Cuba and the travel ban.

The Cuba Campaign continues to struggle with the Bush Administration around the issue of travel. As many of you know, WILPF has maintained a license to travel to Cuba since April of 2000. Under this license, hundreds of members have been able to experience Cuba firsthand and participate in the WILPF tradition of person-to-person diplomacy.

Unfortunately, under the terms of our original license issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) WILPF was required to keep a record of travelers using the license and to provide those names upon request. As part of the Bush administration's crackdown on Cuba related travel, OFAC exercised its option under the terms of the license and demanded in June 2003 that WILPF turn over its records of licensed travelers to Cuba in February of 2002. As required by law and under advice of legal counsel, we, therefore, turned over the list of names of WILPF licensed travelers during that time period.

Since WILPF licensed the travel to Cuba and determined that those trips fell under the terms of the license, it is important that WILPF respond to any inquiries OFAC has about the criteria and usage of that license. We maintain that all WILPF travelers were rightfully licensed and there is nothing inappropriate or illegal in our individual or joint activities. This is an organizational, not individual, matter and requires a coordinated legal response. To this end, we have been working with the U.S. Cuba Sister Cities Association, the Cuba Working Group, the National Network on Cuba and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

As part of Bush's "new" Cuba policy announced in March 2003, until there is a "regime change" in Cuba, no licenses will be issued under the Congressionally-mandated, legal category of "people-to-people." In 2004 no "people-to-people" licenses will be issued, meaning approximately 85 percent of people who formerly traveled to Cuba will no longer be legally eligible to do so. These measures come in spite of the overwhelming bipartisan cooperation in both the House and Senate, who have aggressively worked to pass legislation to end the travel ban. The Bush policy has made it clear that the government's approach to licensing will now be more restrictive by eliminating the people-to-people category and making all license renewals even more difficult than before.

WILPF is among the hundreds of organizations affected by these policy restrictions. Our ability to assist our members in experiencing Cuba and becoming personally informed about Cuba through direct contact and exchanges with the Cuban people has been effectively eliminated, as our application for a new license remains indefinitely "pending" under the new guidelines. We encourage you to notify your Congressional representatives that this administration is acting against the will of their constituents--we, the people. Additionally, inform them that harassment and prosecution of previous legitimate travel to Cuba is unacceptable. It is vital that we remind our elected officials that the people support an end to the travel ban. Please contact local media, hold education events, and keep in touch with your Congressional representatives.

Tammy James is a WILPF Board member and has traveled to Cuba numerous times, including on several WILPF-sponsored trips. For more information about the Cuba Campaign, please contact WILPF's National Program Coordinator, Jen Geiger at [phone] or [e-mail].