This week, Congress is taking up the issue of the Cuba travel ban, part of an embargo started against the communist country in 1960. For nearly 50 years, it has been effectively illegal for Americans to travel to Cuba.
Americans can still travel to countries with human rights records that make Cuba look like the pinnacle of freedom, and countries with military ambitions that make the former Cold War adversary look like Switzerland.
In fact, it’s currently legal for Americans to travel anywhere else in the world. So why, you ask, is this little Caribbean island still off-limits?
Money. We were not surprised when a new report found that campaign contributions are more influential than party affiliation in determining which members of Congress choose to maintain the Cuban embargo.
Since the 2004 elections, Cuban-American donors and political action committees supporting the embargo have donated more than $10 million to 300 candidates for federal office, seven hailing from Florida. Legislators are also swayed by industry, as the Florida sugar lobby fights (and pays well) to keep Cuban sugar off U.S. shelves.
Two senior congressmen argued in a Miami Herald op-ed Tuesday that the travel ban only strengthens the Castro regime. By isolating Cuban citizens from their democratic neighbors to the north, and keeping U.S. dollars out of the country, the embargo restricts the ability of Cuban citizens to push for change.
We are encouraged by President Obama’s decision to lift travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans. But now, it’s time for Congress to act and bring an end to the half-century of limited freedom of travel for U.S. citizens and counterproductive half-measures to fight the Castro regime.
