U.S. students studying in Cuba have found themselves victim today of an arbitrary ruling from the Treasury Department. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ordered the Center for Cross-Cultural Study (CC-CS) to "cease and desist" their study-abroad program in Cuba. This reprehensible order leaves over 50 students in Cuba without a license.
CC-CS provides university-accredited courses which put them safely within the realm of licensed educational travel to Cuba. CC-CS has operated under an educational license for eight years and has a history of providing valuable educational opportunities for students in Cuba and around the world. OFAC's action needlessly causes much grief and headache for
students, their parents, and teachers currently in Cuba. Sadly, CC-CS has been forced to notify students registered for the summer and fall programs that the opportunity to learn in Cuba has been cut off from them.
OFAC's action undermines its ability to effectively fight terrorist
activities against the United States. OFAC plays a highly important role in stopping the transit of illegal funds to terrorist organizations-tracking down and punishing students who are studying Spanish in Cuba is a tragic misuse of OFAC's resources.
This latest blow to Americans legally traveling to Cuba is a part of a growing trend to halt communication between the U.S. and Cuba. Two weeks ago, OFAC denied licenses to over 70 American scientists on their way to Cuba for an international conference on coma and brain death. A month earlier, the music charity, Send a Piana to Havana, lost its license to ship
used musical instrument parts to a needy conservatory in Cuba.
These rulings impede the exchange of cultural understanding, they hinder the development of medical research, and even block simple humanitarian efforts. Your congressperson needs to know what the Bush administration is doing-visit http://action.ciponline.org/ctt.asp?u=1705236&l=25884, send our email, and check back for updates on this frightening pattern that punishes American for legally traveling to Cuba.
CC-CS provides university-accredited courses which put them safely within the realm of licensed educational travel to Cuba. CC-CS has operated under an educational license for eight years and has a history of providing valuable educational opportunities for students in Cuba and around the world. OFAC's action needlessly causes much grief and headache for
students, their parents, and teachers currently in Cuba. Sadly, CC-CS has been forced to notify students registered for the summer and fall programs that the opportunity to learn in Cuba has been cut off from them.
OFAC's action undermines its ability to effectively fight terrorist
activities against the United States. OFAC plays a highly important role in stopping the transit of illegal funds to terrorist organizations-tracking down and punishing students who are studying Spanish in Cuba is a tragic misuse of OFAC's resources.
This latest blow to Americans legally traveling to Cuba is a part of a growing trend to halt communication between the U.S. and Cuba. Two weeks ago, OFAC denied licenses to over 70 American scientists on their way to Cuba for an international conference on coma and brain death. A month earlier, the music charity, Send a Piana to Havana, lost its license to ship
used musical instrument parts to a needy conservatory in Cuba.
These rulings impede the exchange of cultural understanding, they hinder the development of medical research, and even block simple humanitarian efforts. Your congressperson needs to know what the Bush administration is doing-visit http://action.ciponline.org/ctt.asp?u=1705236&l=25884, send our email, and check back for updates on this frightening pattern that punishes American for legally traveling to Cuba.
