Feds lay down the law on Cuba to travel agents

Posted on Sat, Apr. 29, 2006

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS
Feds lay down the law on Cuba to travel agents
The U.S. Treasury Department, in the midst of a crackdown against
illegal travel to Cuba, met with travel agencies to clarify the rules.
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com

In the midst of a widespread federal crackdown on illegal travel to
Cuba, the U.S. Treasury Department met Friday in Miami with agencies
that specialize in travel to Cuba to go over the rules they must follow
to keep their licenses.

Since January, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has been
auditing travel agencies and religious organizations that specialize in
travel to Cuba. In the past few months, four of those agencies have had
Cuba travel licenses suspended. Six religious organizations have also
had their licenses suspended. The Foreign Assets Control office would
not provide the names of the religious organizations.

At least one popular Cuba travel agency, ABC Charters, has seen travel
to Cuba cut in half in the last few weeks, said ABC Vice President Maria
Aral.

Aral said Friday's meeting at Department of Homeland Security offices
near Miami International Airport was to update Cuba travel agencies on
some of the travel restrictions that went into effect in 2004.

''They want to make sure that the travel we provide is legal,'' Aral
said. ``It's a tough environment now. They just came to enforce the
policies that politicians put together. As much as I don't like certain
things, I have to defend them because they are just doing their jobs.''

In the last four months, 26 of about 200 travel agencies have not
renewed their Foreign Assets Control licenses, a substantial drop. But
agency spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said it wasn't because the travel
companies had done anything wrong.

''The majority of the changes were due to service providers deciding
that they no longer wanted to be in the business and notified OFAC that
they were voluntarily giving up their authorizations,'' Millerwise said
in an e-mail responding to questions. ``Another handful moved without
leaving any means to contact them. And a couple of service providers
terminated their authorizations because the owner died or sold all of
their interest.''

The Foreign Assets Control office has suspended the licenses of PWG
Trading, Baby Envios Travel Inc., Fortuna Travel Services and Cubatur
Express.

THE FOCUS

Pedro Gonzalez-Munne, owner of Cuba Promotions, which promotes travel to
Cuba, said the Treasury agency has several agents investigating Cuba
travel in Miami. Their focus is not only illegal travel but illegal
shipments of money to the island, said Gonzalez-Munne, who did not
attend Friday's meeting.

''The most important thing for them [the federal agents] now are the
remittances,'' Gonzalez-Munne said.

In the summer of 2004, the Bush administration tightened travel and
remittance restrictions to Cuba. Friday's meeting was ''an effort by
OFAC to reach out to the community to help ensure they understand and
are aware of their obligations as licensed service providers,''
Millerwise said.

A REVIEW

In the meeting, about five agents went over some of the restrictions
that took effect in 2004, Aral said. For example, Aral said, fully
hosted travel, in which a person was allowed to travel to Cuba through a
third country as long as he didn't spend any money there, is no longer
allowed. Also, educational programs in which students study in Cuba now
have to be at least 10 weeks long.

The most controversial change in policy in 2004 restricted family visits
to once every three years for Cubans and Cuban Americans, and does not
include aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins on the list that
qualifies as family.

MIXED REACTION

The tightened travel restrictions have been hailed by hard-line Cuban
exile leaders for denying the communist government of Fidel Castro badly
needed hard currency, but others have criticized the restrictions as
antifamily.

Millerwise said Friday's meeting, conducted in English and Spanish, was
intended to help Cuba travel agencies understand the rules.

''OFAC thought it would be beneficial to meet with the [agencies] to go
through key points . . . especially any new material or changes,''
Millerwise said.

Earlier this week, a group of Cuban Americans united to denounce U.S.
travel restrictions to Cuba.

The group, named Emergency Network of Cuban American Scholars and
Artists for Change in U.S.Cuba Policy, or ENCASA, declared its
commitment to fight the U.S. embargo of Cuba and the travel restrictions.

ENCASA's bold attack on U.S. policy comes just weeks before the Bush
administration's Cuba commission will recommend ways to President Bush
to help speed up a democratic transition on the island. The last time
the Cuba commission issued a report, in 2004, the president heeded its
advice and ordered sanctions to be tightened.

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