‘We’ve tried this current policy that we have prohibiting travel for about 50 years, and it hasn’t worked,’ says senator as legislators see business advantages for states

Describing a new “reality” with Cuba, a bipartisan group of senators has introduced new legislation that would erase all travel restrictions for US citizens to visit the country.

The move came two weeks after the Obama administration eased restrictions on some US travel to Cuba as part of a broad effort to normalize relations between the two countries.

“We’ve tried this current policy that we have prohibiting travel for about 50 years, and it hasn’t worked, so it’s time for something new,” said Republican senator Jeff Flakeof Arizona at a news conference on Capitol Hill to introduce the bill on Thursday. “It’s time to allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba,” he said, according to ABC News.

Flake was joined in sponsoring the bill by two Republican colleagues from states with large agricultural sectors that could stand to take advantage of an opening of Cuban markets. Senator John Boozman of Arkansas, the top US producer of rice and broiler chickens, and Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, a top wheat producer, also back the legislation.

Boozman said allowing travelers to visit Cuba would create personal relationships that would shift the international relationship.



“If we are serious about bringing real change to Cuba, we need to expose the Cuban people to our democratic idealism,” Boozman said in a statement. “That clearly hasn’t been accomplished with this travel ban in place. It’s outdated, inconsistent and lifting it would be a good first step toward overall reform.”

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“There’s a large wheat market in Cuba that is unrealised for the most part right now – so it’s not surprising that you see Kansas moving on that,” said Jennifer M Harris, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “And there’s a lot of good opportunity to be had in those southern states, certainly including Florida, but also the deep south, with sugar and some rice – in Alabama, Georgia. So I would not be surprised to see senators in the southern caucus joining their friends from Arkansas and Kansas on this. “

Past efforts to ease the 50-year-old embargo on Cuba have succumbed to strong opposition from legislators sympathetic to Cuban-American opposition to the Castro regime, and from mainly Republicans in favor of isolating the United States’ communist neighbor. A 2009 Senate bill to enable travel to Cuba failed to make it out of the foreign relations committee. Supporters of the current legislation hope that an unusual level of Republican participation could change the political calculus.

Thursday’s announcement followed the implementation earlier this month by the Commerce and Treasury Departments of measures to ease sanctions on Cuba. The new rules raised limits on remittances from the United States to Cuba from $500 to $2,000 per quarter, allowed travel agencies to book travel to Cuba, allowed US financial institutions to open accounts with Cuban counterparts, removed a previous per diem rate on authorized travelers and allowed US travelers to import up to $400 of goods acquired in Cuba, including no more than $100 of alcohol or tobacco products.

“The biggest economic news could well still be what it does to remittances, to the extent that [new rules] make remittances easier,” Harris said. “I think the ability of people to flow more freely will bring with it the utilization of the new remittance allowances.”

The new rules also permit unlicensed travel to Cuba for US citizens in 12 categories including people traveling for family visits, official government business, journalism, religion, public performances, and athletic competitions. Previously American citizens were required to apply a licence from the office of foreign assets control in the Treasury Department – although some bypassed the rule by traveling to Cuba through a third country.

On Tuesday, American Express announced it would begin accepting credit card transactions for travelers in Cuba. The financial services company is starting from scratch on the island, unlike Mastercard, which already processes transactions for non-US customers traveling in Cuba and recently announced it would expand its business to include US travelers.

The US Chambers of Commerce praised the easing of sanctions announced earlier this month. “Having long advocated for an end to the economic embargo on Cuba, the US Chamber looks forward to working with the US Congress and other key stakeholders to fully realize the potential of our bilateral economic relationship,” the chamber said in a statement.



Support among Cuban-Americans for the embargo has fallen off precipitously in the last two decades, 87%. Today a slight majority of Cuban Americans oppose continuing the embargo, and 62% of Cuban Americans ages 18-29 oppose it, according to polling by Florida International University.