Changes to Cuban travel, gift rules now official

[babylonsister]

Changes to Cuban travel, gift rules now official
The long-awaited changes to travel and gift rules to Cuba have finally kicked in.

BY FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]


The federal rules regulating what gifts and how much cash can be sent to Cuba finally became official Thursday, five months after President Barack Obama announced a loosening of restrictions amid great fanfare.

``It's about time!'' said Maria Brieva, owner of Machi Community Services, which sends packages to Cuba. ``It's hurricane season, and people were beginning to get anxious.''

In April, Obama lifted caps on Cuban-American travel to the island and on the money that can be sent to relatives as part of a broader campaign to warm long-chilled relations between the two nations. The Cuban government welcomed the changes when they were announced, but did not respond with any notable changes on the island.

The written regulations that make Obama's changes official had not been published in the federal register until now.

That left people who were eager to send money and gifts in limbo, because agencies such as Western Union and shipping companies hadn't received any legal notice of the change.

``When the president made that announcement, people were calling continuously and showing up here with boxes,'' said Mambi International Group owner Santiago Castro, president of the Association of Cuban Travel Agencies. ``We had to tell them no, because as far as we knew, we still could not send things like clothes and shoes.''

`NOT SIMPLE'

The U.S. Department of Treasury and U.S. Commerce Department rules were published in the Federal Register on Thursday.

The delay came because the rules were ``not simple to write,'' and the people charged with drafting them were also saddled with other responsibilities, a senior administration official told The Miami Herald.

``This gets the U.S. government out of the business of regulating the separation of Cuban families,'' said the official, who spoke on the condition his name not be published, citing U.S. government policy.

The new rules also allow people to ship a wider pool of items to Cuba and permit American companies to provide telecommunications services there. They let Americans pay a Cuban's cell phone bill -- as long as the provider is a non-Cuban company.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1216845.html

[Vidar]

1. I'm pleased that Obama is at least making some positive moves in this direction.

[babylonsister]

2. Me, too. Slow and steady. Maybe we can all eventually visit. nt