Travel: The great longing in a changing Cuba
Posted April 22nd, 2008 by Mohit Jo****
Havana - Hopes have spread like wildfire in recent days for elimination
of the "white card" - the exit permit required to leave Cuba and one of
the main hurdles for Cubans longing for travel - amid a wave of reform
under new Cuban President Raul Castro.
Computer specialist Javier, 26, cannot wait to get out of the communist
island.
"The main reason is the economy, and behind that economy there is the
system that we have in our country," he said.
Soon there may be fewer barriers to stop him.
In a framework of change on the island, the former high official of
Cuban intelligence Pedro Anibal Riera Escalante last week proposed a
bill to the National Assembly to "totally eliminate" entry and exit
permits as well as the practice of confiscating the possessions of those
who leave the country, among other issues.
It came as no big surprise, because Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
has admitted in recent months that authorities were "considering" such a
move.
Despite recent reforms, Javier - who wants to travel to the United
States - is beset by deep frustration.
"Raul (Castro) is making changes, but they have not yet reached working
people, the people who have studied, who have made sacrifices, who
everyday give their sweat and their sacrifice to lift this country, in
accordance with this ideology that they created for us," he complained.
However, not all Cubans who want to travel more easily are looking to
leave for good.
"Cubans have a great need to know the world, to travel, to have
op****tunities," said Charly, a young actor from Havana who noted that he
just wants to "make contact with other artists."
The video footage leaked to foreign media earlier this year, showing an
internal meeting of handpicked computer science students, gave a window
on the travel longing among Cubans.
"Why do the Cuban people not have a feasible possibility to get to
certain places in the world? Me, I do not want to die without going to
the place where Che (Guevara) died, there in Bolivia," the student,
Eliecer Avila, asked National Assembly Speaker Ricardo Alarcon.
Alarcon had trouble finding a satisfactory answer for the student.
Even one of Cuba's most internationally famous songwriters, Silvio
Rodriguez, who can be accused of anything but dislike for the Cuban
regime, recently said that the exit permit requirement "should be
abolished."
"It has survived too many years in Cuba, and I do not think it is
justified," Rodriguez said.
For now, despite the talk, there are no extra queues to obtain
pass****ts, exit permits, legalized invitation letters and all the other
papers necessary for Cubans to try to get out. These do***ents cost a
fortune, some 500 dollars for the lot - for an average monthly salary of
17 dollars in Cuba - with no guarantee that a permit will be granted.
However, it seems likely that the demand for pass****ts will grow when
migration rules become more flexible.
"People have the will to get out anyway. It would just become easier.
That would be very good," said Andres, a man from Havana who was doing
the paperwork in order to travel.
One measure of the desire - and need - to travel is the increasing
number of Cubans who, unable to get out legally, try to do it any other
way possible.
Almost 11,000 Cubans tried to reach the United States illegally in the
last six months, sources at the United States Interests Section in
Havana said earlier this month. Of these, 2,891 attempted to cross the
Straits of Florida, and the rest arrived at air****ts or the US borders
with Mexico and Canada.
Another factor that US figures illustrate is a particularly serious
problem for Cuba: the majority of those Cubans "intercepted" as they
tried to reach US shores were aged 18-35 - the future of the Cuban
economy.
That is at the core of the debate. Cuba has restricted travel to prevent
the dreaded brain drain, an issue that former Cuban leader Fidel Castro
has repeatedly addressed.
"The unfair US policy against our country has deprived us of 5.16 per
cent of the professionals graduated under the revolution," Castro said
last year.
Dissident economist Oscar Espinosa rejects this argument, noting that
Cuba's really serious problem is that "the country's human capital is
hugely underused."
"The most able people are not always those who live best, and it is that
which needs to be changed, not preventing people from leaving. That
could even reverse the trend and encourage many Cubans to return," he
said.
As they await official confirmation of the rumours, many Cubans are
getting ready to update their travel do***ents.
"Now I am requesting a pass****t," Regla said.
She has Spanish ancestors and would not even need a visa in case she
decided to go. (dpa)
http://www.topnews.in/travel-great-longing-changing-cuba-237240
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