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Tag: cuba embargo
Clinton Says Trump May Have Violated U.S. Law On Cuba

Clinton Says Trump May Have Violated U.S. Law On Cuba

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that Republican opponent Donald Trump may have violated U.S. law, following a news report that one of his companies attempted to do business in Cuba.

Newsweek said on Thursday that a hotel and casino company controlled by Trump secretly conducted business with Cuba that was illegal under U.S. sanctions in force during Fidel Castro’s presidency of the Communist-ruled island.

(See the Newsweek article: http://bit.ly/2dmKH3e)

“Today we learned about his efforts to do business in Cuba which appear to violate U.S. law, certainly flout American foreign policy, and he has consistently misled people in responding to questions about whether he was attempting to do business in Cuba,” Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane.

Clinton and Trump are in a close race ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Newsweek, citing interviews with former Trump executives, internal company records and court filings, said the Trump company spent at least $68,000 for a 1998 trip to Cuba at a time when any corporate expenditure in the Caribbean country was prohibited without U.S. government approval.

The Trump company did not spend the money directly, but funneled the cash for the Cuba trip through an American consulting firm, Newsweek said.

Newsweek cited a former Trump executive as saying the goal of the Cuba trip was to give Trump’s company a foothold should Washington loosen or lift the restrictions under the U.S. trade embargo.

The former executive said Trump had participated in discussions about the Cuba trip and knew it had taken place, according to Newsweek.

“The efforts that Trump is making to get into the Cuba market, putting his business interests ahead of the laws of the United States … shows that he puts his personal and business interests ahead of the laws and the values and the policies of the United States of America,” Clinton said.

(Reporting by Amanda Becker; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Peter Cooney)

Photo: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a campaign event in Radford

U.S. Airlines Vie For Limited Routes To Cuba

U.S. Airlines Vie For Limited Routes To Cuba

By Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) – Top U.S. airlines on Wednesday said they were seeking regulatory approval to start flying specific routes to Cuba, ramping up competition over a limited number of opportunities to serve one of the industry’s last frontiers.

Dramatizing their eagerness for the coveted flights, American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O), JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O) and others argued why they were best suited for the routes in memos that at times were critical of one another.

U.S. and Cuban officials signed an arrangement two weeks ago restoring commercial air service between the countries for the first time in decades. U.S. carriers had until March 2 to submit route applications to the U.S. Transportation Department.

The arrangement, in the works after the Cold War foes said they would normalize ties in Dec. 2014, allows 20 round-trip flights per day from the United States to Havana and 10 round-trip flights per day to nine other airports in Cuba.

But proposals by airlines appear to have exceeded the cap to Havana by at least 19 flights per day, with requests even higher for certain days of the week.

American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O), which has the widest Latin America network of its peers, asked for 10 daily flights to Havana from its Miami hub, one per day from its hubs in Charlotte and Dallas/Fort Worth and one per week from Los Angeles and Chicago.

American said in its publicly filed application that there were 10 times the number of Cuban-Americans living in Miami-Dade county than in nearby Broward county, where its main rival to the Caribbean, JetBlue, has its large Fort Lauderdale operation.

Separately, JetBlue said Wednesday it requested four daily flights to Havana from Fort Lauderdale, two from Tampa, Orlando and New York and one from Boston and Newark.

In its application, JetBlue called American’s Miami hub “chaotic” and more expensive per passenger compared to Fort Lauderdale.

It added that the U.S. Transportation Department should support competition “rather than continuing the status quo by rewarding legacy carriers and increasing their market share.”

The government agency has said it will try to maximize public benefit in assigning the flights.

Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N), United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N) and Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) also filed extensive route requests, with Delta arguing its proposed Miami routes were necessary to counterbalance American’s otherwise market dominance.

Analysts expect strong demand for airline travel from Cuban-Americans visiting relatives, leisure travelers desiring a once off-limits experience and executives evaluating commercial opportunities.

“Our application is based on where the traffic is today,” American’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Howard Kass said in an interview, referring to high demand for its existing charter flights to the communist-ruled island.

The Republican majority in Congress has defied U.S. President Barack Obama’s call to rescind a long-standing trade embargo, which includes a general tourism ban to Cuba. Obama has used his executive authority to relax some travel restrictions, however.

U.S. travelers must meet at least one of 12 criteria to visit, such as taking part in educational tours or visiting family in Cuba.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in Havana; Editing by Tom Brown, David Gregorio and Andrew Hay)

Photo: Blue Panorama and KLM aircrafts are seen as a taxi drives out of a parking lot at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport February 15, 2016. REUTERS/Enrique de la Osa

United States, Cuba To Resume Scheduled Commercial Airline Service

United States, Cuba To Resume Scheduled Commercial Airline Service

By Arshad Mohammed and Jeffrey Dastin

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) — The United States and Cuba have agreed to restore scheduled commercial airline service between the two countries for the first time in more than five decades, exactly a year after they started the process of normalizing relations.

The latest step to restore U.S.-Cuba ties after 54 years of hostility will not go into effect immediately but should eventually increase tourism and business on the communist-ruled island.

Once implemented, the agreement will allow U.S. airlines to sell tickets on their websites for flights to Cuba, but they must first apply for permission from U.S. regulators to fly specific routes. Charter flights operated by U.S. carriers already connect the countries.

The United States and Cuba have agreed to allow 110 round-trip flights on U.S. airlines to Cuba per day, according to Thomas Engle, deputy assistant secretary for transportation affairs at the U.S. State Department. That includes 20 flights to Havana and 10 to each of the other nine international airports in Cuba.

He said no date has been set for final signing of the aviation agreement, but no issues were expected to stop it.

A group that promotes U.S.-Cuba trade said there was a 60-to-90 day process during which U.S.-based air carriers will submit proposed routes, suggesting scheduled flights would not begin until the first few months of 2016 at the earliest.

The decision to restore ties, made by U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro a year ago, in part reflected Washington’s judgment that its policy of isolating Havana politically, economically and diplomatically had failed.

While U.S. officials still oppose Cuba’s lack of political rights, Obama concluded these goals could be better served through engagement.

Although the agreement will eventually make it easier to travel back and forth between the countries, the U.S. ban on general tourism to the Caribbean island remains in force.

U.S. travelers still must meet at least one of 12 criteria to visit, such as being Cuban-American or taking part in educational tours or journalistic activity.

STILL MANY U.S.-CUBAN DIFFERENCES

“We continue to have differences with the Cuban government, but we raise those issues directly, and we will always stand for human rights and the universal values that we support around the globe,” Obama said in a written statement.

“Change does not happen overnight, and normalization will be a long journey,” he added.

The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961, two years after Fidel Castro ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in a revolution that steered the island on a leftist course and made it a close ally of the Soviet Union. For decades, Washington’s policy was to isolate the island.

Since last year’s detente, the countries have restored diplomatic ties and reopened their embassies. Obama has also taken steps to encourage closer business ties with the island.

However, the longstanding U.S. trade embargo on the island remains in place and the Republican-controlled Congress has resisted Obama’s calls to lift it. Cuba’s human rights record still draws criticism from Washington, and Castro’s government has made clear the diplomatic opening does not mean Havana plans to change its one-party political system.

SURGE IN TOURISM

Cuba’s embassy in Washington said in a statement on the airline deal that the countries reiterated their commitment to flight security and to protecting civil aviation “from acts of unlawful interference.”

Any planes landing in the United States will have to meet U.S. safety standards, so any old Russian planes in the Cuban fleet will likely only fly domestically within Cuba.

Under the deal, airlines from both countries will be able to make commercial agreements such as sharing flight codes and leasing planes to each other, it said.

New York-based JetBlue Airways Corp, which already operates charter flights to the island, said in a statement it plans to apply to schedule service once it has fully reviewed the terms of the aviation deal.

“Interest in Cuba has reached levels not seen for a generation,” its senior vice president for airline planning, Scott Laurence, said in the statement.

Other U.S. airlines – American Airlines Group Inc, Delta Air Lines Inc and United Continental Holdings Inc – have all expressed interest in scheduling flights to Cuba.

Obama relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba earlier this year. That has led to a boom in U.S. citizens’ visits to Cuba, which are up 71 percent this year, with 138,120 Americans arriving over the first 11 months.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in Havana; Editing by Will Dunham, Frances Kerry and Bill Rigby)

Photo: An American Airlines airplane prepares to land at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana September 19, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Pope Francis Brings Message About Power And The Poor To U.S.

Pope Francis Brings Message About Power And The Poor To U.S.

By Scott Malone and Philip Pullella

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrived on his first visit to the United States on Tuesday, bringing to Washington a message that its power and wealth should be used to serve humanity, and not the other way around.

An Alitalia plane carrying the Argentine-born leader of the world’s 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic church touched down on a gray, blustery afternoon at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland after a flight from Cuba.

In a sign of the importance that the White House gives to the visit, President Barack Obama took the unusual step of greeting Francis on the tarmac. Obama, his wife Michelle Obama and their daughters shook the pope’s hand on the red carpet.

School children cheered the 78-year-old pontiff in his first moments on U.S. soil, chanting “Hello, hey, hey, welcome to the USA.”

On the plane from Cuba, Francis told reporters he hopes the United States will lift its long trade embargo on the Communist-run island as a result of negotiations between the two countries but does not plan to raise it in his address to the U.S. Congress this week.

“It is a public thing that is moving along the path of the good relations they are looking for,” said Francis, who helped broker behind the scenes a thaw between the Cold War foes.

“My desire is that they end up with a good result, that they reach an accord that satisfies both sides, an accord, certainly.”

Francis largely avoided controversy during his four-day visit to Cuba. The government had hoped Francis would condemn the U.S. economic embargo, which Obama is urging the Republican-controlled Congress to end.

Obama and the pope meet more formally on Wednesday at the White House. The pope will then parade past Washington’s major monuments before a crowd expected to reach tens of thousands.

The pope has electrified liberal-leaning U.S. Catholics with his shift in emphasis towards forgiveness and concern for the poor. He has dismayed some conservative followers with comments of concern over climate change and a pivot away from messages focused on the church’s ban on birth control and opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Francis is also expected to talk about immigration during his six-day visit, a top issue for him since his first days as pope in 2013.

He will make the first address by any pope to the U.S. Congress on Thursday, a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Friday and an open-air Mass in Philadelphia where 1.5 million people are expected to attend.

Photo: U.S. President Barack Obama (R) welcomes Pope Francis to the United States as the Pontiff shakes hands with dignitaries upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington September 22, 2015. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque