Well, at least in Cuba I can get my athsma medicine way cheaper.

Sadly, yes.

Capt Suave,

Our government officials destroying an unwrapped Cohiba, the insanity of it all.

Ray:

BWI- point taken.

TSA doesn’t do passports- ICE does. Immigration (the “I” in ICE) doesn’t have time to rummage through the pages for stamps- they swipe the bar code, and rarely, may ask you a few perfunctory questions about your trip (unless you have a Middle Eastern passport, where they don’t ask you anything for fear of being accused of profiling). Since it’s not their job to check luggage, only passports, they don’t bother asking what you brought in.

On to step two, baggage claim. There, Customs Enforcement (the “C” and “E”) takes your declaration and trusts you, or they decide, randomly and arbitrarily, to rummage through your stuff to see if you were lying (unless you look Middle Eastern, where they don’t touch a thing for fear of being accused of profiling). If they find a Cuban cigar they “destroy” it (yeah, right) and either fine you or not. Since it’s not their job to check passports, only luggage, they don’t bother asking where you got it.

Then you go home and light up that excellent Cuban cigar. Or not.

Capt Suave,

BWI is better and cheaper.

Tell Customs the stamp was a mistake and get back to us how much the ‘fine’ is.

Good luck (with TSA that is).

Pat:

National is a domestic airport. You’ll have to leave out of Dulles. (One day soon I think.)

Is twenty bucks a reasonable tip? And who looks at stamps anymore anyway, especially when you’re coming in from Mexico or Canada? I’m going to Mexico in a few weeks- I’ll let you know how it works out for me.

They take the train and look for a new line of work I guess.

Capt Suave,

I seemed to have missed that flight out of National to Havana.

Don’t forget to tip the Mexican and Cuban visa guys not to stamp your passport.  You may be fined and end up on a no-fly list.

What happens to pilots who end up on a no fly list anyway?

PatHenry:

“Resuming travel and allowing food and medical supplies to a neighbor”

As Ricky Ricardo would say, “Esqqqz me!?”

“Resuming travel”?: We’ve covered that. If you want to go- GO!

“Allowing food”!? Who but the US can’t ship food to Cuba? And why can’t Cuba feed itself?

“Medical supplies”!? I thought Cuba was the health care heaven on earth. They send doctors all over the world don’t they? Wasn’t that Cuba’s big Haiti earthquake PR success- the US sends guns, Cuba sends doctors? Shouldn’t it be the US who is salivating over the prospect of all the superior health care advances Cuba has to offer once the embargo is lifted?

Maani:

Thank you.

No one seems to understand what Rico is saying.  The “restriction” on travel is simply that you cannot get there directly from the U.S.  But going to Cuba - even as an American citizen - has been psosible for well over a decade.  You simply fly through Canada or Mexico.  In fact, the entire western part of Cuba (and particularly the southwest) is practically an American enclave: there are resorts, hotels, beaches, even time-share-style condos.  As for Americans not being on the streets of Cuban cities, this is simply not the case: although most Americans stay within the comfort of the Southwestern enclave, they do venture out into the cities.

All that said, U.S. corporations are chomping at the bit to get back into Cuba.  This is particularly true of the tourism and casino industry: I predict that within two years of the time that all restrictions are lifted, Havana will be exactly like it was portrayed in The Godfather: a city full of hotels and casinos, raking in billions as U.S. businesspeople and tourists flock there.

Peace.

Capt Suave,

“Do you really think the US will permit Cuba to unlaterally dictate the terms of their new relationship?”

Allowing travel to resume between the U.S. and Cuba hardly constitutes Cuba dictating terms to the U.S.

Resuming travel and allowing food and medical supplies to a neighbor is the America I belong to and one day we will be rid of the politicians and their inane policies we currently have with countries like Cuba….and Israel.

The popular sentiment among truthdiggers seems to be revulsion when it comes to US relations with foreign countries, which they automatically viewed as imperialistic, chauvinistic and catastrophic, be it economic, military or political. So why do you want the US to reopen relations with Cuba? Do you really think the US will permit Cuba to unlaterally dictate the terms of their new relationship? As I said in my previous post, wait til Goldman Sachs and Walmart get their noses under the tent. Fidel will hightail it to the Mayo Clinic, Raul will head for Caracas and it will be 1959 in Havana again. And fresh parts for all those beautiful ‘57 “TChevies”.

samo:

Speaking of Havanas, you can get them anywhere in the world but the US. So much for the cigar embargo. I used to fly to the Caribbean weekly and brought home a handful of Ramon Alones

And Pat:

Call it subterfuge if you want, but if you want to go, you can go. Mexico and Canada won’t stop you, and Cuba will welcome you with open arms, particularly if your wallet’s fat.

I thought for sure the international monetary fund, world bank,
world trade ogranization, trilateral commission, the u.s. military,
cia would be the only first ones to ‘visit’ cuba. If any of these
folks go, cuba needs to put up their own blockade.

But if I want to go, all I would have to do is jump in my kayak
and start paddling? Pretty neat. A cousin of mine did go a few
years back and brought home some original havanas. If ever
there was good cigar, those are the ones.

Capt Suave,

I guess you will have to resort to subterfuge in order to visit Cuba at the present time.

Be prepared to pay a fine if you want to be ‘above board’.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090329091600AAibMh9

PAt:

Once again. If you want to go to Cuba, you can leave today. Ordinary Americans have been going there for quite a while. True you can’t jump on a plane non-stop from Miami without a diplomatic hassle, but if you zip on up to Canada or down to Cancun, you can be on your way to Havana pronto, yes, even with a US passport.

This bullshit about travel restrictions is just that. Bullshit. It’s a red herring perped up by the left as evidence of US recalcitrance and stoneheartedness. Enjoy your trip. Cubans LOVE the mighty greenback.

Giving back Guantanamo would be a good first step.

The U.S. foreign policy regarding Cuba has been a disaster, regressive and counterproductive. 

I can only hope those influences which created the embargo and forbid us ‘free’ Americans from visiting a country 90 miles from our shore are dead and buried.

I’ll wait to go to Cuba until the US embargo is lifted. Not for any political reasons. It will take a while, once the embargo is over, for there to be a McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner, and for the Hampton Inn to offer free breakfast, and for the Walmart to be up and running and for there to be enough Bank of America ATMs around- You know all the comforts of life in the US that we have been denying Cubans for fifty years. I’m sure they can’t wait either.

Are we sure Cubans want Yanqui cultural and economic imperialsim raining down on them? Because, once the embargo is lifted, the Castro brothers won’t stand a chance against Goldman-Sachs.

mrfreeze:

It’s an “embargo” and the US is the only one in the world imposing it. Are you saying that Cuba’s economic problems would be over if the US lifted their embargo? Cuba trades with scores of countries around the world. Do you think Hugo Chavez or the Chinese or the Russians are fazed by the US embargo? It is Castroism alone which has caused Cuban “pain.”

” Certainly, Cubans have had a rough time, but a great deal of their pain would have been solved had your precious “free market” been allowed to operate.” WELL! I couldn’t agree more! Here’s to the free market!

And where do you get the ethnocentrism dig? Were talking economic systems here, not ethnicity. I have a French brother-in-law who loves Cuba too. I can’t wait to go to Cuba!

1) Rico - If not a blockade, then what is the de facto bullshit policy that has polluted our relationship with Cuba for decades? If “something” didn’t exist, why do the S. FL Cubans (your fellow jerk-off conservative buddies) have a tizzy fit whenever the idea of changing our draconian economic/political policies against Cuba are considered?
2) “Those people are literally dying to be free.” So sorry, but you are not the ultimate “decider” about the definition of “freedom.” Certainly, Cubans have had a rough time, but a great deal of their pain would have been solved had your precious “free market” been allowed to operate….at least a little. Your ethnocentric arrogance knows no bounds.
3) My Italian relatives tell me the only people who aren’t on the streets of Cuban cities are Americans. They really enjoy Cuba!!! Perhaps it’s best you don’t visit…...

Robes:

Blockade? Do you even know what a blockade is? Nobody. Nobody is prevented from going to Cuba. Even I, a true blue conservative American can go to Cuba tomorrow if I want to and spend all the dollars I want, and when I run out I can whip out my Visa card and spend some more. The “embargo” such as it is, only affects US corporations, a fact which should make you happy. Cuba can export all the sugar and rum and cigars and nickel and doctors it wants to anywhere in the world but the US. What fucking blockade are you talking about? I have a friend, a true blue Palin conservative who has been to Cuba several times recently and says that NOW is the time to go, before the “embargo” is lifted and the prices go sky high and the Yanqui Cubano-Miamian tackiness returns. Cuba’s misery is completely home grown. Those people are literally dying to be free.

So in other words, Obama’s simply reversing the situation to what it was before Bush II. Wow, such progress. How about GETTING RID OF THE BLOCKADE?