Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances
Abstract
Restrictions on travel to Cuba have been a key and often contentious component in U.S. efforts to isolate the communist government of Fidel Castro for much of the past 40 years. Over time, there have been numerous changes to the restrictions, and for five years, from 1977 until 1982, there were no restrictions on travel to Cuba. Under the Bush Administration, enforcement of U.S. restrictions on Cuba travel has increased, and restrictions on travel and on private remittances to Cuba have been tightened. In March 2003, the Administration eliminated travel for people-to-people educational exchanges unrelated to academic coursework. In June 2004, the Administration further restricted family and educational travel, eliminated the category of fully-hosted travel, and restricted remittances so that they could only be sent to the remitter's immediate family. In 2005, the Administration further restricted religious travel to Cuba by changing licensing guidelines for such travel. In the second session of the 109th Congress, the House rejected two amendments to the FY2007 Transportation/Treasury appropriation bill, H.R. 5576, on June 14, 2006, that would have eased Cuba travel restrictions: H.Amdt 1050 (Rangel) would have eased overall Cuba embargo restrictions, and H.Amdt. 1051 (Lee) would have eased educational travel restrictions. On June 22, 2006, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the FY2007 Agriculture appropriations bill, H.R. 5384 (S.Rept. 109-266), which contains a provision (Section 755) liberalizing travel to Cuba related to the sale of agricultural and medical goods. Several other legislative initiatives have been introduced in the 109th Congress that would ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 30, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA457484
Entities
People
- Mark P. Sullivan
Organizations
- Library of Congress