As published in

A Guest Comment: Wayne Smith:

"Barak Obama's call for the unrestricted travel of Cuban-Americans to visit families on the island was a very smart move. There are a few hard-line Cuban-Americans who will protest, but the great majority of Cuban-Americans are totally in favor of family travel and will applaud Obama. The restrictions on family travel imposed by the Bush administration in 2004 are simply unacceptable. Prior to 2004, Cuban-Americans could travel even more often were there a need to do so. The restrictions imposed by the Bush administration, however, limit them to one two week trip every three years. And there is no provision for addition licenses in case of emergency. Thus, if a Cuban-American has visited his or her mother in, say, June, and then receives word in September that the mother is on her death bed, there is no way for that Cuban-American to get an emergency license to be at the mother's bedside. Rather, they will be told to wait three years and then visit the grave. That is inhumane and totally unjustified. What purpose is served by refusing to allow people to be at the bedside of a dying relative? How can Hillary Clinton support such a measure? How can anyone? Obama is not the only candidate questioning travel controls. Senator Christopher Dodd has also taken a position against such restrictions - and not only on travel of Cuban-American families, but also on the travel of Americans. Bill Richardson is moving in that direction also and so are a number of others. And why not? The polls indicate that the majority of Americans favor lifting controls on travel to Cuba, for Americans as well as Cuban-Americans. It used to be an article of faith that the travel of Americans abroad was one of the best ways to spread the word of American democracy. Or as Elizardo Sanchez, the leading human rights activist in Cuba, ahs put it to me many times, 'the more American citizens in the streets of Cuban cities, the better for the cause of a more open society.' So why not lift travel controls altogether?"