I suppose it’s because I’m told I can’t go there that I’ve developed an insistent desire to visit Cuba. Although, there’s probably a fair amount of “I want to get there before it’s become Americanized” — USAers tend to change the culture and atmosphere of places that we visit in large groups.
I looked into getting what’s called a Specific License — the permission from the Treasury Department that would be needed for me to visit as a freelance journalist. Under Bush, the odds of being granted the license hovered somewhere around zero. I’m hoping that under the Obama administration I’ll be able to get permission.
The first step is to send a letter to the Treasury Department. The reason is that the embargo of Cuba is economic. For years the government seemed to believe that if it stopped USAers from doing business (including travel) the government would topple.
You’d think after a decade or so we would have figured out that wasn’t going to happen. But that’s a whole ‘nother rant.
Anyway, I’m going to send a letter and humbly request permission as a freelance journalist to visit Cuba.
Part of the process seems to involve describing the details of the proposed travel.
I have to work on this. Somehow “to see Cuba before it is visited by hordes of USAers in groups and on cruise ships” doesn’t strike the right note.
Not that there’s anything wrong with hordes — I’ve been one of the masses myself on occasion. But having experienced a city when there were several hundred cruisers in port, and when a half-dozen groups of happy tourists covered the area, I’d like to try to see it a little less crowded first.