{"id":226,"date":"2020-09-14T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/?p=226"},"modified":"2020-10-15T15:36:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T15:36:19","slug":"trumps-cuba-announcement-what-it-means-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/trumps-cuba-announcement-what-it-means-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Cuba Announcement: What It Means To You."},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><strong>President Trump\u2019s<\/strong> announcement yesterday has everyone in a stir. Let me put your mind at ease, and just to be perfectly clear\u2026YES you can travel to Cuba, legally. At Freedom Travel we have sent our travelers legally after Obama\u2019s eased relationships with Cuba, and we will continue to send them legally after Trump\u2019s latest policy announcement.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>What does this new policy actually say?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>The policy enhances travel restrictions to better enforce the statutory ban on United States tourism to Cuba. Among other changes,\u00a0travel for non-academic educational purposes will be limited to group travel.\u00a0The self-directed, individual travel permitted by the Obama administration will be prohibited. Cuban-Americans will be able to continue to visit their family in Cuba and send them remittances.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>How will this change how we travel to Cuba?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>The key phrase is \u201ctravel for non-academic educational purposes will be limited to group travel\u201d \u00a0Here at Freedom Travel everyone falls into the \u201cgroup travel\u201d category\u2013it may be a small group or a larger group, but we always adhere to the rules and regulations.<\/p>\r\n<p>What they want to restrict are individuals who do not have a travel itinerary and maybe there for other reasons besides innocent cultural discovery. \u00a0The intent is to have tourists supporting the locals \u2014 which we happily do.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sen. Marco Rubio, who claims credit for writing the Trump policy along with a fellow Cuban-American and Florida Republican, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, tweeted Friday that individual<br \/>American travelers will still be able to go to Cuba for the purpose of\u00a0supporting the Cuban people, a category that includes helping human rights organizations and non-governmental groups meant to strengthen democracy and civil society.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Below is the Cuba Travel Affidavit Form. <\/strong>Travelers must fall into one of the following 12 categories. There are two specific to general travelers and we at Freedom Travel have used them both: People-to-People and Support the Cuban People that Rubio refers to above.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>\u27a1\ufe0f Family visit [515.561(a)]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Official business of U.S. or foreign government, or intergovernmental organization [515.562]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Journalistic activities [515.563]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Professional research or meetings [515.564(1), 515.564(2)]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Educational activities \u2013for credit in connection with degree [515.565(a)]<br \/>Educational exchanges \u2013 people to people [515.565(b)]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Religious activities in Cuba [515.566]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions and exhibitions [515.567(a), 515.567(b)]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Support for the Cuban people [515.574]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Humanitarian projects [515.575]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Activities of private foundations or research\/ educational institutes [515.576]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Activities related to the exportation or importation of informational materials [515.545]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Exportation and re-exportation of certain internet-based services [515.578]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Certain export transactions [515.533]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Activities in connection with the temporary sojourn of aircraft\/ vessels [515.545(b)(2)]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Activities related to professional media and artistic productions [515.533(d)(2)]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Returning Cuban nationals [515.570]<br \/>\u27a1\ufe0f Activities related to the Department of Commerce licensed or authorized exports, medicines, and medical supplies [515.533(d)(1), 515.599(d)] \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/freedomtravelllc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/cuba-teacher.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>What does \u201csupport the Cuban people\u201d, mean?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In the General license, there are three activities that describe what \u201csupport the Cuban people.\u201d \u00a0This is the one that relates best to my travelers.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>\u00a0(iii)\u00a0Individuals and non-governmental organizations that promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba; \u00a0<\/em>and goes on to say that<em>\u00a0the traveler\u2019s schedule of activities does not include free time or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule.<\/em>\u00a0 Each of our travelers has a detailed itinerary with tours and activities, and some (not excess) free time. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>Cuba is one of my favorite countries in the world, rich in culture. \u00a0The people are welcoming us with huge smiles and so many times I have heard \u201cthank you for coming\u201d. \u00a0I have traveled around the world and never has anyone ever said \u201cthank you for coming.\u201d \u00a0I say, No\u2026Thank\u00a0<strong>You<\/strong>\u00a0Cuba\u2013Thank You for Sharing!<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/freedomtravelllc.com\/contact-us\/\">Contact Us For More Information<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump\u2019s announcement yesterday has everyone in a stir. Let me put your mind at ease, and just to be perfectly clear\u2026YES you can travel to Cuba, legally. At Freedom Travel we have sent our travelers legally after Obama\u2019s eased relationships with Cuba, and we will continue to send them legally after Trump\u2019s latest policy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}