For 45 years, it's been law: You cannot travel from the U.S. to Cuba.
I understand why the embargo was put in place. And maybe it made sense 45 years ago, but in recent years, it just seems kind of silly and pretty darn ineffective.
You want to visit the island for a little rum and Coke? To smoke an authentic Cuban cigar? To work on your salsa moves or scope out the culture? You just grab a flight to Mexico and go from there.
But check out this story about how federal regulators fined Travelocity.com $182,760 for booking trips between the two countries. The story also notes that the regulators fined individuals hundreds of dollars for purchasing Cuban cigars through the Internet.
Come on.
Cuba sits fewer than 100 miles off the coast of Florida -- closer than our own Puerto Rico -- yet it's tierra prohibida, or forbidden terrority for Americans. Even for the thousands of Cubans and Cuban Americans whose friends and family are still on the island.
I'm not in favor of supporting Castro or communism, but really, how much good is this embargo doing?
What's your take -- is it time to give it up or is the embargo still effective?
uh, Jen...you know as an American citizen you're really not supposed to hop a flight to Mexico and go to Cuba from there either...
Yes, I know. But tons of American citizens do it all the time.
I just wish someone can explain to me why the embargo still makes sense in 2007...
At least they still let people go for educational purposes (and journalists, thank god)
I don't know what the point of lifting it would be? You won't see it happen as long as Castro is there or Bush is here.
The embargo is in place because the C.I.A.'s mafia don friends who owned the casinos and whorehouses in Havana lost a fortune after the Revolution as Castro closed them down, and because the C.I.A. got embarrassed by the dismal failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Because Cuba humiliated their C.I.A.-trained exile force that they used to launch an unprovoked invasion of Cuba, like the spoiled immature brat America is it has the embargo against traveling there and against Cuban products. What always gets me is how so many people act like Cuba sucks because of Castro, as if it was SOOOO much better off when it was governed by the fascist dictator Fulgencio Batista. The U.S. is just bitter that its puppet dictator got overthrown and that its C.I.A.-backed Cuban exiles got their asses kicked. Oh yeah, Cuba is SOOOOOO much worse off now that there's a more equitable distribution of wealth and most Cuban children can read.