Only Congress can lift the blockade

by Cindy Domingo, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issues Committee
 

President Barack Obama continues to implement policies that impact travel and trade between the US and Cuba since his original announcement last December of normalizing relations between our two countries. 

However, because the blockade was codified by Congress under the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 and signed into law by former President Bill Clinton, it still takes an act of Congress to lift the blockade, including the travel ban. 

There are currently some important bills before Congress that could push this process forward.  We hope that you can take action on these by asking your representatives to cosponsor these bills. Writing letters and editorials in your local area will also help educate people that to begin to build true relationships between our countries will require the lifting of the US blockade!

Find the contact information for your Senators  and Congress member

House: HR 664  Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015
Sponsored by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)

House: HR 3238  Cuba Trade Act of 2015
Sponsored by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN)

Senate: S 299 Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015
Sponsored by Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
This bill needs additional 5 sponsors by the end of the year

Senate: S 1543  Cuba Trade Act of 2015
Sponsored by Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Senator Angus King (I-ME)

Senate: S 491  Freedom to Export to Cuba Act of 2015
Sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

PHOTO: Shown with classmates in 2008; the girl in the center is the youngest daughter of Ramon Labanino, one of the Cuban Five, at that time imprisoned in the US.  Credit: Bill Hackwell  www/billhackwell.com