What’s this all mean, the latest from
our current administration regarding Cuba?
As this is a
travel blog I will focus on the effect that the latest announcement has on
travel into Cuba for U.S. citizens and stay away from politics, comparisons to
policies with other countries, assertions of human rights violations, etc.
Will this impact travel drastically?
Not too much
legally / officially, and thankfully not immediately although the President did
state “effective immediately”. His new
regulations are effective immediately, however he is giving the administration
time to analyze his decree and implement new policies and procedures (perhaps
after a lesson learned after a chaotic “effective immediately” travel ban not
long ago). I have seen reports stating
“months” from now, also 90 days as to timeframe expected to make and implement
any changes.
~The biggie with the
“effective immediately” is that all travel purchased prior to June 16th
2017 will be permissible and acceptable based on the regulations that existed
prior to June 16th at the time you made your purchase. So, if you are already set to travel to Cuba in
the future with a purchase made prior to June 16th 2017 such as air
/ cruise, no worries.~
My
anticipation is that the reaction by travel vendors and consumers being a bit
anxious (understandably) is that demand will cool off and vendors such as
airlines and cruise lines will react with less service into Cuba. It’s unfortunate that politics plays a part
in restriction of travel, and that with less demand and less product available
prices may go up accordingly. This has
already happened once this year, with our new administration creating a concern
which softened demand and led to air and cruise lines downsizing their Cuban
product.
A Presidential statement advised that
he wishes to stem the flow of money into the military / governmental agencies
who tightly control or own the majority of the travel infrastructure within
Cuba such as motor coaches, tourism bureaus, excursion providers, etc. Our government is looking very closely at the
current 12 approved / acceptable reasons for U.S. citizens to travel into Cuba
and are focusing greatly on the individual
people-to-people category.
Reports suggest that our President is
favoring group travel into Cuba for
the people-to-people category as opposed to individuals getting grouped
together through the Cuban infrastructure that he feels benefits their military
and funds activities that are unfavorable towards human rights.
Not sure why, perhaps fraternal groups
can be more helpful to Cubans, and can make arrangements without engaging those
standard channels? I haven’t found any news
reports explaining the reasoning in full…
~Here below are a few links to some
official U.S. Government websites with the latest, which are updated regularly
which is why I like to use links. Some
of what I have written may unfortunately become obsolete if you are reading
this well after publication, however you can count on clicking the links
provided here to get to the latest official info quickly and easily.~
Link to the U.S. Embassy within Cuba:
Link to the official U.S. Department
of State page with official information on U.S. relations with Cuba:
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2886.htm
On June 17th the message simply
stated “The U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Relations Fact Sheet
is currently being updated.”
Link here is to a well written document from
the U.S. Treasury Department which answers questions about the new Presidential
Decree from June 16th:
Here below are 3 of the primary points as they
relate to travel:
4. How do the changes announced by the
President on June 16, 2017 affect individual people-to-people travelers who
have already begun making their travel arrangements (such as purchasing
flights, hotels, or rental cars)? The announced changes do not take effect
until OFAC issues new regulations. Provided that the traveler has already completed
at least one travel-related transaction (such as purchasing a flight or
reserving accommodation) prior to the President’s announcement on June 16,
2017, all additional travel-related transactions for that trip, whether the
trip occurs before or after OFAC’s new regulations are issued, would also be
authorized, provided the travel-related transactions are consistent with OFAC’s
regulations as of June 16, 2017
7. Does the new policy affect how
persons subject to U.S jurisdiction may purchase airline tickets for authorized
travel to Cuba? No. The new policy will not change how persons subject to U.S.
jurisdiction traveling to Cuba pursuant to the 12 categories of authorized
travel may purchase their airline tickets.
12. Is authorized travel by cruise
ship or passenger vessel to Cuba impacted by the new Cuba policy? Persons
subject to U.S. jurisdiction will still be able to engage in authorized travel
to Cuba by cruise ship or passenger vessel.
So my advice, what should you do now
if you plan to travel to Cuba? If you do
decide to buy air tickets and get a hotel reservation on an individual basis,
and sign off on paperwork that you are there on a people-to-people cultural
exchange, it may be just fine. The great
news is that airlines will provide a full refund or exchange on tickets to Cuba
if it suddenly becomes illegal to fly there for U.S. Individuals. If you reserve a hotel with no cancel
penalties (or wait until it gets very close to departure if you are not
traveling during peak season) you won’t be out of pocket if the U.S. Government
interferes with your Cuban travel plans.
~However, it was mentioned that the
U.S. Treasury will be enforcing Cuba travel paperwork, after travel. Hmmm, looks like we may need to keep our eye
on whatever their possible fine or reprimand will be. They have already established that any future
travel by U.S. Citizens into Cuba which is purchased after June 16th
will be subject to future regulations.~
Raul Castro and the Cuban regime have
replied that they feel his comments were hostile rhetoric, however they did
leave a bit of an open door to work with the U.S. on various issues in order to
maintain the flow of tourism from the U.S. into Cuba.
Unfortunately, all very murky
currently. If you have been eager to
get into Cuba, perhaps try to do so soon before more restrictions apply. Another option; go with the direction
regulations are heading and get together with a fraternal group you may be a
part of our have access to and try to put together a group trip. Institutions relating to Religion, Education
and Brotherhood (such as the Free Mason Society which flourishes in Cuba) have
intricate networking connections and can negotiate the regulations involved in
travel into Cuba for Americans who are looking to comply with the
People-to-People religious / educational / humanitarian categories of approved group
travel.
Another suggestion; there are many
cruise lines that have a stopover in Havana for a day or two with an overnight,
departing from Florida or Jamaica. With
no worries about flying in & out of Cuba, if anything changes drastically with
our relationship that negatively impacts our freedom to travel to Cuba, the
cruise line will simply replace the Cuban port of call(s) with others (such as
Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos, Key West, Bahama’s, etc.). Certainly would be a bit of disappointment
that you aren’t stopping in Cuba, but no possibility of out of pocket loss or
worries about not being able to get into Cuba.