Lawmakers pledge new drive to ease Cuba travel curb

01/23/07
Lawmakers pledge new drive to ease Cuba travel curb
By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic lawmakers
said on Tuesday they would push hard to get legislation through
Congress this year to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba.

Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri said the strategy was to
attach Cuba legislation to a mammoth bill, most likely the farm bill,
making it harder for President George W. Bush to veto it once it
reached his desk for signature.

Emerson and Democratic Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, who were
speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, were optimistic that
such a strategy would work, particularly with the Democrats now in
charge of Congress.

Previous attempts to ease restrictions on Cuba have failed in the
U.S. House of Representatives but Emerson said there was a
"marginally better opportunity to make some incremental changes" in
U.S. policy this year.

McGovern, who visited Cuba last month along with Emerson as part of a
congressional delegation, said past attempts to lift travel
restrictions were pulled from legislation before it even reached the
White House.

But with the Democrats in charge of Congress after last November's
election, this was less likely to happen this time, he said.

"There is a real opportunity for us to actually make some policy
changes here ... we have to go through this back door approach," said
McGovern.

U.S. law now allows Cubans living in the United States to return to
Cuba once every three years, a policy McGovern called "cruel." "If
you have a sick mother you can go and see her but ... if she dies six
months later you can't go to the funeral," he said.

DIVISIVE ISSUE

Both lawmakers said they would also fight for trade and other
restrictions to be eased against Cuba, where ailing leader Fidel
Castro has handed over power to his brother Raul Castro.

"The mainstream view in the U.S. Congress today is that at a minimum
we should look at travel restrictions and maybe even wider than
that," said McGovern.

The issue of travel restrictions has divided many in the Cuban exile
community, with the hard-line anti-Castro camp wanting them to stay
in force while others argue that such measures only harm their
families struggling back in Cuba.

Emerson also urged Washington to engage Havana rather than continue a
policy of isolation and joined McGovern in calling on the Bush
administration to remove Cuba from a U.S. list of state sponsors of
terrorism.

While they were in Cuba last month, Raul Castro offered to meet
directly with the U.S. government, a move the U.S. lawmakers backed.

"It never hurts to talk and we are not talking about a terrorist
country," said Emerson of talks with Raul Castro.

The Bush administration is debating whether to ease some restrictions
against Cuba post-Castro, particularly if political prisoners are
freed, but has made clear it will only deal with Raul Castro's
government if it shows commitment to democratic reforms.

Talking about their trip to Cuba, the lawmakers said the biggest
surprise was how little the country had changed since Castro handed
over power to his brother in July.

"Contrary to the notion that once Fidel was gone everything was going
to be in an uproar and it was time for the Americans to come marching
in, I did not sense that at all," said Emerson. "Everything was as
calm as can be."