Earlier this month, entertainers Jay-Z and Beyoncé were given a license
by the US government to travel to Cuba. Because it is not otherwise legal
for Americans to travel to Cuba, this trip was only permitted as a "cultural
exchange" by the US Treasury Department. Many suspect that the permission
was granted at least partly due to the fame, wealth, and political connections
of the couple.
Some Members of Congress who continue to support the failed Cuba embargo,
demanded that the Administration explain why these two celebrities were allowed
to visit Cuba. The trip looked suspiciously like tourism, they argued in a
letter to the White House, and American tourism is still not allowed in Cuba.
They were photographed eating at the best restaurants, dancing, and meeting
with average Cubans, which these Members of Congress frowned on.
Perhaps it is true that this couple used their celebrity status and ties to
the White House to secure permission to travel, but the real question is,
why can't the rest of us go?
The Obama administration has lifted some of the most onerous restrictions
on travel to Cuba imposed under the previous Bush administration, but for
the average American, travel to the island is still difficult if not impossible.
However, even those who are permitted to go to Cuba are not allowed to simply
engage in tourist activities -- to spend their money as they wish or relax
on a beach.
The US government demands that the few Americans it allows to travel to Cuba
only engage in what it deems "purposeful travel," to "support civil society
in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban
people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities." They
must prove that they maintain a full-time schedule of educational activities,
according to Treasury guidelines for "people-to-people" travel.
Leave it to the federal government to make the prospect of visiting that sunny
Caribbean island sound so miserable.
The reason the US so severely restricts and scripts the activities of the
few Americans allowed to travel to Cuba is that it believes travel must promote
the goal of taking "important steps in reaching the widely shared goal of
a Cuba that respects the basic rights of all its citizens."
Although I have no illusions about the Cuban government - or any government
for that matter -- it is ironic that the US chose to locate a prison at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba because the indefinite detention and torture that took place there
would have been illegal on US soil. Further, the US government continues to
hold more than 100 prisoners there indefinitely even though they have not
been found guilty of a crime and in fact dozens are "cleared for release" but
not allowed to leave.
Does the administration really believe that the rest of the world is not annoyed
by its "do as we say, not as we do" attitude?
We are told by supporters of the Cuba embargo and travel ban that we must
take such measures to fight the communists in charge of that country. Americans
must be prohibited from traveling to Cuba, they argue, because tourist dollars
would only be used to prop up the unelected Castro regime. Ironically, our
restrictive travel policies toward Cuba actually mirror the travel policies
of the communist countries past and present. Under communist rule in the former
Soviet Union and elsewhere it was only the well-connected elites who were
allowed to travel overseas - people like Jay-Z and Beyoncé. The average
citizen was not permitted the right.
Although the current administration's slight loosening of the restrictions
is a small step in the right direction, it makes no sense to continue this
nearly half-century old failed policy. Freedom to travel is a fundamental
right. Restricting this fundamental right in the name of human rights is foolish
and hypocritical.
