HB 671: A sinister monstrosity against travel to Cuba
Álvaro
Fernandez interviews Francisco Aruca
Álvaro
Fernandez:
There is a little-known bill before the Florida legislature that
could have enormous consequences on travel to Cuba, particularly on
family visits. We decided to talk with Francisco Aruca, who on
several occasions has delved into the subject in his radio program.
Aruca, who is this bill aimed at?
Francisco
Aruca:
Strictly speaking, it’s directed against the travel agencies that do
business with countries on the State Department’s list of terrorist
countries. In reality, it is aimed at Cuba, and will affect all the
agencies in Florida that provide travel to Cuba, with a particular
impact on the family-related travel of Cubans in the United States.
If it passes, the law will establish two types of businesses that
offer travel to Cuba (I’m going to refer only to Cuba, which is the
bill’s real target): Agencies that provide only travel service to
Cuba, and agencies that, in addition to providing travel, furnish
other services, such as the shipment of packages, shipment of family
assistance, and others. The bill does not establish differences in
terms of size, volume of sales or kind of travel services; for
example, between a company that charters planes and another that only
sells tickets directly to the public.
Álvaro
Fernandez interviews Francisco Aruca
Álvaro
Fernandez:
There is a little-known bill before the Florida legislature that
could have enormous consequences on travel to Cuba, particularly on
family visits. We decided to talk with Francisco Aruca, who on
several occasions has delved into the subject in his radio program.
Aruca, who is this bill aimed at?
Francisco
Aruca:
Strictly speaking, it’s directed against the travel agencies that do
business with countries on the State Department’s list of terrorist
countries. In reality, it is aimed at Cuba, and will affect all the
agencies in Florida that provide travel to Cuba, with a particular
impact on the family-related travel of Cubans in the United States.
If it passes, the law will establish two types of businesses that
offer travel to Cuba (I’m going to refer only to Cuba, which is the
bill’s real target): Agencies that provide only travel service to
Cuba, and agencies that, in addition to providing travel, furnish
other services, such as the shipment of packages, shipment of family
assistance, and others. The bill does not establish differences in
terms of size, volume of sales or kind of travel services; for
example, between a company that charters planes and another that only
sells tickets directly to the public.
Fernandez:
What are the principal measures contemplated against the travel
agencies?
Aruca:
There are several, and I’ll refer only to the most important ones.
First, the agencies will have to register with the Consumer Affairs
Department of the State of Florida, which would enforce the law. The
registration charge is $2,500 and the agency operator must provide
practically all existing information about the company and its
internal activities and about the companies and institutions with
which it maintains relations in order to offer its services. It is
important to emphasize that this bill, by being enforced by this
department, will be under the influence of the extremist right-wing
Cuban-American groups in Miami, who are the architects of this
project. Second, the agencies have to leave a deposit with the
Consumer Affairs Department, in the form of a bond payable to that
department. The agencies that only offer travel services must post a
$100,000 bond each. Those that provide services other than travel
must post a $250,000 bond each.
Fernandez:
Regardless of the size of the company?
Aruca:
Yes, sir, regardless of the company’s volume of business. Of course,
I assure you that — merely because of this requirement — more than
70 percent of the existing travel agencies, all of them operated
under licenses granted by the U.S. Treasury Department, will quit the
industry, because they do not have the resources to make a deposit
that big. But the picture gets even worse. That deposit can be used
by the state agency to pay for the expenses of any investigation that
may be made into the travel agency; likewise, it can be used to pay
any fine imposed to the agency. It’s like adding insult to injury.
They can investigate and penalize you and everything must be paid for
from the money held by the Consumer Affairs Department. With that
kind of operation, it remains to be seen if the companies that issue
bonds to cover requirements such as these will be interested in
participating under these conditions. And if they do, at what cost.
Finally,
the worst risk consists of the possible violations and sanctions
contemplated by the bill. It establishes that any violation of any
federal or state law or regulation that attempts to limit trade
relations and "transactions" with Cuba will be punishable
by a fine of up to $10,000 per violation, no matter how insignificant
the violation, and could become a crime defined as third-degree
felony. As you can imagine, the cost and risk of operating like that
are immense, particularly when you realize that this bill was written
with political objectives in mind and that its application will be
under the influence of those who designed it. And all this against
companies that are already being regulated and closely supervised by
the federal Treasury Department.
Fernandez:
What do you think is the objective of all this?
Aruca:
This is complex. Let me point out the most important consequences:
1.
The first objective is to put out of business a large number of
companies that provide services to Cuba, even before the law can be
applied to them. The cost and the dangers are so great that many of
them will close their doors before they can be exposed to them. This
way, the bill’s designers hope to reduce travel to Cuba. The truth is
that they could paralyze the travel-to-Cuba industry in Miami.
2.
Everyone who knows about this business knows that the Cubans will
continue to go visit their relatives, but that travel would become
more expensive and more complicated. For example, even if direct
flights to Cuba continue, they would become more expensive because
the agencies could hardly deal with the added costs and risks without
having to raise the prices. Many travelers will end up going through
third countries, a procedure that’s more uncomfortable, more
expensive and with less protection in terms of the quality of service
they’ll receive.
3.
As in previous occasions, this happens months before an important
election. Back in summer of 2004, the federal government imposed the
cruel regulations that limit family travel to once every three years.
All these aggressive measures hand the political extremists of Miami
— on a silver platter — the type of argument with which they
mobilize their followers during the election periods. In the November
elections, for the first time ever, the three Republican
Congresspeople from Miami will face serious opposition from
challengers who have a chance to defeat them. This is a way to create
a favorable campaign environment for the re-election of the three
federal Congresspeople, courtesy of the Cuban Republican lawmakers in
the state Legislature.
Don’t
forget that the three Democratic candidates share a common opposition
to the cruel measures of 2004 and therefore will benefit (in a
thousand different ways) from the support of those who want to
normalize their family travel. With this bill, the Florida lawmakers
can paralyze this industry and encourage the radicals and fanatics.
Fernandez:
It’s incredible that — with everything that’s at issue — this bill
is almost unknown in Miami. Explain to us what has happened.
Aruca:
The
bill was drafted secretly, and the media took a long time to bring it
to the attention of the public. And the few times they have reported
about it, the information they have presented has been incomplete and
even distorted. Note that Republican legislator David Rivera
introduced the bill in the Florida House on Jan. 23 — three months
ago. It wasn’t until April 5 that an article appeared in Spanish,
alerting us for the first time.
An
article in English appeared the following day, which almost
disinformed because it only told about the $2,500 registration fee.
In the past three months, the bill passed through all the House
committees without opposition. The same was happening in the Senate,
up until Wednesday, April 16, when, for the first time, a delegation
of travel industry experts and their legal advisers went to
Tallahassee to testify.
They
were very successful. The presentation made by the group’s spokesman,
Eddie Levy, made an impact precisely because the legislators were not
expecting the group and the Legislature had not heard serious
arguments, such as those voiced at that time. For that reason, they
did not vote on the bill that day, as planned, and the vote was
postponed for this week. One result is that [the bill’s promoters]
lost the secrecy that protected them in the Legislature. The fight is
about to begin, through different means.
Fernandez:
What do you expect for the future?
Aruca:
That’s hard to predict. If the bill passes, we’ll go to the courts to
fight it, of that you can be sure. There are many and very good legal
arguments, including the fact that, with this bill, Florida
encroaches on federal jurisdiction, which, as I told you, already
regulates this industry. With the commotion we created in the [state]
Senate, there is a chance that the process will be delayed farther
than [the bill’s proponents] wished. What is clear is that their
intentions are evil, and if they get what they want, the consequences
(as usual) will be paid by the Cubans who wish to travel to visit
their families. The struggle against this really begins now and I’m
sure that we’ll pursue it through different avenues, including the
courts. Let’s be optimistic as we fight on. If the necessary
conditions are created, this attempt could be more costly for these
people than they anticipated.
