Action Alerts

We fought for "travel for all" and we got "travel for some." Now we face the possibility of "travel for none. "

The House Appropriations Committee is meeting first thing tomorrow morning, and Cuba may very well come up. Opponents of exchange with Cuba will likely offer amendments to the financial services appropriations bill that will reverse the changes the President has made during his term in office – which has allowed travel by Cuban-American families, students and professors, religious groups, academics, musicians. We can't let this happen.

We’ve all been chomping at the bit waiting for the final piece of the new travel regulations puzzle: the Treasury Department guidelines. The guidelines were issued on Thursday, April 21. Now we have the full picture; let the travel begin.

Many of you responded to our email update 10 days ago on the Presidential action easing some of the regulations on travel to Cuba. You wanted to know how to respond. Clearly there is more work to be done to change U.S. policy toward Cuba, but we think a “thank you” to the President and encouragement to do more is appropriate. By clicking here, you can send an email to the White House with a message of thanks and a request for more.

Thank you, Mr. President. After this summer’s buzzing rumors regarding some kind of White House action, the Obama Administration has today announced new regulations governing U.S. citizen travel to Cuba. It is a large step forward, and comes in the wake of a disappointing missed opportunity by the Congress to change the law. We congratulate the White House on their forward-looking decision. And we congratulate all of you for the hard and dedicated work you contributed to this achievement. Thank you, Cuba Advocates!

Send Obama a message

The LAWG and our supporters have always advocated for exchange between U.S. citizens and the Cuban people through the arts and culture, academic and student travel, religious/humanitarian groups, sports, and other people-to-people exchanges. At this critical moment, we are calling on everyone across the United States who supports increasing people-to-people contact between Cuba and the United States to join this advocacy campaign directed at the White House!

We expect you have been pondering the impact of the recent elections on the work we have been doing together to end the travel ban on Cuba and move our two countries toward a respectful, humane relationship. We have been doing the same, and we want to share some thoughts with you.

The electoral outcome has left us, as they say, “Close, but no cigar.”  (We could skip the cigar  . . .  although a mojito, maybe two, could help after working so hard these past couple of years.)

On Tuesday, September 28 the much-awaited mark-up and vote on HR 4645 in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs was postponed. Here is the statement from Chairman Howard Berman, upon announcing the postponement:

We've been doing everything we can--pulling out all the stops, as they say--to restore U.S. citizens' freedom to travel to Cuba. That's why we've come to you time and time again (and time and time again), asking you to make one more email or one more phone call to your congressperson; but we've also been mobilizing new advocates and as-of-yet untapped networks throughout the country to give us the best chance of getting the job done this year, in this Congress.

It's not every day that we get to write you about a historic legislative victory for a more humane, sensible, and just U.S. policy towards Cuba; but today isn't just any old day. In a thrilling "mark-up" session Wednesday in the House Committee on Agriculture, H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act was passed by 25 votes to 20, putting us one step closer to ending the travel ban this year, in this Congress.