CIVIL RIGHTS
Floridians challenge rules on Cuba travel
Posted on Sat, May. 17, 2008
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Civil Liberties Union affiliates in three states joined a
lawsuit on Friday seeking an end to Bush administration travel
restrictions which limit the ability of Cuban exiles to visit relatives
on the island.
Under restrictions imposed in 2004, citizens and residents who have
close relatives in Cuba can only travel to the island for family visits
once every three years instead of once a year as before. Restrictions
make no exceptions even for family emergencies.
Travel to Cuba has become a campaign issue as Democratic congressional
candidates call for lifting the restrictions. The three South Florida
Republican in***bents favor the tightened rules.
In early March, a group of Cuban Americans living in Vermont sued the
federal government over the restrictions. The lawsuit, filed in U.S.
District Court in Burlington, Vt., claims the restrictions violate the
plaintiffs' civil rights.
ACLU officials in Miami said their chapter along with those in Vermont
and Massachusetts and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a
''friend-of-the-court'' brief in sup****t of the Vermont lawsuit.
''The ability of Cuban Americans to visit relatives in Cuba, especially
at crucial moments in the history of the family such as the celebration
of marriages, or visiting a sick relative in the hospital, or attending
a relative's funeral, is essential to maintain family integrity,'' said
Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida ACLU. ``The government .
.. . should not be in the business of breaking up families by restricting
their ability to visit each other.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/536745.html
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