Cuban Crew Members
Wishing Air Canada Bought Pullmantur Cruises
October 12 ,2007
It seems as long as the Cuban government is getting the money it is fine, but when common citizens try to earn a buck, they are cut off. Although the intent of the embargo was to hurt the government, not the citizens. Americans are not allowed to spend any money while traveling in Cuba, because U.S. government says the money goes right into Castro's pocket.
Canadians say the island is beautiful, safe and a bargain. Until late 2006, Air Canada also took Canadians to Cuba to board the Pullmantur Cruises Holiday Dream cruise ship.
Holiday Dream was the only cruise ship with a cruise from Cuba. She called at Cozumel-Mexico, Montego Bay-Jamaica and Grand Cayman on seven-night cruises from November to April.
Air Canada also flies to many U.S cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami and New York. Many of those flights are direct, without any stop overs and they have terminals in each of those cities' airports, paying fees to the local and federal government for those flights. Revenue from flights to and from Cuba are ultimately spent by corporate to pay fees and taxes levied by U.S. officials on their flights into the U.S.
Canadian business owners say they have refused U.S. intentions to dictate how they run their businesses, and continue to service Canadians and Americans, as well as Cubans. It seems U.S. officials agree, having taken little action against those Canadian airlines jointly doing business with Cuba and the U.S.
Canada is Cuba's second largest export country and the 6th largest source of imports.
To date, the Canadians have continued business as usual. However, only this month the U.S govenment has tried to dictate to Canada again, how they run their businesses.
Canada says that the U.S. wants them to furnish the names of passengers who wish to board from any Canadian city, with a flight that flies over U.S. territory, whether or not that flight lands in the U.S, or continues onto lands within a third country. We wonder if they made the same demand on Cuba.
The U.S. Secure Flight program being proposed by the Department of Homeland Security would require airlines to transmit passenger manifest data up to 72 hours ahead of scheduled flights, despite the fact the planes would neither take-off nor land in the U.S. According to the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, the information requested is the full name, date of birth and gender of the passenger, passengers' itineraries, including departure airport code, departure time, and arrival destination and time.
Canadians are sounding off on this, and it is not good. They point out that about 90% of all flights originating north of Alanta fly over Canada on their way to Europe or their way back. They say the U.S. needs to also produce the same information they are requesting for their internatinal flights to the Canadian government, in order to protect Canada from terrorists.
Many other Canadians say this is a fishing expedition aimed at Americans traveling to Canada, who then fly over to Cuba.
37,000 Americans visited Cuba last year. That does not include the 40,308 American residents of Cuban ancestry who also visited. All 77,308 of those arriving in Cuba from the U.S. would have paid the $25 airport departure fee, the government of Cuba collects for exiting visitors, totalling $1,932,700.
The U.S. government has no intentions of leaving Cuba. They entered into an agreement with Cuba to lease 45 square miles of land and water for a fueling station at Guantanamo Bay at a cost of little over $2,000 which has increased over the years. The U.S has tried to buy Cuba two different times. The first time was in 1854 when a secret proposal, the Ostend Manifesto was written by U.S. diplomats to acquire Cuba from Spain for $130 million. The manifesto was rejected due to objections from anti-slavery campaigners when the Manifesto became public. The second time in 1897 with a bid of $300 million they were also unsuccessful.
The acquisition of Guantánamo Bay was part of the Platt Amendment, conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba since the Spanish-American War, when Spain owned Cuba.
This agreement ties Cuba's hands from evicting the U.S. as the agreement specifies both parties have to agree to the U.S leaving, unless the U.S just decides to leave, then Cuba doesn't have to agree.
With the leadership of Cuba in question as Castro ails, any new treaty is not likely soon. Though 'diplomatic relations' with Cuba were severed in January 1961, the U. S. continues to maintain military rental relations with the presence of the luxury miitary base there. The base has better perks for staff and their families than many resorts in the Caribbean offer tourists. So, it is no wonder they don't want to pull the base with a $4000 a year lease.
Cuba continues to have formal relations with 160 nations, and has found major trading partners with not only Canada, but also Venezuela, Bolivia and EU nations. It is not hard to find Cuban products on store shelves in Canada and throughout Europe.
More recently they have began to tap into the massive China market. They provide civilian assistance workers, mostly medical workers to 20 nations. When those health workers (doctors) were offered to the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina, the U. S. declined.
Meanwhile, Cuban crew members caught in the middle of politics try to find work on cruise lines that do not service the U.S. This forces them to leave home for long periods of time, unlike when they worked on the Holiday Dream. But, they say they have worked hard, completed upper education enabling them to provide better services, and have a lot invested in their line of work.
They say the sanctions against Cuba only hurt the average Cuban trying to make a living. When the Holiday Dream pulled out it resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in earnings for poor Cubans.
Clearly the cruise industry is capable of following U.S. legislation when it benefits them, allowing them to continue to call at American ports where they can haul in billions of dollars in profits.
But, when there is no legislation governing crimes onboard their vessels, they take the cheap route claiming foreign exemption and offering "voluntary" weak policies to combat and report crime. If Americans can legislate foreign cruise lines calling in Cuba, surely they can legislate crimes involving Americans on those same vessels as well. The threat to Americans onboard cruise ships far exceeds the threat to Americans from an aged and ailing Castro, and certainly deserves the attention of the U.S. Congress.
