Travel ban will be subject of House hearing

The full House Committee on Foreign Affairs will hold a hearing Thursday (Nov. 19) on the question "Is It Time To Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba?"
The committee, chaired by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Ca.), will meet in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building at 10 a.m. to listen to testimony from:
– Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, U.S. Army (retired), former chief of the Southern Command;
– Ignacio Sosa, member of the executive board of Friends of Caritas Cubana;
– Berta Antúnez, sister of dissident leader Jorge Luis García Pérez; and
– James Cason, former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
On April 29, General McCaffrey advocated the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. At the time, he summarized his conclusions thus:
• "The people of Cuba need to determine their own future.
• "U.S. government role [...] must be supportive. We should start now by rapidly lifting the embargo. This will be a catalyst for political change.
• "Our technical experts can be helpful but they must work in partnership with capable Cubans and play a supportive role.
• "Cuba will reassume its place in the international community. We must recognize that it will have political, economic, and social relationships with multiple nations.
• "In the end, a broadly cooperative approach will be healthier for Cuba and for longer-term U.S.-Cuban relations.
• "Multilateral lending organizations like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank will make enormous contributions.
• "Government-to-government relations and accords will likely not be the centerpiece of future U.S.-Cuba dialogue. We must make space for civil society right from the start as we reengage with Cuba."
This week, García Pérez (aka "Antúnez") organized what he called a National Front for Civic Resistance and Civil Disobedience that will stage "massive acts and civil demonstrations to achieve the unconditional release of all political prisoners in Cuba." Its slogan: "We all are the resistance."
García Pérez served 17 years in prison for civil disobedience. He was released in 2007.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

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