Cuba Central

End the Cuba travel ban

The US blockade is crumbling!

Caravan to Cuba crosses into Mexico with 100 tons of aid bound for Cuba

News release from Pastors for Peace, dated July 21, 2009

[7-22-09]

130 volunteers from the US, Canada, and Europe successfully challenged the US economic blockade of Cuba today when they crossed over into Reynosa, Mexico with 100 tons of humanitarian aid bound for Cuba.

Rev. Tom Smith, IFCO/Pastors for Peace board chair said “The blockade is crumbling—like all walls eventually crumble. We have received a tremendous outpouring of support throughout the U.S. People have demonstrated their desire to end this inhumane policy towards Cuba by their generous donations and by their informed questions. People want the freedom to travel to Cuba without limitations by the U.S. government.”

"We have met people throughout the US who are willing to do more to make this change happen.” Smith continued. Thousands of people signed up for our emergency response network—standing ready to make calls to their congressional representatives and the Obama administration demanding that our aid to go through." said Smith.

The rest of the story >>

Cuba and terrorism: who’s doing it to whom?
[5-1-07]

Is the US protecting terrorists like Luis Posada, while imprisoning Cubans who have sought to protect their people against terrorism?

The Nation magazine has released a special issue focusing on the future of Cuba. Guest editor Peter Kornbluh writes in this issue:

Perhaps more than any other nation over the past fifty years, Cuba has consistently faced both threatened and real assassination attempts, sabotage efforts, armed attacks and bombings, infamous among them the midair destruction of a Cubana passenger plane in 1976.

Yet even in the post-9/11 world, US soil continues to be used for such purposes.

In fact, the Five are better understood as counterterrorism agents whose goal was to protect Cubans and other innocent victims from the violence of committed terrorists like Luis Posada. The Bush Administration's handling of these two historically inseparable cases is a reminder that, when it comes to Cuba, US policy-makers refuse to recognize the difference between those who commit acts of terror and those seeking to counter them.

For Kornbluh’s article on "Terror and the Counterterrorists," and more, go to www.thenation.com, and search for "Cuba"

Tightening restrictions on Cuba [7-28-04]

The Washington Office has provided a helpful look at increasingly restrictive policies from Washington, some of the factors in domestic politics that are influencing them (in spite of resistance from younger Cuban immigrants and from the House of Representatives), and recent General Assembly policy statements calling for an end to the embargo and travel restrictions, and moves toward re-establishing diplomatic relations.

Now's the time to press for freedom to travel to Cuba [9-3-03]

Harold Barton sends this update from cubacentral.com:

In early September, Congress will vote on whether to give Americans their freedom back -- their freedom to travel to Cuba.

Now is the time to contact your representatives in the House and Senate, and the message is simple, direct, and clear: Vote for Freedom, lift the ban on legal travel by Americans to Cuba.

Please make your voice heard today by going to http://action.ciponline.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item 394

The vote on legal travel will occur in the House of Representatives in just the next few days. The freedom to travel amendment will be offered by Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and other members of the House Cuba Working Group.

Sanctions like the travel ban have existed in law for forty years, and they only serve to punish the Cuban and American people. There are voices in the Congress who like things just the way they are; these zealous supporters of the embargo and the travel ban will say anything -- and do anything -- to keep Americans from traveling to Cuba. Are they playing politics with the Cuban-American vote in Florida? Yes, they are!

But the American people want the travel ban lifted, and our Members of Congress need to know that they have your support for changing a policy that short-changes our constitutional rights.

Specifically, we urge you to say:

	Vote YES on the Flake amendment to end the travel ban.
	Vote NO on false alternatives that delay us reaching our goal.
	And insist on action THIS YEAR.

With your help, we can win this vote in the House and establish even greater momentum for the votes in the Senate that will soon follow. The Freedom to Travel should be the right of all citizens; contacting Congress to urge a positive vote is the responsibility of all of us who want this freedom restored.

Your action right now is critical. Please go to http://action.ciponline.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item 394 where you can have a message sent automatically to your Member of Congress today!

Petition campaign urges Pres. Bush to end the ban on Cuba travel

[5-29-02]

We have received this item from a number of groups and individuals committed to freedom and justice for the people of Cuba.

Lift the Travel Ban to Cuba

End the embargo. Stop the ban on travel. Promote real reconciliation between people of the United States and Cuba. Have a cigar (if that's your thing). Help us end a policy that punishes the people of Cuba and America.

www.cubacentral.com starts petition campaign against Bush's misguided efforts on U.S. policy toward Cuba

Washington, D.C. -- A web-based petition drive to force President Bush to reverse his misguided efforts on US policy toward Cuba was initiated today [May 20, 2002] by www.cubacentral.com, an Internet site sponsored by the Center for International Policy (CIP), the Latin America Working Group (LAWG), and Global Exchange.

The petition calls the Bush initiative announced today "a mistake of historic proportions," and says to the President "rather than repeating the failed policies of the last forty-two years, rather than responding to political pressures from extreme elements of the Cuban exile community in places like Miami, you should follow President Carter's example and heed his advice: end the embargo. Stop the ban on travel. Promote real reconciliation between people of the United States and Cuba."

The full text of the petition can be found on www.cubacentral.com.

Sign the Petition!

http://www.cubacentral.com/petition/#petition

www.cubacentral.com is a joint project sponsored by organizations working to change U.S. policy from a strategy of confrontation to one of normalized relations and common sense between the United States and Cuba. Included are groups fighting for repeal of the ban on legal travel by Americans to Cuba as well as organizations with wide-ranging interests in reforming policy toward Cuba and other nations in the Hemisphere.

These include:

The Center for International Policy
The Latin America Working Group
Global Exchange