Bipartisan backing for dropping Cuba restrictions

Nearly three weeks ago, President Barack Obama signed off on a spending bill backed by Congress that included the easing of travel restrictions to Cuba. Today a bipartisan group of Senators will introduce a proposal which would go further.

The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2009 was presented today at a news conference attended by leading Republican and Democratic senators. "Seems to me when you have a policy that has failed for five decades, you ought to take a look at it again and see if you should modify it," said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) who is one of the initiative’s co-sponsors. Another of the bill’s co-sponsors- Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)- said last month that the U.S. must deal with the Castro regime "in a way that enhances U.S. interest."

The Senate bill is backed by several business groups looking to tap into the Cuban market such as the American Farm Bureau and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Backers of the proposal claim that they have sufficient support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives where a similar bill is making the rounds.

Cuban-American lawmakers are expected to be adamant in their opposition to the bills and this could lead to some lively debate:

(…) Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the son of Cuban immigrants, slowed confirmation of several administration officials and passage of a major spending bill because that bill contained the changes in rules on Cuban-American travel.

Cuban-born Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., said he would continue to oppose the legislation. "This is the time to support pro-democracy activists in Cuba, not provide the Castro regime with a resource windfall."

During his successful run to the presidency, Obama pledged to ease travel and remittance restrictions to Cuba yet he didn’t back dropping the U.S. trade embargo to the island. The latter point was reinforced last week by Vice President Joe Biden.

Image- AFP (“A local passes by a portrait of Cuban former President Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba”).
Online Sources- BBC News, The Latin Americanist, LAHT, AHN, CNN, AP