It’s election year in the United States, and Florida, considered a key state in the campaign, held Presidential primaries March 17. Current President Donald Trump appeared on the Republican Party ballot, along with Roque De La Fuente, Bill Weld and Joe Walsh, who withdrew his candidacy in early February.
But seven days before this event, Trump, seeking votes in an area where Cubans are considered the prime electoral force, ordered the implementation of a measure that has drawn criticism in the émigré community.
On January 10, the U.S. Department of Transportation notified that the suspension of charter flights between any point in that nation and Cuba would come into effect within 60 days, with the exception of Havana’s José Martí International Airport, for which it imposed a limit of 3,600 round trip flights.
This figure, reflecting the current level of service, is insufficient given the elimination of flights to other destinations on the island, and will cause overcrowding in Havana. In addition to applying pressure in hopes of extracting political concessions, the U.S. attempts to hold Cuba responsible for the problems that this move will create.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, known for his hostility toward the Revolution, prompted the suspension of flights to nine of Cuba’s international airports in what became the 191st measure adopted against our people since 2017.
The closure of the U.S. embassy in Havana, suspension of cruise ship travel, persecution of oil shippers, and the drastic reduction of flights are all part of strategy that the Trump administration is pushing to win the votes of anti-Cubans in Florida.
But this time the condemnations were not long in coming, from within the United States itself, where according to more than a few media outlets, Cuban residents are not happy. They saw regular direct flights to their homeland suspended at the end of 2019, after being reinstated in 2016, following a 55-year hiatus, and now this.
Reports have indicated an increase in demand for tickets in Miami, since those affected remember the times of George W. Bush, who in 2004 limited direct trips to Cuba to one visit every three years. Now, once again, the option of traveling via a third country is being considered, making family visits more difficult and more expensive.
The reduction in travel will cause higher ticket prices, as a result of fewer flights and less competition between airlines, stated Reportur, a Latin American tourism news site; an effect that adds to what the Cuban émigré community considers «an unnecessary blow to families.”
Decades of trying to divide the Cuban people, in the interest of election results in South Florida have gone nowhere, in “an effort to reinforce a policy that has failed miserably for 60 years to accomplish anything positive in Cuba,» stated Collin Laverty, president of Cuba Educational Travel.
James Williams, president of the Engage Cuba coalition, said: “We understand that the politicians making this policy have likely never been to Cuba, but even they should be able to look up that the vast majority of Cubans don’t live in Havana.»
More than 600,000 U.S. citizens traveled to Cuba in 2017 and 2018, in addition to half a million Cuban-Americans. Last year, 552,816 Cuban-Americans visited the island from the United States, a figure which – according to Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez – shows the strengthening of Cuba’s ties with émigré communities abroad. (Taken from en.granma.cu)
