Posted on 04/17/2002 4:39:33 PM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
Janet Caldwell, who teaches English in the Gorham school system, traveled to Cuba despite threats of legal action from a federal agency.
Caldwell landed in Holguin, Cuba, with 12 other teachers and health care professionals at 3 a.m. Sunday. They plan to study Cuba's health and education systems.
The group originally numbered 25, but 12 people withdrew when the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control threatened legal action Thursday against the group and the travel agency that put the trip together.
The agency, which enforces the United States' Cuban embargo, informed Common Ground Travel and Education Services of Cambridge, Mass., that it could not send the group to Cuba because it was illegal. The trip was originally coordinated by Let Cuba Live, a group that promotes better relations between the United State and Cuba. But planning was transferred to the Massachusetts travel agency when Let Cuba Live was told that a licensed travel agency had to put the trip together.
This is the first instance in which the government has ordered a trip connected to Let Cuba Live to stop, said Renee Cote, an organization member and spokeswoman. "Many, many people have gone to Cuba under much more scanty auspices."
Let Cuba Live has organized three trips to Cuba, the most recent by a group of 40 teachers in 2000. It sent a group of organic farmers and gardeners to Cuba in 1996.
Last summer, the group clashed with U.S. Customs agents during an effort to smuggle medical supplies over the Maine border into Canada for shipment to Cuba.
Cote said the travelers could face civil or criminal charges when they return Sunday. She said she hopes the federal government will change its decision and accept that the group is doing professional research in its related field, which is a requirement for traveling to Cuba.
The 13 who decided to make the trip met in Augusta Saturday, then went to Montreal to catch a flight.
In a written statement before she departed, Caldwell said the trip is research-based and should not be subject to threats from the U.S. government.
"I intend to travel to Cuba with the honorable intention of acquiring educational strategies regarding literacy . . . I cannot see any humane or professional reason to cancel my trip to Cuba," she said.
Staff Writer Ryan Blethen can be contacted at 791-6329 or at: rblethen@pressherald.com
Yup, those Cuban educational strategies are increasingly important in the USA.
"New Cuba policy: Anyon can travel to Cuba, but msut remain for 2 years."
I could save them their money and time:
"Communism doesn't work!"
How about a legal reason?
Another individual who believes the law does not apply to her.
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