Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Group of International Organizations Send Letter to President Bush to Lift Restrictions on Academic and Family Travel to Cuba

On February 25, 2008, in the wake of the first change in Cuban presidential leadership in almost 50 years, NAFSA: Association of International Educators Executive Director and CEO Marlene Johnson wrote a letter on behalf NAFSA and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, the Latin America Working Group, the Latin American Studies Association, the National Foreign Trade Council, USA*Engage, and the Washington Office on Latin America to President Bush calling for the lifting of restrictions. Specifically, the letter calls for the lifting of restrictions the Bush administration imposed in 2003 and 2004 on academic and family travel. The letter requests that the Bush administration restore the availability of licenses for the following academic endeavors:
  • Short-term study and teaching in Cuba;
  • Study in Cuba under third-party programs—i.e., programs other than those of degree-granting higher education institutions;
  • Study in Cuba under programs other than those of the institution in which the student is enrolled;
  • Academic travel to Cuba by any bona fide professor or researcher, including, e.g., adjunct faculty;
  • People-to-people exchanges unrelated to academic coursework; and
  • Programs of secondary schools for study in Cuba.

Link to letter:

http://www.nafsa.org/press_releases.sec/press_releases.pg/cubaletter22508

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