From: Art Heitzer
NLG SUBCOMMITEE ON CUBA from
IFCO/Pastors for Peace US/Cuba Friendshipment

CUBA TRAVEL HEARING: CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REP!

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives held a
hearing on 11/19 entitled "Is it Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to
Cuba?" Committee chair Rep Howard Berman (D-CA) led the hearing, with
ranking Republican Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) seated at his side.
Witnesses included Gen. Barry McCaffrey; former US Interests Section
chief James Cason; Miriam Leiva, a founder of the "Ladies in White,"
who spoke via webcam from the US Interests Section in Havana -- and
who supports lifting the travel ban; Cuban-American Ignacio Sosa, from
"Friends of Caritas Cubana" a US non-profit that supports Catholic
charity work in Cuba; Berta Antuñez, sister of a Cuban "dissident,"
and Phil Peters from the Lexington Institute.

Of all the witnesses, only Cason and Antuñez support keeping the travel ban in place.

In the question period, Rep Ros-Lehtinen quoted Gen. McCaffrey out of
context. He responded, "Ma'am, I am a five-star general who received
three war wounds, and I am deeply offended by your attempt to
marginalize my point of view." Ros-Lehtinen continued to interrupt
and badger him until her allotted five minutes had expired.

Rep Ron Paul (R-TX) took issue with Cason's contention that people
from the US only want to travel to Cuba to go to the beach, smoke
cigars, and drink mojitos. Paul cited the case of a woman who was
fined by the US Treasury Department after she visited Cuba to
distribute Bibles.

Rep Barbara Lee (D-CA) responded to Antuñez' testimony that her
brother is mistreated in part because he is Afro-Cuban. As an
African-American, Lee said, she has had direct personal experience of
Jim Crow segregation, and remembers people being lynched in her
lifetime -- and yet she cannot recall that any country in the world
has ever tried to institute a ban on travel to the US!

Rep Donald Payne (D-NJ) cited a US president's view that "civilized
people everywhere have an interest in staying in contact" -- and then
said that this comment came from Ronald Reagan.

One of the lessons we are taking from today's hearing is that,
whatever your political persuasion, there is no reason or
justification for the Cuba travel ban to stay in place. The "Freedom
to Travel to Cuba" bill (HR 874) has 178 co-sponsors, and needs 218
votes to pass in the House. Opponents of the bill have been working
hard -- organizing, lobbying, and spreading PAC money around the
House. NPR reported this morning on a number of House members who in
recent weeks changed their positions to oppose travel to Cuba and were
very quickly rewarded with donations from the US - Cuba Democracy PAC.

LET'S KEEP THE HEAT ON CONGRESS. We may not have a big-money PAC in
Washington, but we certainly represent the majority, and we must make
our voices heard.

PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TODAY (202/225-3121); let them know
that you support freedom to travel to Cuba; and ask them to vote for
HR 874.

John Waller
Cuba Caravan Coordinator
IFCO-Pastors for Peace
Cell 831-512-6688
email cucaravan@igc.org
www.pastorsforpeace.org
418 W 145th Street
New York, NY, 10031