Tampa's Kathy Castor made news a month ago when she called for an end to the 51-year U.S. embargo on Cuba, being the first Florida lawmaker to do so. She's continuing her activism on the issue by co-signing a letter to President Obama asking him to expand the current travel policy for Americans who travel to the island.
The authors said they sent the letter on the fourth anniversary of Obama relaxing the travel restrictions upon Cuban-Americans returning to their homeland, reversing laws set in place by George W. Bush in 2004. In 2011, Obama further loosened such restrictions, allowing students, academics and religious organizations to more freely request a trip to Cuba, as well as "specific licensing for a greater scope of journalistic activities." In addition, people in the U.S. are now allowed to send up to $500 in remittances to Cuba every three months, or a maximum of $2000 a year. In 2009, the Obama administration eased restrictions to allow Cuban Americans to visit relatives on the island.
But Castor and 58 of her congressional colleagues want more. In their letter, they asked the president to allow "all current categories of permissible travel, including people-to-people, to be carried out under a general license."
