[NYTr] AP: Cuba's "Forbidden Treasure" Encourages US Tourists to Go

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via Columbus Dispatch - Nov 4, 2007
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/travel/stories/2007/11/04/cuba.ART_ART_11-04-07_F4_CD8AQB3.html?sid=101

Cuba's 'forbidden treasure' persuades U.S. tourists to sneak in

By Will Weissert
Associated Press

HAVANA -- Barack Obama would lift restrictions on visits by Cuban
Americans to the hemisphere's only communist country if elected
president. A growing chorus of Democratic and Republican lawmakers
would go further, loosening the U.S. embargo enough to allow all
Americans to travel to Cuba.

But thousands of U.S. tourists already travel to Cuba behind
Washington's back, and many say being sneaky is part of the fun. Some
are scrambling to get to the island while Fidel Castro is still alive,
fearing the U.S. government could scrap the travel ban once he's gone
and bring profound change to Cuba.

"The fact that you're not supposed to be there, that was the top for
me," said Amit, 29, a New Yorker who visited Cuba in September 2006,
shortly after Castro, now 81, fell ill and ceded power to his younger
brother.

"I was like, 'It's time to go,' " said Amit, who asked that his full
name not be published to avoid U.S. fines. "You just don't know what
Cuba will be like after Castro's gone."

Traveling to Cuba is not illegal for Americans, but provisions of the
Trading With the Enemy Act prohibit spending money there without
authorization. If caught, unauthorized U.S. tourists can face civil
fines of up to $55,000, although many cases are settled for smaller
amounts.

Since January 2006, 19 Americans have paid fines for sneaking into
Cuba, including four people involved in making Oliver Stone's
documentary about Castro, Comandante. Director Michael Moore is being
investigated for filming Sicko without permission in Cuba.

Obama would like to do away with tighter restrictions imposed by
President George W. Bush in 2004 that limited educational and religious
travel and reduced trips by Americans with relatives on the island to
one every three years.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued 40,308 licenses for family travel
last year. The Cuban government counts them as Cubans; otherwise, Cuba
said, 20,100 Americans visited through June 2007, presumably without
U.S. permission.

The U.S. government granted permission 491 times for people involved in
religious, educational and humanitarian projects. Journalists and
politicians can go there without licenses, but few do.

"We wanted to get here before all the other Americans come and ruin it
all," said Bridget, 20, of Minneapolis, who visited in August.

"It's forbidden treasure," said her friend, Erik.