MIAMI (AFP) — Florida travel agents specializing in Cuba trips are up-in-arms over plans to make them pay more than 100,000 dollars in bonds to fund any probe into irregularities in their dealings with the communist-ruled island.
Such agencies currently put up a one-time bond to the Department of Agriculture of 25,000 dollars.
But new legislation proposed by Florida Republican lawmakers would require the travel firms to pay anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 dollars.
Representative David Rivera, who is among Florida Republicans sponsoring the bill to the state's House and Senate, said agents specializing in Cuba travel had operated largely under the radar of state and federal law over the years.
"Every other business in Florida is regulated," said Rivera. "This bill provides for reasonable oversight (for Cuba travel.)"
The new legislation was an "anti-terrorism bill" that would require agencies that provide direct travel to any country on the State Department's state sponsor of terror list to pay out the increased bond, he argued.
Cuba is just one of several countries on the list, which also includes nations like Iran, Sudan and North Korea.
Washington has no direct links with Cuba and imposed a trade embargo on the island not long after the 1959 revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power.
Despite a wave of small changes introduced by new Cuban President Raul Castro since he took over from his brother Fidel in February, President George W. Bush's administration says the embargo is not about to be lifted any time soon.
So Cuba travel agents have hit back, vowing to legal action against the state if the bill passes later this week.
Armando Garcia, president of Marazul Charters Travel, said the bill was a calculated "political move" to "take control of the Cuba policy from the federal government and put it on the hands of Florida politicians."
Long-time Cuba trip provider Teresa Aral, head of ABC Charters, added it was ironic that agencies should be forced to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for their own federal investigation if the government accuses them of running foul of the law.
"You are giving them money to investigate yourself -- isn't that the American way?" said Aral.
Travel agents like Garcia and Aral contend the scheme would prove prohibitively expense for many small companies, forcing them out of business.
But Rivera hit back that they should instead complain to the Cuban government, which charges 3,000 dollars per plane to land at Havana Jose Marti Airport and 1,200 dollars to merely fly over the country.
He also notes that in the past enterprising travel agents exploited legal loopholes to provide illegal travel to Cuba.
In February 2007, two Florida men cooked up a scheme to circumvent Cuba travel restrictions by creating fake churches and applying for licenses with the federal government that permit religious groups to go to the island.
Agents in turn say it is the new administration laws on Cuba travel that prompted some to take drastic, albeit illegal measures, to fill the demand for trips to Cuba.
Tourism is one of the main pillars of Cuba's economy, generating more than two billion dollars a year, according to Havana figures.
In 2007 some 2.15 million tourists mainly from Europe and Latin America visited the island, a 3.1 percent decrease over 2006. Cuban officials however are forecasting a recovery for 2008.
During the course of the Bush administration, the White House has systematically tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba.
In 2004, the US government changed the laws allowing Cuban-Americans to return home only once every three years and just to visit immediate family.
"So if you travel today to visit your sick mother back in Cuba, and she dies the following year, you can't go back for the funeral," said Garcia.
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