I Want to go to Cuba
I ran across a pretty interesting Orbitz initiative yesterday that I totally support and would like to share with our readers. In response to Barack Obama’s administrative decision to lift travel and communication restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to see their families or send money to the island, Orbitz recently launched “OpenCuba.org” to encourage Americans to petition for the right to TRAVEL to Cuba.
To provide a brief background, U.S. policy has held an embargo against Cuba since 1962 when Kennedy increased restrictions originally imposed by the Eisenhower administration to ban almost all trade with Cuba. A year later Americans were banned from traveling into Cuba and the embargo has more or less been upheld by every President thereafter.
From early on in their administration, the Obama posse demonstrated a different approach to foreign relations and a willingness to open lines of communication with rogue dictators and communist regimes. This remarkable change of behavior represents what I consider to be the biggest opportunity in 50 years for us to fight for our rights as American citizens to travel to Cuba. Orbitz has taken this idea to the next level by creating a petition that will get sent to Obama, Biden, and the House of Representatives.
Please Sign it today and pass the word along if you believe in the cause…and would like to experience a street market in Old Havana, the colonial elegance of Cienfuegos, the Carnival in Trinidad, or the beautiful beaches in Varadero.
Suprisingly, tourism is Cuba’s second largest source of foreign income, behind nickel production. Canada makes up 35% of all foreign visitors, followed by Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia.
C’mon fellow travelers, let’s work on getting the United States added to that list!
