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Vol. 73/No. 16      April 27, 2009

 
U.S.-to-Cuba travel agents win lawsuit
 
BY CINDY JAQUITH  
In a victory for the right to travel to Cuba, a federal district judge overturned a Florida law April 14 that would have imposed onerous financial burdens on agencies booking trips to the island.

The Florida state legislature adopted the law last year. It required travel agencies in the state that sell trips to Cuba to post a $250,000 bond and pay up to $25,000 in registration fees. Proceeds from the bond, according to Florida State Rep. David Rivera, would have been used to investigate travel agencies. The law had not gone into effect, pending the outcome of a lawsuit by travel agencies to block it.

In August 2008 a federal judge ruled unconstitutional a Florida law preventing students, professors, and researchers at state universities and community colleges from using state or federal funds—or even private grants—to travel to Cuba or four other countries on the U.S. list of “terrorist” nations.

Rivera has reintroduced the restrictions on university trips into the Florida House education budget, currently under debate.
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba eased for those visiting relatives  
 
 
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