WASHINGTON -- Educational travel to Cuba under existing
people-to-people programs will be eliminated if a recent Treasury
Department proposal takes effect.
The Dept. of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which
enforces a long-standing U.S. embargo against Cuba, said it will no
longer issue new licenses for programs offered by licensed travel
service providers, such as Washington's-Transeair Travel.
The firm carries more than 600 travelers a year under the People
to People Educational Scientific License, according to the firm's
president Benita Lubic.
If the ruling passes, only certain categories of travelers
legally will be allowed to go to Cuba, such as people visiting
family members, journalists, government officials and
researchers.
OFAC will accpet public comment through May 23 on the proposed
changes. The comments can be sent via the Web site at www.treas.gov/ofac
or by mail to the Chief of Records, Attn: Request for Comments,
Office of Foreign Assets Control, Dept. of the Treasury, 1500
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20220.
In another Cuba move, the U.S.-based Cuba Policy Foundation's
chairman, 10 board members and executive director Brian Alexander
resigned en masse April 23 to protest the recent wave of
repression, jailings and executions in Cuba.
CPF described itself as "a nonprofit organization dedicated to
the study of the benefits of expanding trade and people-to-people
contact with Cuba. We hoped that our efforts to modify the ban on
Cuba trade, travel and investment might succeed over time."
Board members cited the "regime's sudden, wholesale repression
of human rights" as "incomprehensible and unacceptable."
For details, visit the Web site at www.cubafoundation.org.