FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July, June 24, 2002

Contact: Brian Alexander (202) 321-CUBA (2822)

CONGRESS VOTES TO LIFT CUBA TRAVEL BAN

HISTORIC VOTE RECEIVES STRONG SUPPORT, OPENS WAY FOR END TO TRAVEL BAN

July 23, 2002, Washington, D.C. – Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end the Cuba travel ban. An amendment sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), won by a strong, unprecedented majority of 262-187. Rep. Flake’s amendment ends funding of enforcement of the decades-old ban on travel by Americans to Cuba, and would make it easier for Americans to visit the island. Tonight’s victory for the Flake amendment is an increase over a victory margin of 240, by which the amendment had passed twice the past two years.

Passage of the Flake amendment, which is part of the Treasury-Postal FY2003 appropriations bill, sets up an interesting battle between the White House and the Congress. The Bush administration has suggested it would veto any bill with language easing the Cuban embargo. Meanwhile, the Senate has included an amendment to end the travel ban in its companion bill to the House bill, increasing the likelihood that language to lift the travel ban would make it to the President’s desk. Whether the President will follow-through on the suggestion of a veto could determine whether the travel ban will indeed be lifted.

Embargo supporters had attempted to thwart the Flake amendment with an amendment by Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) that would have required the President to certify that Cuba is not involved in international terrorism before the Flake amendment would take effect. However, the Goss amendment failed by a solid182-247, paving the way for the Flake amendment to take effect.

According to Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal, president of Cuba Policy Foundation, “Tonight’s vote marks an historic moment. Lifting the travel ban is a bipartisan issue, supported by the majority of the American people, and the Congress. Embargo supporters must face the fact that the tide is shifting, and that the travel ban must go.”

For more information, please contact Brian Alexander at the Cuba Policy Foundation, Cell: 202-321-CUBA (2822); Desk 202-835-0200. ###