The NLG Cuba Subcommittee
updated 8/10/07
NLG Cuba Subcommittee members follow US/Cuba Developments and try to use their legal skills to help normalize relations and end the travel restrictions and U.S. economic blockade. The CSC has a lively listserve, reporting on US/Cuba developments which have some legal nexus, including legislation, and developments in the right to travel, immigration, terrorism and related court cases and prosecutions. This includes the "Cuban 5" who are jailed in the US for attempting to prevent terrorism against Cuba and people working for normalized relations, and we have organized speaking tours and facilitated the NLG filing important amicus briefs in support of their appeals. We have also developed literature on these issues, including on terrorists harbored in the U.S. such as Luis Posada Carrilles and Orlando Bosch. The CSC with the Center for Constitutional Rights has established a national network of lawyers who counsel and represent U.S. travelers to Cuba. The CSC also cooperates with the NLG Labor & Employment Committee's annual research trip to Cuba for one week every March. The CSC a is a subcommittee of the International committee. Dues are $15/year ($10 for students). For more information contact: Art Heitzer, 633 W. Wisconsin Ave., Suite. 1410, Milwaukee, WI 53203 (414) 273-1040, aheitzer@igc.org.
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Contents of this site:
Reports from past NLG trips to Cuba
Cuba and the Fight Against Terrorism
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Cuba Travel Developments and Referral Network
See Know Before You Go Restrictions on Travel to Cuba (PDF)
from the Center for Constitutional Rights (Updated Feb. 2007)
Note: Regulations and Procedures effective 9/11/03 superseded the prior meaning and role of Pre-Penalty Notices (PPNs) and as of 10/24/03 three Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) began issuing pre-hearing orders in a few cases. Please contact an attorney and note that the suggested PPN draft response in the document below is different from the previous PPN form response.
To request a referral to a lawyer in your area who may be willing to handle cases on Cuba travel, please contact:
Marc Krupanski (212) 614-6470 or
Art Heitzer at (414) 273-1040 x12. email: aheitzer@igc.org
In any request, please indicate your city and state.
Helpful Forms
Defending rights of U.S. travelers to Cuba with FORM RESPONSES TO OFAC LETTERS
Mitigating factors for reducing fines of US travelers to Cuba (3/9/05)
News and Updates
Congress' Majority Will Hijacked Again -- to Block our Freedom to Travel (11/17/03)
Official Testimony US Enforcer of Travel Restrictions 10/16/03: "tourism ... is prohibited ..."
Overview of travel options and providers to visit Cuba from the US. (2001, revised March 2003)
CCR's testimony before US Senate, Feb 11 2002
Canada Protests U.S. Actions on Travel
AP reports No Administrative Hearings Have Been Held on Cuba Travel Cases (Dec. 16, 2001)
NLG Lawyers Fight Cuba Travel Crackdown
New York Times Letters on NLG and Cuba Travel Fight
Bush Travel Crackdown
Senator Dorgan Joins NLG in Call for Repeal of Travel Ban
Actions: Circulate this petition to your Senators
U.S. ban hasn't slowed Americans' trips to Cuba
Historical Overview of the Restrictions on travel between Cuba and the U.S.: "End the Travel Ban to Cuba" By Wayne S. Smith (Nov. 2001)
CHRONOLOGY ON THE STRUGGLE TO DEFEND THE RIGHT TO TRAVEL TO CUBA
"Will Adams: US Traveler to Cuba Reports his Boat Excursion, Fined for Failure to Prove Innocence in face of OFAC's Presumption of Guilt, " from Miami New Times, Jan. 9,2003 by Kirk Nielsen http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2003-01-09/feature.html/1/index.html
To repeal the ban, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced the recent legislation, including H.R.654. Take Action! You can read more about this legislation and send a FREE FAX, urging your Members of Congress to support the repeal of the Cuba travel ban from our action alert at: http://www.aclu.org/action/cuba107.html
To find contact information for your elected representatives,
visit http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Also, check out the websites of the Latin American Working Group,
or the Center for International Policy, to stay up to date on Congressional
lobbying efforts.
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"Trials for travel" continue in Washington, D.C., while Congress backtracks
By Shauna Harrison, and Art Heitzer
NLG Joins in Demand to Extradite Terrorist Posada
Case dropped against church members who visited Cuba
Amid Cheers, Terrorists Have Landed in the U.S.
by Julia E. Sweig and Peter Kornbluh, LA Times
To curry favor with Cuban Americans, Bush turns a blind eye.
WASHINGTON — A little-noticed but chilling scene at Opa-locka Airport outside Miami last month demonstrates that the Bush administration's commitment to fighting international terrorism can be overtaken by presidential politics — even if that means admitting known terrorists onto U.S. soil.
click here for the full LA Times article
NLG denounces new travel regulations
The DOT issued more regulations, June 16, 2004, making travel to Cuba more difficult.
click here for the NLG press release
see the NLG Cuba Subcommittee's official comments to OFAC
link to a summary of the new Cuba regulations and how to take action
Cuba boaters cleared of DOJ criminal charges
Two Conch Republic Cup racers indicted by Florida grand jury.
click here for NLG press release denouncing criminal chargesbackground article on the regatta crackdown
News Article: Keys boaters cleared of embargo charges
Click here for a summary of actions by the DOT to harass and threaten US tourists and visitors to Cuba
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Reports on Past NLG Delegations to Cuba:
Report on the L&E Committee Delegation to Cuba, 2001
NLG Labor & Employment Visit Cuba & Meet Fidel Castro
Cuba and The Fight Against Terrorism
Many religious and political leaders in Cuba have expressed concerns for the safety of their country, given the new US policy justifying pre-emptive war. This article documents the admission by a top Pentagon advisor that the US proceeded with its military attack on Iraq, even though he recognized this was against international law.
War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal
CIP Cuba Project: (Good resource about Cuba and terrorism) (1/26/04)
Terrorism and Civil Society The Instruments of US Policy in Cuba by Philip Agee (This helps lay an important context concerning Cuba's official response and legal actions against US-linked "dissidents," such as those arrested in the Spring of 2003.)
www.antiterroristas.cu is a constantly updated website by a consortium of Cuban journalists & academics with the "Antiterrorist Working Group, providing news and analysis relating to terrorism and acts of aggression against Cuba, as well as to the five Cubans unjustly incarcerated in the United States for defending their country against terrorism."
CUBA & BI0-TERRORISM: Point by Point Refutation of latest charges (5/8/02)
U.S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey praises Cuba's opposition to drug trade & terrorism
For a detailed and highly researched review of the question of terrorism as seen in the context of US/Cuba relations, we highly recommend the following paper, co-authored by the former top US Diplomat to Cuba, Wayne Smith:
"Keeping things in perspective: Cuba and the question of international terrorism"
"For almost 40 years, we have isolated Cuba on the assumption that the tiny island is a center of terrorism in the hemisphere, and year after year we gain new evidence that it is the U.S. that has terrorized Cuba and not the other way around." -Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1998.
By Anya K. Landau and Wayne S. Smith
November 6, 2001
at http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/ipr/keepingthingsinperspective.pdf
For related articles on Cuba, and its potential role in helping in the fight against terrorism, see:
1. http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/
2. NLG Cuba Subcomm. bulletin: 25 YEARS AFTER CIA-TRAINED AGENTS BOMBED
CUBAN AIRLINER, MIAMI PROTESTS TERRORISTS STILL AT LARGE
3. Castro leads 1 million to honor 1976 blast victims (Reuters report,
10/6/01, with link added at the end to find full text of Castro's speech)
4. An editorial: "U.S. Policy Needs To Be Smarter," from the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel. South Florida Sun Sentinel calls for US Cuba Cooperation Against Terrorism, & Removing Cuba from US list of "terrorist" states.
5. Britain Wants Cuba Off U.S. Terrorism Blacklist
For information on the Guantanamo Concentration Camp and the people being held there, check out the following sites:
http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ (A website calling for due process for David Hicks, an Australian citizen imprisoned in Guantanamo)
www.ccr-ny.org/ (the Center for Constitutional Rights)
www.kuwaitidetainees.org Information on Kuwaiti nationals being held in Guantanamo
Guantanamo Resources
CCR Seeks Criminal Investigation in Germany into Culpability of U.S. Officials in Abu Ghraib Torture
Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo (11/30/04)
Justices Asked to Rule on Detainees (11/24/04)
Aussie Guantanamo Detainee Tells Father He's Going Insane (11/1/04)
Senators Worry Over Detainees' Treatment (10/25/04)
Administration Officials Split Over Stalled Military Tribunals (10/25/04)
After Terror, a Secret Rewriting of Military Law (10/24/04)
Guantanamo Prison by Jane Franklin (10/22/04)
Letter from Guantanamo prisoner (10/3/04)
Cuban statement on US detention of Afghan detainees in Guantanamo Bay (1/11/02)
The "Cuban Five," Cuban Opponents of terrorism sentenced in Miami to terms up to life
1. NLG 2001 Resolution on the Five Cuban Prisoners, Tucson, AZ
2. For more information on their case, visit two very powerful websites: www.antiterroristas.cu (Cuban based & constantly updated ) and www.freethefive.org (US based, where you can read each of their statements at sentencing in Spanish or English and download a petition in support of their freedom); and you can join the following free listserv freethefive-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
3. Article on the sentencing of the Miami 5, by Gloria La Riva (head of the "National Committee to Free the US-Held Cuban Political Prisoners" (12/21/01)
4.9/01/02-CounterPunch-Cuban Political Prisoners...in the US
Reports
Report on the L&E Committee Delegation to Cuba, 2001
NLG Labor & Employment Visit Cuba & Meet Fidel Castro
From Seattle to Elian: Cuba's Battles Win Broad Support
Cuba US immigration issues
Test your knowledge on Cuban immigration: a quiz
Cuba Links
Castro has given several speeches on the question of terrorism. Selected speeches of his, in English as well as in Spanish may be available from www.granma.cu and www.granma.cu/ingles. You may also check out the Miami-based progressive Cuban-American website. Radio Progreso www.rprogreso.com
National Network on Cuba, a network of US groups working for normalization and/or solidarity with Cuba: E-mail: nnoc@pobox.com Website: www.cubasolidarity.com
Find out the latest on proposed US legislation re Cuba, including the amendments to cut off funds to enforce the travel ban; see www.lawg.org.
Learn more about direct actions to challenge the travel ban, plus Cuba's offer of free medical education to US students, its leading role in organic farming, etc. see www.ifconews.org and www.letcubalive.org
For a creative joint bilingual website about life in Cuba today by Julián Gutiérrez & NLG member Cindy O'Hara, see http://www.cubamigo.com
An invaluable resource on Cuban music & culture of African influence, is: http://afrocubaweb.com
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Site Last Updated 10/18/2003