They fight to revisit home - A group of Vermont residents are suing to change U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba that limits visits to the Communist island to one every three years.

The lawsuit has thrust this rural state with a socialist streak and miles of loamy farmlands into the center of the contentious debate over US-Cuban relations, which more typically simmers in the courtrooms and coffeehouses of exile epicenters like Miami. The economic embargo against Cuba is nearly 50 years old, but from 1999 to 2004 the US government allowed Cuban-Americans to visit an extended web of relatives at least once a year.

In 2004, under pressure from hard-line Cuban exiles who wanted to stem the flow of dollars to Cuba, President Bush limited visits to every three years and to immediate family only, excluding aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Supporters of the lawsuit reflect the complexities of today’s debate over Cuba: The American Civil Liberties Union in Massachusetts, Florida, and Vermont and the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York have signed on to support the lawsuit. But the Cuban American National Foundation, a foe of the Cuban government, also praises the effort.”*

Stumble it! | |