[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12993-12994]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             TRAVEL TO CUBA

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, while I am on the floor, I wish to make 
a point about another piece of public policy I have worked on for some 
while.
  The House of Representatives last week passed legislation through the 
Agriculture Committee that would lift the travel ban that is now 
imposed on American citizens to Cuba. I have been to Cuba and have met 
with the Cuban Government, dissidents, people who have been in prison. 
It is 90 miles off our shore.
  There is an embargo on Cuba and a travel ban to Cuba. This chart 
shows the ten U.S. Presidents under which this embargo has existed. As 
one can see, a fair number of Presidents have come and gone while this 
embargo and travel ban to Cuba has been in place.
  The problem with it that I see is this: This embargo is and has 
always been Fidel Castro's biggest excuse.
  Your cities are falling down, your economy is in trouble, things are 
awful in Cuba.
  His response: Yes. That is because this 500-pound gorilla has had its 
fist around our neck with an embargo for 50 years. You try to run this 
country.
  It is his biggest excuse.
  Cuba is a Communist country. I have no interest in doing anything 
that is helpful to the government at all. I do have an interest in 
trying to help the Cuban people.
  Deciding to tell the American people: We will restrict your right to 
travel; we are going to infringe on your freedom; our government says 
you cannot travel, American citizen, to Cuba--I think that is 
unbelievable. By what right does our government say you cannot travel 
to Cuba?
  Let me show where Americans can travel. It is perfectly appropriate, 
if you can get a visa, to travel to Iran, according to the Office of 
Foreign Assets Control in the Treasury Department.
  OFAC, by the way, in the basement, the deep bowels of the Treasury 
Department, are supposed to be tracking money to terrorists. But about 
a fourth of their resources are devoted to tracking American citizens 
who are suspected of vacationing in Cuba. Think of that. In a world 
beset by terrorist threats, we have folks who are trying to figure out: 
Are there American citizens who have gone to Cuba whom we can track 
down and against whom we can levy a $10,000 fine?
  You can go to Iran, OFAC says. That is not a problem. You are an 
American

[[Page 12994]]

citizen and you want to go to Iran, that is OK.
  If you are an American citizen and you would like to see Kim Jong Il 
while he is still in office, you can go to North Korea. That is not a 
big deal for OFAC. If you want to go to Communist North Korea, no 
problem at all.
  You want to go to China, a Communist country? Not a problem. You want 
to go to Vietnam, a Communist country? That is no problem. I have been 
to both, by the way. Why have we said that about Vietnam and China? 
Because we have a very specific policy with respect to that issue. We 
have said we believe that engagement through trade and travel is the 
most effective way to move both China and Vietnam toward greater human 
rights. Let me say that again. Our official policy--Republicans and 
Democrats--has been that we believe the most effective way to move 
China and Vietnam--Communist countries--toward greater human rights is 
through trade and travel through engagement. Engagement. The only 
outlier to that is Cuba, which is 90 miles off our shore. And Fidel 
Castro pokes his finger in our eye every chance he gets.
  We decided some while ago--many Presidents ago, actually--to put 
together an embargo, which has not worked at all, which includes 
restricting the American people's right to travel. Then in 2003, 
leading up to the elections in 2004, President Bush made this even 
tighter. He eliminated people-to-people visits in 2003; eliminated 
secondary school education travel; restricted family travel to once 
every 3 years; restricted amateur athletic travel. Essentially, he tied 
it very tight. The upshot of that was, I guess they all felt good that 
they were going to tighten restrictions around Cuba and tell those 
Cuban Americans who felt that is the right thing to do that this was 
something the administration was going to do to be helpful to them.
  Here is what the Office of Foreign Assets Control says about travel 
to Cuba. I just described that North Korea is fine and travel to Iran 
is fine, China and Vietnam are fine. They say:

       Unless otherwise authorized, any person subject to U.S. 
     jurisdiction who engages in any travel-related transaction in 
     Cuba violates the regulations.

  Let me describe some of these notorious violators our government has 
tracked down and tried to levy a $10,000 fine against. This is Joni 
Scott. I have met Joni Scott. She is holding a Bible in this picture. 
The reason Joni Scott is holding a Bible is this young woman went to 
Havana to pass out free Bibles. An American woman went to Havana to 
pass out free Bibles. What happened to her? Did the Cuban Government 
get ahold of her somehow and give her a bad time? No, no. The American 
Government did. The American Government tracked her down and tried to 
levy a fine because she was suspected of traveling to Cuba. Isn't that 
something? It is unbelievable.
  Here is another woman I have met. This is Joan Slote. She is a 
bicyclist. She is a grandma in her midseventies. She joined a Canadian 
group to bicycle in Cuba. Her government then tracked her down and not 
only tried to fine her $10,000 but tried to attach her Social Security 
payments and take them away--this from her government. It is 
unbelievable.
  Then, finally, SGT Carlos Lazo, whom I have described before. He fled 
Cuba and then went to Iraq and fought for America and was awarded a 
Bronze Star. He then came back to America after having fought for his 
country. He had two sons in Cuba, one of whom was sick, and his 
government--the American Government--told this Bronze Star medal 
winner, a very courageous soldier coming back from the war, that he was 
not able to visit his sons. They restricted his right to travel.
  Here is the point. The point is, the U.S. House of Representatives, 
through the Agriculture Committee, has now passed legislation that 
eliminates the restrictions, eliminates the things done by the previous 
administration to try to stop shipment of food to Cuba. I believe we 
have the votes in the Senate to move that position as well.
  I actually offered the amendment about 10 years ago in the Senate 
that is now law that opened for the first time the ability to ship food 
and medicine for cash to Cuba. I just felt it was immoral. I think it 
is immoral to use food and medicine as a weapon, and that is what we 
are doing, including food and medicine as part of the embargo. I 
offered the amendment. It is now law. We shipped a couple billion 
dollars' worth of food to Cuba, all paid for in cash. But the previous 
administration decided to change the rules and required payment before 
shipment as opposed to payment when the goods transferred. That was an 
effort to try to shut down agricultural sales to Cuba. The House has 
changed that. We would do that as well. It is important to take this 
action. I was pleased last week when I read what the House of 
Representatives did. I think it is the right thing to do.
  Here are pictures of who else believes we ought to lift the travel 
ban. Marcelo Rodriquez does. He is a political prisoner in Cuba. Yoani 
Sanchez does. She is one of the leading political bloggers in Cuba. 
Guillermo Farinas, who has staged several hunger strikes in Cuba, 
believes we should lift the travel ban. Oscar Chepe, a former political 
prisoner, and his wife Miriam Leiva, the founder of Ladies in White, 
believe we should lift the travel ban.
  They are among 74 Cuban human rights activists who sent a letter to 
the House of Representatives saying they believe we ought to lift the 
travel ban.
  I have visited with the folks in Cuba who are political dissents. 
They do not like their government. They are doing everything they can 
to get a new government, a better government. But they also believe 
this embargo and the travel ban does not serve their interest.
  I believe that at some point, when it is appropriate, we will be able 
to do in the Senate what the House Agriculture Committee has done; that 
is, lift the travel ban and undo some of the detrimental things that 
were done as well in the tightening in 2003.
  I and Senator Enzi, along with 38 other cosponsors--that is 40 
Senators--have cosponsored legislation that would lift the travel ban 
to Cuba. I believe when we have the opportunity, Senator Enzi and I 
will offer that bill here on the floor, and I believe we will have the 
votes to pass it in the Senate.
  Once again, it is unthinkable to me that we have decided we are going 
to try to punish the Cuban Government by restricting the rights of the 
American people. And we have done it for almost 50 years. By what 
authority, by what justification do we believe the Federal Government 
ought to tell the American people: You can travel wherever you want in 
this world. Go to Iran, go to North Korea, China, Vietnam. But you 
cannot go to Cuba. By what justification does the government have the 
right to restrict that right of the American people? The answer is, 
none, and it is long past the time we fix it. That is what I believe we 
will do in the Senate in the weeks ahead.
  Madam President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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