Should Americans Be Allowed to Travel to Communist Cuba?

A spirited discussion on whether the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba should be lifted is one of the highlights of the newly-launched “Cuban Affairs Journal,” published by the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS). The discussion is between the former Chief of Mission of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, James Cason and William M. LeoGrande, Dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University.

In the point-counterpoint article on travel to Cuba, Cason writes that lifting the ban on Cuban travel at this time would send the wrong message.

“Unilaterally lifting the travel ban at this historical juncture, at the end of a failed experiment, in exchange for nothing would be a major waste of U.S. leverage,” Cason wrote.

LeoGrande, on the other hand, believes that the U.S. imposed ban on travel is “punishment for punishment sake” and does nothing to help promote democracy in Cuba.

“Cuban Affairs,” makes its debut on-line this month to academics and Cuba watchers who subscribed to it.

Besides the pro-con debate on travel to Cuba, the English-language electronic journal’s first edition carries articles on the Cuba/Venezuela connection, Cuba/China connection, Cuba’s economic policy, and analysis of Cuba after Castro by Brian Latell, former CIA Director for Latin America and now a Senior Research Associate at ICCAS.

“Cuban Affairs” will also publish book reviews and an updated chronology of events on the island for 2005. The electronic journal provides immediate delivery, more up-to-date articles and a fast way to archive it. The journal will be easy to download to keep as a hard copy.

For more information at http://www.cubanaffairsjournal.org