Cubaverdad

Locals are ready as doors to Cuba open

Relaxed rules mean more access for Pitt students, religious groups to a nation so close yet so far awaySaturday, March 19, 2011By Julie Percha, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When she studied in Cuba last spring, University of Pittsburgh senior Gloria Hatcher came face-to-face with crumbling infrastructure and poverty so dire that many locals struggled just to stretch their monthly food rations.

The communist nation is a place few Americans have legally visited and, despite its location 90 miles from Florida, seems a world apart.

"It was unlike studying abroad anywhere else, where you can easily see other [Americans]," said Ms. Hatcher, 22, one of nine students participating in the Pitt in Cuba program that semester. "It really forced us to get to know the Cuban culture."

Such educational exchanges and other opportunities to explore Cuba have expanded for Pittsburghers thanks to recent changes in travel restrictions.

In January, President Barack Obama quietly eased federal policy toward Cuba for the second time since taking office, allowing more "purposeful travel" for religious, academic and journalistic groups, relaxing some restrictions on non-family remittances and opening international U.S. airports for charter flights to and from Cuba.

Last week, federal officials selected Pittsburgh International Airport as one of eight airports in the U.S. and Puerto Rico for those charter flights.

The loosened regulations — the most sweeping liberalization of Cuban travel and remittance policy since President Bill Clinton's administration — come as an attempt "to continue efforts to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country's future," according to a White House statement.

Though the new regulations are a stark departure from tightened Cuban travel policy under President George W. Bush, American tourism to Cuba is still prohibited, and the new regulations fall short of lifting the nearly 50-year-old economic embargo.

"What the administration is doing now is restoring … some of the policies that have existed before," said Alejandro de la Fuente, a Cuban-born professor at Pitt's University Center for International Studies who now lives in Mt. Lebanon.

"I think it's a small step in the right direction … a very important and positive step."

One of the most significant changes restores short-term, credit-bearing academic exchanges. Policy under the Bush administration required that academic programs to Cuba last at least 10 weeks.

Pitt is one of about 15 U.S. universities with its own licensed study-abroad program in Cuba. Its relationship with the University of Havana dates back to the 1960s, said Kathleen DeWalt, director of Pitt's Center for Latin American Studies.

"Many of us believe that the easing of restrictions for educational study abroad to Cuba is one of the vehicles for improving understanding between the two societies," she said. "[This] can be an engine for positive change on both sides."

Under the relaxed academic travel stipulations, Pitt would be able to reinstate its short-term summer Cuba programming, which began in 2000 but was restricted in 2004. Currently, Pitt's School of Social Work is planning a 2012 spring break program to Cuba.

The federal government no longer requires the university to have an academic license to study in Cuba, and its Pitt in Cuba program — which has run each spring since 2009 — can now accept students from other Pittsburgh-area schools that offer cross-registration.

"Cuban people are wonderful — they're warm, they are welcoming, they are serious and they know how to have a good time," Ms. DeWalt said. "We believe it to be the safest place we can send students."

Regarding charter flights out of Pittsburgh, a Cuban charter service must be identified before transit begins, airport spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny said.

"That would be the missing piece," Ms. Jenny wrote in an e-mail. "Since Pittsburgh does not have a large Cuban population, having a charter to Cuba is not an immediate regional travel demand."

According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census, fewer than 1,280 of Pittsburgh metro area residents are of Cuban descent.

"I am particularly pleased by the prospect of having direct flights from Pittsburgh to Havana," Mr. de la Fuente said. "This could have a very serious impact on multiplying and increasing access to Cuba for American citizens."

The eased restrictions also allow religious organizations to sponsor trips to Cuba under general travel licenses.

In February, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh led a nine-day mission to Havana, where volunteers distributed medicine, food and clothing donations to Cuba's dwindling Jewish population of roughly 1,300 people, according to trip coordinator Bill Cartiff.

Since the mission was organized under the older, more stringent travel restrictions, he said planning required jumping through "a lot of hoops," including filing visa applications, securing a religious travel license and partnering with an accredited Cuban tour provider.

"There was a lot of arms reaching out on this," said Mr. Cartiff, adding that the JCC now might add another Cuban mission to its cycle within two to four years.

Mt. Lebanon native Ellie Bahm, 68, one of the 30 from across the U.S. on the JCC's recent trip, said she'd love to return to Cuba one day.

"There's so much to learn, and so much to see," she said. "But I think I need to practice my Spanish first."Julie Percha: or 412-263-4903.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11078/1133209-51.stm