U.S. rules expected to cause huge drop in trips to Cuba

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer

ew U.S. travel restrictions could cut travel by Cuban Americans to the island by as much as 40 percent - despite new Cuban rules making it easier for them to visit relatives here, a Foreign Ministry official said.

Under new U.S. rules taking effect June 30, Cubans living in the United States will be able to legally travel to the island only once every three years, rather than annually.

"In the end, it is the Cuban family that suffers," said Benigno Perez, head of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Consular Affairs and Cubans Living Abroad. Perez spoke Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.

The rules also limit which relatives Cuban Americans can send financial assistance to. Now, Cuban Americans will only be able to help their children, parents, grandparents and siblings on the impoverished island - but not their cousins, aunts and uncles.

The tougher new rules, aimed at forcing a change in Cuba's socialist system, are seen here as a move aimed at gaining electoral support for U.S. President George W. Bush among Cuban emigres who oppose Cuban President Fidel Castro.

But Perez said the Bush administration may have miscalculated the community's reaction.

"Among many emigrants, there has been a massive rejection" of the measures, Perez said. "There are those who think that instead of gaining votes, he will lose votes" among Cuban Americans, he added.

Perez said that despite Washington's new restrictions, overseas Cubans are flooding Cuban consulates worldwide for authorization allowing them to come and go with just their passport.

So far, the Cuban passports of about 10,000 people living abroad have been "activated" with a sticker that precludes them from getting a separate visa for each trip, as was required in the past, said Perez.

With 200,000 Cuban visas issued the world over, many more such requests are expected in the coming months. About 1.5 million Cuban- born people and their descendants live abroad, a majority of them in the United States.

Since the new Cuban measure took effect on Monday, scores of Cuban born people have traveled to the island without having to obtain a separate visa, Perez said.

The newly "activated" Cuban passport allows the holder to make multiple visits of up to 30 days, with the option to renew their stay for another 30 days.

"We thought of it as part of the process of widening our relationship with emigres, and eliminating hassles in contact between Cubans and their families," Perez said.

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