U.S. restricts travel, remittances to Cuba as part of a new policy

[Ryan]

It's safe to say that not all Cubans are happy with the current regime. I don't know the numbers, nobody does, but it's equally safe to say that the vast majority of Cubans are very proud of their independence.

Support for any government (whether good, bad, inefficient or corrupt) increases when there is any evidence of attempted regime change from abroad. Especially in a country where citizens value their independence.

There is a saying (said quietly) in Cuba, "The best ally Castro ever had was the embargo". 

[Nino]

4 hours ago, Ethernut said:

@ElJavi76 NINO is touchy about that.. I made the same mistake multiple times!

F YOU Nino! ?

Yep, you got it right @Ethernut .... ?

F You too and all the Autocorrect Apps .... ?
 

4 hours ago, Ryan said:

There is a saying (said quietly) in Cuba, "The best ally Castro ever had was the embargo". 

 

Fully agree with you @Ryan.

And it is being said not so quietly - the Cubans mock all problems as : "it's the Embargo" or "el bloqueo" when they want to say it's the Cuban gvt. fault's ... best ally the Cuban gvt has had for 60 years.

[ElJavi76]

1 hour ago, nino said:

Jajajaja ... I win, yo llego antes que tu ... sure,

Espacios again ? I reserve the table ?

And stop calling me Niño, I am still Mr Nino to you ?

 

Senor Nino. There... All ñ's are stricken from the record. 

Autocorrect is intrusive. Kinda like having domain over everything. Fitting for this thread I'd say. Espacios sounds like music to my ears. 

[Monterey]

May 2nd is not the date.  It is unknown at the moment.  May 2nd is for something else, not travel.  It takes time to make changes.  They haven't even made an official announcement yet on the travel.  Last time this happened was in 2017.  An official announcement was made in June and it didn't take effect until November,  5 months later.  It takes time to write new laws.

Besides, cruise ships and planes are going there daily.  The laws are going to just change tomorrow and customs is going to  tell them "sorry, out of luck" and turn them away?    Things just don't happen that fast.  I'm sure we have months before we have to worry about anything.

[MPS]

1 hour ago, mtapia3 said:

How does one prove you have family in Cuba? Is it just a matter a checking the family visit box when applying for the visa? 

Blood samples 

[sv187]

Is this effective immediately?

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

[tigger]

On 4/17/2019 at 6:41 PM, NYgarman said:

You are free to do as you wish. Even break US law. Just be prepared to pay the price if you get caught. My2c.

All true.

Which doesn't mean I won't call out the hypocrisy of a government that pays lip service to liberty while using coercion  to try to prevent its citizens from traveling as they wish.

[puromaniac]

It is sad.

www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/19/business/economy-business/shortages-hit-cuba-raising-fears-new-economic-crisis/

Many friends in Cuba, some heavily invested in the tourism industry.

 

 

 

[El Presidente]

On 4/18/2019 at 8:41 AM, NYgarman said:

You are free to do as you wish. Even break US law. Just be prepared to pay the price if you get caught. My2c.

Stupid laws should always be challenged. 

I hope hundreds of thousands more flock down to Havana in a case of civil disobedience. 

Crikey, it was technically illegal for a US citizen to purchase a post embargo Cuban cigar not that long ago.  There were plenty here showing their own "civil disobedience" then. It was a stupid law and rightfully ignored by many 

There are plenty of things that I can agree with re the current administration (china/trade being one). This certainly is not one of them. Venezuela means squat to the US. Florida certainly does and this simply screams domestic opportunism. 

 

 

[Ethernut]

I’m not 100% buying the Florida voter thing as the key motivator. I can see how there might be a motivator in there however. This series of posts by someone that understands the inter-workings of the Latin world better than I do seems like there’s some real legit reasons regardless of whether I like it or not. I know either way who it's going to hurt is the Cuban people.

———— from online post

”This is completely motivated by the Venezuela issue. The administration has been putting enormous pressure under the Venezuelan government only to find out that the Cuban government is one of the roots of the problem, by providing  huge intelligence infrastructure for Maduro to keep the armed forces from fracturing and the opposition in a short leash. You loosen Cuba enough, and it might lose the grip on Venezuela. It’s a very tough strategy, but by all means necessary.”

“I think the issue of Venezuela is far more of a geopolitical problem that literally endangers USA national security, as Venezuela is currently driven by Cuba, but also strong representation of Russia, Iran including proven camps of terrorist groups like FARC and Hezbollah. Dealing with those terrorist groups from the Middle East in your hemisphere, in your backyard is a completely different story that surely must be addressed. Also, the Narco-Regime status of the Venezuelan government is a macro social problem for the US and the region. Despite this, I do believe this efforts of solving the situation as soon as possible won’t hurt to win the latino vote: 2 millions Cubans + CubansAmericans + 500K Venezuelans. That’s quite something.”

 

Very interesting perspective..

[PigFish]

....still time to invest in ostrich farming...!

-tP

[SOFLO88]

1 hour ago, PigFish said:

....still time to invest in ostrich farming...!

-tP

How much would those oversized flightless turkeys set me back? 

[El Presidente]

5 hours ago, db13 said:

I'm surprised you would agree with the clown circus of policy that was involved with tarrifs and china. It wrecked havoc on financial markets for several months and a lot of U.S. companies suffered. What about the current U.S. policy regarding China and trade do you agree with?

Coarsely applied but in the right direction.

China pegs it currency to protect its exports. It still gets away with it.

Tarrifs should be applied unless countries wish to lose the remaining   threads of domestic manufacturing.

[ElJavi76]

So where do we go after this latest round of verbal escalation? Trump just tweeted that if Cuba doesn't stop its military involvement, full embargo. 

Does that mean no flights immediately? No remittances effective immediately? And really Bolton... Cuba has 20K troops in Venezuela?

Pardon my naïveté, even as a Cuban national and I think a relatively informed human being... Does Cuba even have the wherewithal to send 20K troops anywhere? Maybe their military apparatus is much more sophisticated than I imagine. 

Full disclosure... I'm supposed to travel to Havana on 5/26. I'm starting to get a little worried about said trip. Trying to stay in the moment and not worry about what will or won't happen a month from now.

[cbenham73]

I was hoping to go in October, but with all the tension it may be wise to postpone that excursion.

[Monterey]

8 minutes ago, ElJavi76 said:

Full disclosure... I'm supposed to travel to Havana on 5/26. I'm starting to get a little worried about said trip. Trying to stay in the moment and not worry about what will or won't happen a month from now.

You will be just fine.  It will take months to write the law and implement.  Airlines, crusie ships, etc . . .  all have to be adjusted.  It doesn't happen over night.  Last time this happened it was announced in June and took effect in November.   The travel changes haven't even been officially announced.  I have a trip planned for the first week of November.  I'm still planning on going.  We shall see.

 

[Corylax18]

3 hours ago, ElJavi76 said:

So where do we go after this latest round of verbal escalation? Trump just tweeted that if Cuba doesn't stop its military involvement, full embargo. 

Does that mean no flights immediately? No remittances effective immediately? And really Bolton... Cuba has 20K troops in Venezuela?

Pardon my naïveté, even as a Cuban national and I think a relatively informed human being... Does Cuba even have the wherewithal to send 20K troops anywhere? Maybe their military apparatus is much more sophisticated than I imagine.

I guess it depends on your definition of a "Troop." Guys with uniforms? Sure. Effective or even useful warfighters/tacticians? Not a chance. I'm sure Cuba has had some soldiers there for years. Its hilarious to me that we are lambasting Cuba for Military intervention, anywhere, at anytime. Don't we have several thousand troops occupying a Naval base in their country as we speak? Is there a stronger word than embarrassing? 

Havana was BUSSLING this weekend. The busiest I've ever seen it. Full restaurants, people in the streets, lots of people at the beaches in Tarrara. U.S. citizens all over the place. The Cuban citizens that I spoke to all had the same things to say. Shortages are growing in scope and breadth. Some restaurants didn't have Cristal, a friend couldn't find Yucca for days. This is on top of the continuous and variable shortages that are commonplace. @ElJavi76 I wouldn't be particularly concerned. No matter what happens, you should still be fine

As a tourist, the changes aren't perceptible yet. But, That's not the case for the people that live there.  

[Sudzdaddy]

16 minutes ago, Monterey said:

You will be just fine.  It will take months to write the law and implement.  Airlines, crusie ships, etc . . .  all have to be adjusted.  It doesn't happen over night.  Last time this happened it was announced in June and took effect in November.   The travel changes haven't even been officially announced.  I have a trip planned for the first week of November.  I'm still planning on going.  We shall see.

 

Same, will hopefully see you there!

[ElJavi76]

10 minutes ago, Corylax18 said:

I guess it depends on your definition of a "Troop." Guys with uniforms? Sure. Effective or even useful warfighters/tacticians? Not a chance. I'm sure Cuba has had some soldiers their for years. Its hilarious to me that we are lambasting Cuba for Military intervention, anywhere, at anytime. Don't we have several thousand troops occupying a Naval base in their country as we speak? Is there a stronger word than embarrassing? 

Havana was BUSSLING this weekend. The busiest I've ever seen it. Full restaurants, people in the streets, lots of people at the beaches in Tarrara. U.S. citizens all over the place. The Cuban citizens that I spoke to all had the same things to say. Shortages are growing in scope and breadth. Some restaurants didn't have Cristal, a friend couldn't find Yucca for days. This is on top of the continuous and variable shortages that are commonplace. @ElJavi76 I wouldn't be particularly concerned. No matter what happens, you should still be fine

As a tourist, the changes aren't perceptible yet. But, That's not the case for the people that live there.  

I hear you Cory. I think it's interesting to say very exactly 20k "troops" or even troops. I also don't know what full and complete embargo mean. We don't have a kinda embargo on Cuba rn do we? Which is why this "full and complete" choice of words has me head scratching. Cory to your point about intervention... Carlos Prío, former Cuban president at the time living in the US, was fined $9K for meddling in international affairs. LoL He was helping finance Castro and other insurgents who were looking to overthrow Batista. At the time, the US was ok with the Batista dictatorship in Cuba. Until they weren't. Pot, please meet kettle. 

My cousin (from here) had to search high and low thru contacts to locate a pig for a pig roast when I go to see my aunt (his mom). Shortages are real. If Havana is lacking, imagine rural areas. I also have plans to visit again in November. @El Presidente said on this or a different thread Maduro might not make to end of year. He was supposed to be on a plane to Havana tonight. At this pace, I wonder if the Castro regime will make it to end of year. 

[Trevor2118]

On 4/18/2019 at 10:34 AM, Corylax18 said:

North Korea tested a new Cruise Missile today so this makes PERFECT sense. ?

 

One does have to get one's priorities right......?

[BrightonCorgi]

This policy could be short lived depending on what happens in Venezuela.  Was reported in the new the US put extra sanctions on Cuba due to their support of Maduro.

[crasmith]

On 4/17/2019 at 4:00 PM, kevpro said:

I have a flight there in June, It'll be interesting to see what the actual restrictions are. Hopefully Jet Blue / AirBnB will provide refunds if it's truly restricted to family only. 

I do too!  I’m hoping there won’t be much change by end of June. 

I DO worry that customs may more heavily scrutinize our rentry into US.