The government's moves have particularly targeted those traveling to Cuba without a license from the U.S. Treasury Department. On July 13 President George Bush declared he would "enforce the law to the fullest extent with a view toward preventing unlicensed and excessive travel" to Cuba.

The Treasury Department has sharply increased the number of letters it has sent to individuals it accuses of not complying with the travel restrictions. From May 4 to July 30, it mailed out 443 penalty letters demanding payment of fines, an increase from the 74 letters sent in the previous four-month period from the beginning of the year. The threatened fines average $7,500.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which has defended U.S. residents accused of violating restrictions on travel to Cuba, now has about 400 cases and has stopped taking any more. Nancy Chang, an attorney with the CCR, told the Washington Post that last year they received about 12 calls a month, and this year the number is up to about 20 a month. "The number of enforcement cases has increased over the last five months," she said.

One person targeted was a 64-year-old retired social worker in Chicago who took a bike trip to Cuba. The Miami Herald reports that after she returned from the island, Donna, who asked that her last name not be used, received a notice in June that the Treasury Department planned to levy $7,650 in fines against her.

Anna Liza Gavieres, the CCR's Cuba Travel Program Coordinator, told the Militant in a phone interview that, while there has been an increase in people threatened with fines, no one has actually had a hearing. Some, refusing to be intimidated, have sought legal counsel to oppose the threatened fine.

A number of people, however, have paid the fines after receiving letters. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a division of the Treasury Department that enforces the travel ban, has collected $1.9 million in civil penalties for travel violations in 379 cases.

"I know of one couple who has had their income tax refund seized," said Gavieres. She noted that sometimes it takes years for the Treasury Department to send pre-penalty notices to individuals. "In some cases, the Treasury Department turns the case over to its Financial Management Division, which acts as a collection agency."  
 
Enforcement at gateway points
One focus of Washington's tighter enforcement of its travel restrictions are the gateway points in Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas. Many U.S. residents going to Cuba without licenses travel via Cancún, Nassau, Toronto, or Montreal.

Travel to Cuba from the United States has increased over the past few years. According to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, an estimated 173,000 U.S. citizens visited Cuba last year. Of those, some 22,000 citizens went to Cuba without a license. The number of people granted U.S. Treasury licenses for a visit to the island went from almost 51,000 in 1997 to more than 150,000 last year.

A substantial number of those traveling to Cuba are Cuban-Americans on legal family visits--about 120,000 a year.

Most U.S. residents are barred by the Trading with the Enemy Act from spending money in Cuba, which in effect imposes a travel ban. Under U.S. law today, residents can visit Cuba only by obtaining a license from the Treasury Department. There are three categories of exceptions to the travel ban: general licenses, specific licenses, and "fully hosted" travel. Those authorized to travel with a general license include government officials, "regularly employed" journalists, full-time professionals involved in academic research, and those visiting relatives in Cuba, as determined by U.S. officials.

The specific license, which requires an application and written permission from the Treasury Department, covers licensed humanitarian donations, professional research or meetings that do not meet the criteria for a general license, and religious activities.

Individuals traveling on a fully hosted basis are mandated not to spend any funds of their own inside Cuba.  
 
Bush waives Title III of Helms-Burton
In mid-July Bush announced that, along with the travel restrictions, his administration would also enforce limits on cash remittances that Cuban-Americans send to their relatives on the island. He announced plans to expand funding and material support to opponents of the revolution inside Cuba and "use all available means" to overcome jamming of U.S. government broadcasts into Cuba.

Bush announced these measures at the same time that he waived Title III of the Helms-Burton act, which was signed into law in 1996 by then-president William Clinton to tighten Washington's four-decade embargo against Cuba.

Title III permits former owners of "Cuban assets" to seek damages in U.S. courts against non-U.S. firms that use property expropriated by workers and farmers after the 1959 revolutionary victory.

The measure authorizes the suspension of this provision for six-month periods if the U.S. president certifies to Congress that the waiver is "necessary for the national interest of the United States and will expedite the transition to democracy"--meaning capitalism--in Cuba.

Bush's waiver of Title III continued the policy of the Clinton administration since the law was passed in 1996.

The Cuban government has joint ventures and economic associations with companies based in 46 countries, including in tourism, oil, mining, manufacturing, and agriculture. These joint ventures increased from 80 in 1992 to an estimated 392 this year, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

In waiving Title III, Bush, like Clinton, has sought to avoid a direct confrontation with its imperialist rivals in Europe and Canada, which have complained about the "extra-territoriality" of the Helms-Burton law.

According to the Financial Times of London, "The European Union already prohibits EU-based companies from complying with Helms-Burton and has made clear it will challenge the law in the World Trade Organisation if Title III is activated."

In the conflict with their competitors, the U.S. rulers have preferred to use Title III as a threat to dissuade trade with Cuba rather than to actually implement sanctions over this issue.
 
 
Related articles:
Che on working-class internationalism
Miami conference to defend five Cubans jailed by Washington  
 
 
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