Greenberg on Cuba

[Black Plague]

Link to the Podcast

Link to another article by Greenberg about travel to Cuba

I was listening to NPR while driving home and they were airing the weekly guest speaker of the Commonwealth Club of California: Peter Greenberg, famous travel writer and travel editor for NBC's Today.

He was talking about his new travel book and about travel in general (how to save money, get better service, etc.).

He then mentions that travel to Cuba is technically not illegal under the Trading with the Enemy Act...only spending US Dollars in Cuba. He said you could get around this by booking an all-inclusive trip through a country like Jamaica or Mexico that doesn't have any trade restrictions on Cuba.

In the speech, the mention was pretty brief and he made it sound like going there was just a matter of exploiting a legal technicality. In the article for AARP above, he seems much more cautious about it.

But my Bullshit-Meter needle is in the red on this one...sounds to me like if it were that damn simple, we'd all be doing it: just buying the tickets in another country in foreign currency and not taking any US Dollars with us to Cuba.

So those of you with more knowledge of this subject than I...what say you?

 

[dagoR6]

Link to the Podcast

Link to another article by Greenberg about travel to Cuba

I was listening to NPR while driving home and they were airing the weekly guest speaker of the Commonwealth Club of California: Peter Greenberg, famous travel writer and travel editor for NBC's Today.

He was talking about his new travel book and about travel in general (how to save money, get better service, etc.).

He then mentions that travel to Cuba is technically not illegal under the Trading with the Enemy Act...only spending US Dollars in Cuba. He said you could get around this by booking an all-inclusive trip through a country like Jamaica or Mexico that doesn't have any trade restrictions on Cuba.

In the speech, the mention was pretty brief and he made it sound like going there was just a matter of exploiting a legal technicality. In the article for AARP above, he seems much more cautious about it.

But my Bullshit-Meter needle is in the red on this one...sounds to me like if it were that damn simple, we'd all be doing it: just buying the tickets in another country in foreign currency and not taking any US Dollars with us to Cuba.

So those of you with more knowledge of this subject than I...what say you?

EDIT: Just to clarify, I was kidding! A little to new to the forum to be using non-obvious humor. I think it's a great topic, the last time we discussed it we covered lots of angles to it and I got hammered on quite a bit. Although hopefully I acknowledged where I was wrong and maybe some people gave credit for where they were and I was right.

In any case, I posted the thread below so anyone who see's this thread can catch up on the rest of the first thread where we all posted up some good research and information, it was and is a subject of great opinion.

Sweet Jesus, not this thread again....

http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/index.php?...chnically+legal

 

[drew_goring]

Link to the Podcast

Link to another article by Greenberg about travel to Cuba

I was listening to NPR while driving home and they were airing the weekly guest speaker of the Commonwealth Club of California: Peter Greenberg, famous travel writer and travel editor for NBC's Today.

He was talking about his new travel book and about travel in general (how to save money, get better service, etc.).

He then mentions that travel to Cuba is technically not illegal under the Trading with the Enemy Act...only spending US Dollars in Cuba. He said you could get around this by booking an all-inclusive trip through a country like Jamaica or Mexico that doesn't have any trade restrictions on Cuba.

In the speech, the mention was pretty brief and he made it sound like going there was just a matter of exploiting a legal technicality. In the article for AARP above, he seems much more cautious about it.

But my Bullshit-Meter needle is in the red on this one...sounds to me like if it were that damn simple, we'd all be doing it: just buying the tickets in another country in foreign currency and not taking any US Dollars with us to Cuba.

So those of you with more knowledge of this subject than I...what say you?

Sweet Jesus, not this thread again....

http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/index.php?...chnically+legal

Even though I think the laws were changed and I think he is wrong, there is no way around the 20 CUC Cuban departure tax per person.

 

[Black Plague]

Sorry to bring up a dead horse......just thought it was something interesting coming from such a renowned travel writer.

But I didn't believe it for a second, since I figured if it were true, we'd all have a few holidays in Havana under our belts by now.

 

[Johnny-O!]

Greenberg is full of it. Since August 2004 Cuba has been declared by the State Department a "Terrorist Country" because they beleive that they are either harboring terrorists or training them. There are only a handfull of countries that have this label, Cuba is one of them. Upon your return to the US from a third country if you declare to US Immigration/Customs that you went to Cuba on a fully sponsored trip, they will have two questions for you: 1) Where is your permit? 2) If it was fully sponsored, why didn't you fly direct? After getting hassled for 2 hours you will promptly get put under investigation and for the following year you will get stopped and searched everytime you come back into the US. Note: Since August 2004 all Cuban travelers leaving the US have their bags and person searched because of this "Terrorist" label that is adhered to their passport. Journalists like Greenberg have a misguided view of the law because they feel it is their right to go wherever they want. John

 

[Black Plague]

Thanks for the knowledge, Johnny-O! :thumbs:

 

[JLAudio]

Sweet Jesus, not this thread again....

http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/index.php?...chnically+legal

[rant on] Easy killer. It was a new contribution to this topic. I thought it was interesting hearing Greenberg's BS, anyways. Plus, John filled us in with good information, that I'm sure some folks weren't aware of. Don't be pissed because you got torn apart on that last thread. You don't have the credibility here to just "dismiss" a topic by saying something to the degree of "here we go again" or in your words "Sweet Jesus, not this thread again..." I suggest you avoid chipping in on these things. [rant off]

I don't involve myself in these situations, but I felt the need to this time. Sorry if I offended. I'm done. Carry on.

Thanks for the great input, as always, John. :thumbs:

Also, nice find Black Plague. Greenberg is a riot.

***edited to clarify

 

[dagoR6]

I edited my post up there to clarify, I was using a little humor encouragingly, sorry to anyone who thought I was flaming him.

I think it's a good subject, I made a pretty good case in the old thread that it was "technically legal" to go there (like greenberg said) and a bunch've us hammered back and forth on it and ended up doing a lot of research. It's personal opinion whether it is or is not technically legal, OFAC rules change quickly and information you read one day becomes dated the next.

 

[JLAudio]

dagoR6,

It's in bad form to delete a previous post by completely editing it. Just to let you know, as I don't want you to get in a bad habit of deleting posts.

Now, I understand you were being sarcastic, but it's hard to recognize sarcasm in an online community...from relative strangers. That's all.

**edited for grammar

 

[dagoR6]

Yep, left my original post there in it's entirety

 

[Black Plague]

No harm done...if someone wasn't getting or giving shit on CP, then I'd think something was wrong :laugh: