Finding ways to go to Cuba

Travel to Cuba was mostly limited for the past half century. The people who long to don a Panama cap and enjoy Montecristo cigars and daiquiris in Hemingway’s favored bars have had to go without doing so. Loopholes and exceptions are there, and restrictions are starting to slowly get lifted. There are increasingly more Americans traveling to Cuba every year, but it is definitely not a good country to book for Spring Break or for a family vacation.

Cultural exchange makes Cuba travel possible

Relations between the U.S. and Cuba have not been the warmest for the past half century. A small number of people were allowed to go to Cuba in 1999 when Clinton signed a bill to allow it, states MSNBC. The Kennedy administration’s Cuban embargo is still in effect though. As long as an individual is going to Cuba for “people to people contacts,” it is acceptable. This means that individuals have to go to Cuba with the intention of learning about the Cuban culture. It is not enough to hope to see the individuals and places. People must have itineraries to be able to be allowed to go.

Not as stringent

To get into Cuba on a trip, a person has to go with a group. These groups are pre-authorized to schedule tours and the trip. A key rule change will make it easier to get into a tour of Cuba, as travel itineraries no longer have to be approved ahead of time by the State Department. However, Cuba it’s not a great place to take the children. Though the “person to person” travel exemption has been reinstated and more individuals are going there, most travel to Cuba is for academic, journalistic, governmental and religious purposes or for a limited range of commercial purposes, according to the State Department site. If you have relatives in Cuba, you can go there to see them. This is only okay if your relatives are Cuban nationals. In the Swiss Embassy in Havana, there is a U.S. Special Interests Section that functions as an embassy. Otherwise, there is no U.S. Embassy there.

Get documents in order first

The citizens in Cuba are kept under control with physical and other means. It is “a totalitarian police state,” the State Department explained. Do not worry about being safe while in Cuba. However, make sure you are respectful and have your paperwork in order if you’re going to visit. Most Cubans cannot travel at all. The exit visa, “white card,” required for Cubans to leave Cuba costs the equivalent of $150. Most Cubans live on $20 a month and barely get enough to eat, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Obama, according to Reuters, is open to normalizing relations and lifting some restrictions on trade and travel if the Raul Castro regime makes meaningful changes to the notoriously tight-fisted Cuban regime. Trade in Cuba is beginning to happen more often. Castro will not bid farewell to communism though.

Articles cited

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/43126754/ns/travel-news/

U.S. Department of State on traveling to Cuba

travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1097.html

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2011/0513/Cubans-may-no-longer-be-stuck-on-Caribbean-isle

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-usa-cuba-obama-idUSTRE74C3P820110513