04-04-09, 06:18 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Frass Canyon
Posts: 62,644
| Travel ban to Cuba to be lifted!!!
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...ncThgD97BHSK80 Quote:
Report: Obama to ease Cuba restrictions
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama intends to lift the U.S. ban on family members traveling to Cuba and remittances to the island, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The move would fulfill a pledge Obama made during the presidential campaign and could signal a new openness with the communist nation, the newspaper said in an article posted on its Web site.
A senior administration official traveling with Obama in Europe declined on Saturday to confirm that anything is final on Obama's decision. But the official said Obama has been clear to Congress about his intentions. The official said that for moral and strategic reasons that president made it clear in his campaign that it was "time to address family travel and remittances."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not yet made any announcements.
Democrats in Congress are also moving to loosen restrictions on family travel to Cuba, but Obama plans to use presidential powers to ease the rules on his own, the Journal said, quoting an unidentified senior administration official.
The president does not intend to call for lifting the decades-long trade embargo against Cuba, which would require congressional approval, the report said.
Timing of the announcement is unclear, the Journal said, but there was speculation it could come before this month's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
During the presidential campaign, Obama pledged to allow unlimited family travel and remittances to Cuba. "It's time to let Cuban-Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and their brothers," he said in a speech last May in Miami. "It's time to let Cuban-American money make their families less dependent on the Castro regime."
The rules will affect an estimated 1.5 million Americans who have relatives in Cuba, the Journal said.
| Varadero Beach here I come!
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