Cuba travel ban under discussion in Washington

[Jimmy2]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen blasted efforts to open Cuba up to U.S. tourists Thursday during a House Foreign Affairs Coomittee meeting, suggesting the tourist dollars would only keep the regime in power.

``If you desire to come to a warm tropical climate, come to my district,'' she said. ``Let's not fill the coffers of the Cuban regime.''

Committee chairman Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said travel to Cuba is in the U.S. national interest.

``Waiting for a concession from Havana before we do something on behalf of our own citizens perversely puts the Cuban government in charge of that decision,'' he said.

The hearing comes as proponents of greater engagement with Cuba say they've got their best shot at success in years. Berman has already endorsed lifting the ban, calling it a throwback to the ``chilliest periods of the Cold War.''

In a Miami Herald opinion piece, Berman suggested that contact between Cubans and ``ordinary Americans'' could ``help break Havana's chokehold on information about the outside world.''

The list of witnesses reflects Berman's interest: Those testifying in support of lifting the ban include retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the former U.S. drug czar and commander of the U.S. Southern Command; Miriam Leiva, a founding member of the Cuban opposition group Ladies in White; Ignacio Sosa, a board member of Friends of Caritas Cubana, a Massachusetts nonprofit; and Phil Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

Those opposed include James Cason, former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana and president of the Center for a Free Cuba, and Berta Antunez, the sister of former political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Perez.

Proponents say the hearing is a first -- efforts to lift the travel ban have cleared the House in the past, but only tucked into larger spending bills. This time, a bill to repeal the decades-old ban has attracted nearly 180 supporters. The committee won't vote on any legislation, but supporters said they hope the hearing is a first step.

``A new policy toward Cuba early in 2010 would have an impact well beyond Cuba; it would send a strong signal to our South and Central American neighbors that a new day has dawned in the United States in relation to Latin America as a whole,'' said Mavis Anderson, senior associate at the Latin American Working Group, which backs lifting the ban.

Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, who supports keeping the ban until Cuba embraces democracy, said she's confident backers of the ban have the votes.

``I don't think the votes have shifted,'' Ros-Lehtinen said Wednesday at a briefing she convened to suggest Cuba is a security threat to the United States. ``I feel confident we can beat it back.''