In Cuba, speculation on possible travel freedom shockwave
by Isabel Sanchez Fri Apr 18, 5:51 PM ET
HAVANA (AFP) - Speculation was rife Friday that Cuba could soon scrap
unpopular policies requiring citizens to get costly permits to leave and
return to the country, ending what effectively amounts to a decades-old
travel ban.
As hundreds of would-be travelers lined up at the migration office for
regulation exit permits, an official, asked about any policy change,
told AFP here there was no news yet on the expected changes.
"Nothing yet ... like the whole country, we are here waiting for
changes. But everything is in effect as it always has been," he said.
The potential ****ft would be the most momentous to date by President
Raul Castro, who took office from his ailing brother Fidel in February
and has ended several smaller prohibitions.
The Spanish daily El Pais cited an unnamed government official in a
re****t Friday as saying Castro will give a green light soon to migration
reform, simplifying exit and entry permits and ending the requirement
for people to get permission to leave the country.
In an economically stressed country of more than 11 million people, such
a policy change would test Cuba's stability, as the nearby United States
grants automatic residency and working rights to all Cubans who reach US
soil for fleeing the island's communist regime.
"I hope it happens ... We are waiting. My son has lived in Miami for 14
years and if they take restrictions away it would be very good for us,"
said Georgina Rodriguez, 73, waiting in the hot sun in the migration
queue.
Mandatory permits and a pass****t add hundreds of dollars in travel costs
in a country where most workers make under 20 dollars a month. Many
critics see the regulations as just short of an effective travel ban for
Cuban nationals.
Tuesday, former diplomat and ex-intelligence official Pedro Riera
Escalante submitted to the National Assembly a petition for Castro's
government to consider eliminating the permits.
For the petition to be considered as a bill by the assembly, it first
has to be signed by 10,000 Cuban citizens. Riera Escalante said he asked
the assembly to publicize the effort and help gather the signatures.
The assembly officially received the paperwork, he said. It has 60 days
to issue a response.
"This is a problem that is weighing down heavily on Cuba," he said.
"There is a general underlying feeling among the people that it is
necessary to end these restrictions."
Far from tapering off, what often is described as a "silent exodus" has
actually picked up since Raul Castro stepped in as interim leader in
2006, before officially taking over in February, despite his modest
reforms.
Raul Castro recently lifted a series of bans on Cubans renting cars and
hotel rooms and purchasing goods such as pressure cookers, DVDs,
electric bikes and cell phones.
He is also considering agriculture reforms that include opening up the
sector to greater foreign investment and closing down inefficient
farming cooperatives.
The United States Friday dismissed Castro's efforts as merely "cosmetic"
changes in the Americas' only one-party communist regime.
"We would hope that the international community, and I say that in the
large terms, recognize that this isn't real change, this isn't
fundamental change in the nature of the system," Dan Fisk, the US
National Security Council's senior director for Western Hemisphere
affairs, told re****ters.
But if Cubans gain travel freedom, the United States could face a new
wave of migration that could force it to review its policies.
Under the current policy, US authorities estimate that about 35,000
Cubans will arrive to stay this year in the United States.
Exiles in Miami expressed skepticism that Havana would reform its travel
policy and called for the regime to allow them to travel back home.
"It must be a two-way right because there are people who have family
there and are also waiting to go without problems," said Jannisset
Rivero-Gutierrez, deputy national secretary of the Florida-based Cuban
Democratic Directorate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080418/wl_afp/cubauspoliticsmigration_080418215137
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