The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 69/No. 2           January 18, 2005  
 
 
U.S. gov’t lifts restrictions
on publishing works from Cuba, Iran
 
BY RÓGER CALERO  
The U.S. Department of Treasury announced December 15 its decision to lift restrictions barring U.S. publishers from publishing books and journals from Cuba, Iran, and Sudan—countries under economic sanctions imposed by Washington—and doing editorial work with authors and publishers from these countries, as long as they are not government representatives.

Until this decision, U.S. publishers were required to apply for a license for each such work they decided to print or face fines up to $1 million and prison terms of up to 10 years. Under the new rules publishers can obtain a general license for these activities.

The new rules are effective immediately. Permitted activities under them include “all transactions necessary and ordinarily incident to the publishing and marketing of manuscripts, books, journals, and newspapers” in paper or electronic format, including the commissioning of new works, advance payments, augmenting of already published work with photographs or artwork, editing and publicity, and payment of royalties.

The previous restrictions had come under heavy criticism from major publishers, which complained the restrictions stifle the free exchange of information and ideas and culture with these countries. Four institutions—the literary group PEN American Center, the Association of American Publishers, the Association of American University Presses, and Arcade Publishing—filed a lawsuit in September 2004 against the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the agency in charge of enforcing U.S. economic sanctions.

Stuart Levy, under secretary for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Treasury Department, said in a statement that the old regulations were “interpreted by some as discouraging the publication of dissident speech from within these oppressive regimes.”

For four and a half decades, Cuba has been the target of an unceasing effort by Washington to overthrow the revolutionary government in Havana. An essential part of this course has been an economic war aimed at crippling Cuba’s economy. The White House tightened travel restrictions for Cuban Americans visiting relatives on the island and sending cash remittances to family in Cuba last spring. The attempt to clamp down on publishing work was part of this pattern.

In the last decade, under the banner of fighting “terrorism,” the governments of Iran and Sudan were added to the list of those Washington is targeting with such sanctions.  
 
 
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