Cuba Travel Updates: AP, New York Times AND Anthony Bourdain Talking Cuba

Lots going on in Cuba travel news. A few New York Times articles recently covered Cuba travel changes (and Global Exchange!), the Associated Press spoke with Global Exchange’s External Relations Director, and tonight the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is in Cuba.
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For more than 20 years now Global Exchange‘s Reality Tours program has promoted important people to people ties between North Americans and Cubans. Our professional delegations, exchanges and licensed educational tours are again increasing in number after the Obama Administration eased some of the travel restrictions and authorized eight new U.S. Airports to offer charter flights to Cuba.

Our External Relations Director Malia Everette was recently interviewed by the Associated Press about the increasing demand for “People to People” Cuba tours that Global Exchange is experiencing for the article US issuing licenses for increased Cuba travel.

A recent New York Times article described one Global Exchange Reality Tour to Cuba:

A hot June sun glared over the Arroyo Arenas organic vegetable garden at the edge of Havana where Ms. Slezak, a 68-year-old retired social worker from Long Island, and 16 other Americans were visiting as part of a “food sovereignty” program organized by Global Exchange, a human rights organization, and Food First, a policy institute.

She and the beans were partly shaded by netting slung over the long trough-shaped beds, but it was hot, damp and sticky. She paused now and then to wipe her forehead.

Sweating in a Cuban field is not everyone’s idea of relaxation, and it is a far cry from the decadent gaiety that drew Americans to Havana before Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. But trips like this are one way of getting to see Cuba, and have just become accessible to most Americans.

Yet another New York Times article described the travel policy changes taking place:

Thanks to policy changes by President Obama earlier this year designed to encourage more contact between Americans and citizens of the Communist-ruled island, the Treasury Department is once again granting so-called “people-to-people” licenses, which greatly expand travel opportunities for Cuba-bound visitors. The new people-to-people measures make it easier for United States citizens who do not have special status as working journalists or scholars to visit Cuba legally, so long as they go with a licensed operator.

What continues to motivate Global Exchange Reality Tour trips to Cuba is how our participants return inspired by their Cuban counterparts and educated first-hand about the tenacity, ingenuity and integrity of the Cuban people. Yes, Global Exchange is also committed to challenging our government to normalize relations with Cuba, but also to build long term relationships between US and Cuban citizens based on respect and real engagement.

In fact this year, Global Exchange is organizing over 20 delegations and have customized another 30 trips to Cuba thus far!

If you’d like to read some insights shared by a recent Cuba Reality Tour participant check out this article written by Linda Slezak which originally appeared in the Slow Food East End newsletter.

Tonight on the Travel Channel: Anthony Bourdain in Cuba!

The premiere episode of the latest season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations finds the show in Cuba. Here’s a sneak peek at tonight’s show, this part all about baseball:

Organizations & Institutions: Consider Partnering with Global Exchange
Perhaps you may get inspired tonight after watching the travel channel. As a licensed travel service provider, Global Exchange welcomes working with other organizations and institutions that have their own licenses and would love to develop new partnerships to customize journeys. Email malia@globalexchange.org to get started.

Now is THE time to Travel to Cuba!
With new flights recently cleared for lift off, now is the perfect time to plan your trip. We’d love for you to join us on one of our Reality Tours to Cuba.

The best time to go to Cuba? People who have gone on a Global Exchange New Years trip to Cuba come back…different. In a good way. Like they just went on a trip of a lifetime. To learn more about our New Years trips to Cuba this year, go here.

Save $150 on Cuba Trip: Global Exchange Reality Tours is offering a $150 DISCOUNT when you register for one of our Cuba trips by August 15th, 2011. Simply mention this blog post to receive your discount.

So what are you waiting for? Cuba awaits you.

The following is cross-posted on our People to People blog. Scroll below to learn about a petition you can sign to take action.

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So can I travel to Cuba or not? That’s what many Americans are wondering since the Obama administration’s January 14th announcement that it is lifting some government-imposed restrictions on travel to Cuba for several categories of U.S. citizens. Once the regulations are public and finalized, certain types of travelers, with proper licenses, in these categories will potentially be able to visit the country:

College students
People engaged in journalism
Those sponsored by religious organizations

So if you fall into one of these categories, your chances of traveling to Cuba just improved!

Under the new policy, which is still being finalized, students from accredited colleges and universities may now travel to Cuba on what is known as a “general” license, meaning they don’t have to seek individual permission from the government as long as they meet certain criteria. This also applies to Americans traveling there for “journalistic activities” or under the auspices of religious groups.

In addition, non-profit organizations (including Global Exchange) will once again be able to apply to the Treasury Department for a license to arrange “people to people” travel to Cuba, which we did through our Reality Tours program from 2000 to 2004.

Beginning in 2004, however, the Bush administration restricted the number of Americans allowed to travel to Cuba to a handful of specific professions, such as full-time journalists and academics. Despite various government restrictions, more than 15,000 people have traveled to Cuba as part of a Reality Tour in the past 22 years.

Global Exchange Director of Reality Tours Malia Everette explains:

About half of the roughly 90 trips we arrange each year are to Cuba, including our most popular series called ‘Cuba at the Crossroads’, which allowed Americans who wouldn’t have qualified to travel there under a ‘professional’ license to see the country for themselves. Those trips enabled them to experience everyday life in Cuba under the effects of the U.S. embargo, and see how it is transitioning into a more dynamic and sustainable society.

Guess how many nations in the world deny its citizens the right to travel freely to Cuba? One. In fact, the U.S. remains the only nation in the world that denies its citizens the right to travel freely to Cuba. It has no similar restrictions on travel to any other countries — including Iran and North Korea, members of President Bush’s so-called “axis of evil” to which Reality Tours also organizes delegations.

Walter Turner, president of Global Exchange’s board of directors and host of the popular Pacifica Radio program “Africa Today “ warns that these recent changes in Cuba travel policy should not stop here:

The new regulations give our Reality Tours participants new options for much-needed exchange between the people of the U.S. and Cuba, but while we appreciate this opening, it still doesn’t fully recognize the right of ordinary U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba freely, as they can do to any other nation, to learn about the world. If we’re going to promote human rights abroad, we need to respect the rights of our own citizens here at home.”

For more information about traveling to Cuba, updates on the forthcoming regulations, including the resumption of the popular “Cuba at the Crossroads” series, or trips to more than 30 other countries around the world, visit www.realitytours.org.

Take Action!
And now, a few words from our friends The LAWG (Latin America Working Group) Cuba Team:

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. You will be able to edit the letter to the President to add your own comments (it is best to be brief).

Just added (2/1/11) to this post: Scroll below to learn about a petition you can sign to take action.

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College students
People engaged in journalism
Those sponsored by religious organizations

So if you fall into one of these categories, your chances of traveling to Cuba just improved!

Global Exchange Director of Reality Tours Malia Everette explains:

Take Action!
And now, a few words from our friends The LAWG (Latin America Working Group) Cuba Team:

Wondering where things stand with the Cuba travel ban and how you can make your voice heard? Pam Montanaro, Coordinator of Global Exchange’s Eco Cuba Exchange, with the support of Leslie Balog and Drea Hightower of Global Exchange’s Cuba Reality Tours, have summed it up for you:

Freedom to Travel to Cuba!
Now is the time to get every possible YES vote for H.R. 4645, the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba” Bill, now known as the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act.

This bill restores our right to travel to Cuba and lifts restrictions on agricultural sales to Cuba. It will be voted on in the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture during the month of June. Then it will move to the Floor of the House and Speaker Pelosi will bring every possible Democrat on board. President Barack Obama will then sign this bill into law.

This is the best opportunity we’ve had in years to end the Cuba travel restrictions and maybe our last chance for the next several years.

This bill will pass in the Senate with 62 YES votes! We now have 205 YES votes in the House. We only need 13 more votes!If you’re wondering who’s on the fence, check out the swing votes.

Are you in a power position? If you are a constituent of one of the swing vote representatives, or know someone who is, you are in a powerful position to help pass this Bill!

Here’s what to do:

1) Go to the Global Exchange Cuba bill info page for moreinformation on this bill and what you can do to help get it passed. There you will find the complete text of the bill, talking points, and exactly what to say to your Congressperson.

2) Help us spread the word by forwarding this post on to your friends, family, and colleagues. Include a personal note letting them know why this issue is important to you. Ask that they, too, email and call their congressperson’s office.

3) Forward the information here to any businesspeople, farmers, farmers associations, travel agents, travel associations, municipal and church leaders, or other influential constituents who’d be willing to weigh in with your congressperson along with your personal note.

Lifting the travel ban is within our grasp. It hasn’t been easy to get here. Let’s make sure that all the emails, calls, letters-to-the-editor, delegations to Cuba, and rallies over the last fifty years pay off this year, in this Congress, by acting today

This is the best opportunity we’ve had in years to end the Cuba travel restrictions and maybe our last chance for the next several years.

This bill will pass in the Senate with 62 YES votes! We now have 205 YES votes in the House. We only need 13 more votes!
If you’re wondering who’s on the fence, check out the swing votes.

Are you in a power position? If you are a constituent of one of the swing vote representatives, or know someone who is, you are in a powerful position to help pass this Bill!

Here’s what to do:

1) Go to the Global Exchange Cuba bill info page for more information on this bill and what you can do to help get it passed. There you will find the complete text of the bill, talking points, and exactly what to say to your Congressperson.