US Team in trouble with President Bush?

[mifencer]

President Bush wants to crack down on people who visit Cuba. According to the law, anyone who is not going there for humantarian or news/media related issues is going there illegally and he will be cracking down on those individuals.

So we should not participate in the World Championships that were held in Cuba? What about the World Cup? Pan Am Games?

I know there's a lot of liberals/democrats on this board, I'm not one of them, but this policy/administration is going a little too far on this topic. I think we should do the reverse. Open up the border and Castro will have a heart attack from all the U.S. influences the Cubans will get. I can picture the news headline: Castro dies while watching the Kobe Bryant trial.

[Ramrod]

The sport of fencing may exist in a media vacuum but I think traveling to Cuba for a sports event may qualify as a permitted activity.

[MHS Fencer]

Having read through all the fine print, travel to Cuba is permitted for the purpose of study, humanitarian aid, and amateur sporting competition. There may be a few other exceptions to the embargo, but I know that you can get a legal visa fairly easily if going in for fencing (or at least could as of 5 months ago - I saw that Bush had said he was tightening restrictions, but I think that's mainly in the form of people who go through Canada or Mexico and buy tourist visa's in the airport, as opposed to people who had a 'legal' reason).

[nahouw]

American fencers are not in trouble -- under the general license for travelling to Cuba, international sanctioned sporting events are included as permissable. The USFA does for such an event as World Championships put their request for visas through the State Department -- that is how it showed up on Bush's radar, and probably why he chose now to make a statement -- it will help him to gain from his constituency in Florida, which was the swing vote in the last election that put him were he is, and with the new election cycle coming around, he needs all the help he can get.

Most fencers who travel for the annual World Cup in Havana travel under the tourist visa purchased at the airport -- in this way, the State Department doesn't have records of who is travelling. Of course, all fencers travel with all the supporting documentation of the general license (the US regulations spelling out the terms of the general license, the invitation from the Cuban fencing federation, the letter from the USFA authorizing them to compete in the competition), and are travelling legally. However, many Americans choose to travel to Cuba "illegally" -- by Cuban records, they have about 1 million American travellers a year.

Most people won't consider travelling to Cuba because they have the perception that the US considers it illegal; that is precisely what our government wants us to believe. However, we live in a democracy, and how can this exist in a democracy? That is why the American Lawyers Association keeps constant watch on this.

The rule actually states that you can travel there under specific conditions, however, you are restricted in spending money -- that's the catch; and how they were able to make it a rule -- it is about spending money, not prohibiting travel (as long as you are fully hosted, you can travel there). The American Lawyers Association in Washington DC has been waiting for a very long time for the US government to actually prosecute somebody under this law, because if that happened, it would fall because it is unconstitutional. If you want to travel to Cuba, as 1 million other Americans do, all you need to remember is that if somebody in customs or immigration starts to question you, all you have to do is request a hearing and not answer any questions. You then need to contact the American Lawyers Association. To date, nobody that has ever requested a hearing ever got one -- the government decided to not pursue it -- because they know it is unconstitutional and will fall, and they are happier having the perception stand than to have the rule taken away.

[Mo]

There is a senior World Cup in Cuba on 2/27/2004. I don't know if it just for saber or for all the weapons.
However, on this date, we should all GATHER in Cuba and have a gigantic "BITE ME BUSH Extravaganza!!"
We can all do fund raisers and spend the paltry amount we earn in this destroyed economy in CUBA!!!
Edew can do lap dances for everyone and we can set up a raffle for a table full of MESS (TM) Thongs.
It would help if any of us had a lot of money to spend there but since the fencing addiction began we are always broke, doling out change found in the couch to attend one meet or another!

[pkt]

President Shrub strikes again.

His pronouncement should be good for the Cuban - Canada travel biz since, like the pharmacueticals trade, the American people are using Cda as a large loop hole.

"Democracy is the worst form of government in the world except all the other forms." ~ Winston Churchill.

PK

[arcon]

It was just recently that Bush learned that fencing was more
than an issue concerning his ranch.

[Inquartata]

You may epee for that remark!