Backdoor travelers to Cuba gamble on not getting caught

'Backdoor' travelers to Cuba gamble on not getting caught
Sunday, February 12, 2006
By Rosemary McClure
The Los Angeles Times

The Cuban government cooperates with backdoor travelers; customs
officials generally do not stamp the passports of Americans entering the
country.

"All travelers are legal as far as we're concerned," said Miguel
Alejandro Figueras, a Cuban tourism official.

U.S. sanctions limiting travel to Cuba have waxed and waned in the last
four decades. Travel loosened up during the Clinton administration; it
has tightened during the Bush years. Now backdoor travelers risk
penalties ranging from a warning letter to $65,000 fines.

"Castro uses travel-related dollars to bankroll his regime on the backs
of the Cuban people," said Molly Millerwise, a Treasury Department
spokeswoman. "The Bush administration is steadfast in its commitment to
hasten the day when the Cuban people can enjoy the same free lives we
enjoy in America."

But many backdoor travelers say travel to wherever they want to go is
their constitutional right. "Making it difficult for us to visit doesn't
help the Cuban people. It just makes life harder for them," said a
Chicago businessman who loves Cuba and visits frequently, sometimes
illegally. "I think tougher restrictions have more to do with the
politics of Florida than anything else," he said, speculating that
President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are influenced by
the Cuban exile community in Miami.

Backdoor travelers usually play down the hazards, but the U.S.
government managed to ferret out about 500 of them between January and
October of last year.

"If you do get caught, it's probably going to cost you $1,000 to $2,000,
if you're represented by an attorney," said lawyer Bill Miller of
Oakland, Calif., who has done pro bono work for about 100 clients who
faced fines for visiting Cuba. "If you ignore it (the warning letter),
then it will be sent to collection and you're going to owe $7,500, plus
interest."

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