Saturday, February 7, 2009

Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act HR 874

Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (Introduced in House)
HR 874 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 874
To allow travel between the United States and Cuba.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 4, 2009
Mr. DELAHUNT (for himself, Mr. FLAKE, Ms. DELAURO, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, Mr. PAUL, and Mr. FARR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
________________________________________
A BILL
To allow travel between the United States and Cuba.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act'.

SEC. 2. TRAVEL TO CUBA.
On and after the date of the enactment of this Act, and subject to section 3--
(1) the President may not regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly, travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents, or any of the transactions incident to such travel; and
(2) any regulation in effect on such date of enactment that regulates or prohibits travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents or transactions incident to such travel shall cease to have any force or effect.
SEC.

3. EXCEPTIONS.
Section 2 shall not apply in a case in which the United States is at war with Cuba, armed hostilities between the two countries are in progress, or there is imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of United States travelers.
SEC.

4. APPLICABILITY.
This Act applies to actions taken by the President before the date of the enactment of this Act that are in effect on such date of enactment, and to actions taken on or after such date.


SEC. 5. INAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.
The provisions of this Act apply notwithstanding section 102(h) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6032(h)) and section 910(b) of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7210(b)).


Rep DeLauro, Rosa L. [CT-3] - 2/4/2009
Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4] - 2/4/2009
Rep Emerson, Jo Ann [MO-8] - 2/4/2009
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 2/4/2009
Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] - 2/4/2009
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 2/4/2009
Rep Moran, Jerry [KS-1] - 2/4/2009
Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] - 2/4/2009

2 comments:

  1. Get involved, call your congressperson, blog, talk, reach out to the media. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act. Get up to date status at www.EveryThingCuba.com plus how to find out who your congressperson is and their contact information. Thank you, Luis Moro, filmmaker

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  2. http://bilingual.sulekha.com/blog/post/2009/02/hr-878-lifting-cuba-travel-restrictions.htm

    Freedom is something that both India and the US take very seriously. It may surprise many that Americans are free to travel anywhere in the world except Cuba. Should I wish to go to Mr. Bush's axis of evil countries ( Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Myanmar and our neighbor Cuba). There are zero restrictions on me as a US citizen visiting any of these countries except for Cuba. Sure there is a travel warning, but should I want to use the magic blue passport.... I can. Cuba however is different. It is a mere 90 miles south of the US and home to and aging Fidel Castro.





    The US cites human rights violations as one of the major reasons why we citizens cannot visit. However let me make a point here, Cuba, is seen by the rest of the world as civilized and a solid contributor, no the small economy is not perfect, yet what country is? Zero other countries restrict travel to Cuba despite the US history of trying to convince them or in many cases strong arm them. Certainly we can not compare Cuba's human rights violations with the genocide that are happening in Burma or say Darfur Sudan, yet we citizens can go there, should we wish to unrestricted. The US policy with Cuba also ignores the fact that under Cuba's previous leadership that was solidly backed by Uncle Sam (under Batista) human rights violations were far worse.


    The US is often called "The Land of the Free and the Brave" well except to visit Cuba should be the caveat. Cuba is a poor country that has a history of US lies, broken promises and a embargo that has lasted for fifty years. The US is strangling Cuba and has been for a half of a century. The real reason for this embargo is rich Cubans who left their country in 1959 for Miami and the USA and wish their property they abandoned returned. Uncle Sam is with them in this frivolous desire. You see Cuba was once the playground for the US that the Americans controlled business with an iron fist through a history of puppet presidents like Mr. Batista.




    Hopefully House resolution H.R. 874 will begin to change this deplorable policy. The average Cuban lives on 30.00 US per month and this is in no small part because of the US embargo. While I would like to see the entire embargo lifted, even Rome was not built in a day. I encourage anyone who is reading this to write your Congressperson and promote the passage of this important bill. Let us hope that the Obama administration and US Senate make this a priority. We need to start treating the world fairly. Let us get past the bully tactics and double standards of the Bush administration. This is a true bipartisan bill with the sponsors being four Republicans and four Democrats who obviously see the light..

    Thanks! Charles Spencer King Author Havana My Kind of Town and Nature's Ancient Religion (Orisha worship & IFA)

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