Cuba winks at back-door travelers from U.S.

Cuba winks at `back-door travelers' from U.S.
By Rosemary McClure
Los Angeles Times

February 19, 2006

The Cuban government cooperates with backdoor travelers; customs
officials generally do not stamp the passports of Americans when they
enter. "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 during the Clinton administration; it has
tightened during the Bush administration.

Backdoor travelers risk penalties ranging from a warning letter to
$65,000 fines.

But many backdoor travelers say free travel 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 last year.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/print/sfl-cubatravelfeb19,0,3419674.story?coll=sfla-travel-print