academic, business, NGO and advocacy organizations
American Association of State Colleges and Universities
American Friends Service Committee
Church World Service
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
Latin America Working Group
Latin American Studies Association
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
National Foreign Trade Council
Operation USA
Social Science Research Council
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
USA*Engage
Washington Office on Latin America
See text here

* The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA press release here) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) [text here] have authored their own statements as well as joined the applicable group letter.

* A summit of 37 travel and tourism industry leaders urged Obama, "Adopt as policy that the citizens of the United States should be free to travel the globe without
artificial restrictions placed on them by their own government." (text here)

* Wayne Smith released a letter from the Emergency Coalition to Defend Educational Travel,(ECDET) at a press conference in company with officials from several universities.

* The Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy and ENCASA (text here) produced thoughtful letters. The Latin America Working Group and the Washington Office on Latin America launched a sign-on letter and petition that include Cuba within the context of Latin America policy.

* The Cuba Study Group, founded by prominent mainstream Cuban Americans, has issued a report powerfully calling for allowing all travel after previously limiting its position to family visits. See text here

* FRD's on-line letter to the President-elect urging he provide general licenses for all twelve categories of non-tourist travel has topped 1100 grass roots signers (83% were active Obama supporters or donors), with many eloquent comments. See text here.

*A broad group of main line Protestant religious leaders have written to the President-elect urging he :
.. Freely allow religious travel to Cuba.
.. Liberally grant visas for U.S. travel to Cuban pastors and other religious leaders, and no longer bar officials of the Cuban Council of Churches.
.. Lift the travel ban for all Americans.
(The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is already on record against travel restrictions.)
See text and signature list here.

Freedom House, a prominent dissident linked human rights organization which denounces Cuba regularly has called for Obama to "immediately lift the restrictions on remittances and travel to and from the island". (text here )

In addition there have been powerful studies from the Council on Foreign Relations (text here) and the Brookings Institution (summary and link here) as well as editorials in leading newspapers advocating a substantial change in US policy, with travel restrictions a primary focus.

Jake Colvin of USA Engage/National Foreign Trade Council made a compelling case that the President can do virtually anything he wants to modify the embargo, except permit tourism which can be read here.

UPDATE: Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations sums up many of the arguments for change in a Memo to President Obama which appears in the February issue of Cigar Aficionado and can be read here.

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You can help us be more effective in reaching out to the Obama Adminstration by contacting those you know in the White House, State Department and National Security Council and by making as generous a contribution as possible to sustain our work.

Travel the President Can Allow

Upon taking office, the Obama Administration can use its executive authority to the extent permitted by law to suspend many but not all of the limits on freedom of travel by Americans.

As a first step the new Secretary of the Treasury can instruct the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to establish general licenses for all non-tourist travel to Cuba as codified in 2000 (see below). The registration and costly reporting requirements of Travel Service Providers (TSP) can be abolished, enabling any US travel agent to book flights and accommodations for individuals and organizations entitled to general licenses.

Still prohibited, according to the law and regulations, would only be "tourist activities" which simply "means any activity with respect to travel to, from, or within Cuba that is not expressly authorized" by the codified categories. Beach resort packages, conventional cruise line itineraries, and other large scale commercial tourism, the principal potential sources of revenue to Cuba, will remain out of bounds.

OFAC's oversight and enforcement role regarding travel must be limited by the Secretary of the Treasury to providing information about the twelve authorized categories, the nature of a general license, and remaining restrictions on “tourist activities”, thus redeploying staff energies to real national security concerns. (Bush regulations should also be revoked that misuse customs agents to search for and confiscate personal goods and souvenirs brought from Cuba.)

Virtually any American with a serious interest will be immediately free to go to Cuba legally. Not-for-profit organizations, educational and cultural institutions, professional and trade associations, humanitarian and religious groups, businesses, Cuban Americans, and other motivated persons will be able to undertake, without politically motivated obstruction, any kind of visit that does not fall within the limited definition of “tourist activities”.

The categories codified in 2000 entitled to a specific or general (self-qualifying) license are:

(1) Family visits

(2) Official business

(3) Journalistic activity

(4) Professional research

(5) Educational activities

(6) Religious activities

(7) Public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions, and

exhibitions

(8) Support for the Cuban people

(9) Humanitarian projects

(10) Activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes

(11) Exportation, importation, or transmission of information or informational materials

(12) Certain export transactions

Categories 4 to 9 offer particularly broad interpretation. “Educational activities” had already, under pre-2004 OFAC licensing, come to mean a wide range of people-to-people exchanges. The benefit of a general license is that no bureaucratic delay or partisan vetting is possible because prior approval and post-trip reporting are not required. Even if OFAC retained redundant Cuba staff with Bush era political agendas, second guessing of general license use is impractical except in the case of flagrant public disregard of the non-tourist prohibition, e.g. commercial promotion of a holiday at a beach resort or conventional cruise line itineraries.

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Add your name to an on-line letter to Barack Obama favoring non-tourist travel here.

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You can help us be more effective in reaching out to the Obama Adminstration by contacting those you know in the transition team and among prospective appointees and by making as generous a contribution as possible to sustain our work.