Cuba Welcomes U.S. Senate Vote on Travel [View All]

[Osolomia]

Fri, Oct. 24, 2003
Associated Press

HAVANA - Cuba's foreign minister welcomed the U.S. Senate's vote this week to ease restrictions on American travel here, but said he doubted President Bush would sign it.

"It is another sign that both houses of Congress favor a political change toward Cuba," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told reporters.

But Perez Roque predicted that Bush would veto the measure, as the White House has indicated.

... President Kennedy imposed the travel ban in 1963, a year after the Cuban missile crisis. President Carter let it lapse in 1977, but it was reimposed by President Reagan in 1982. Violators could face criminal penalties of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison.

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