• Submitted by: manso
• United States
• Politics and Government
• 09 / 02 / 2010

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August 26, 2010. Via Facsimile Transmission

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to you concerning anticipated changes to United States-Cuba policy, and specifically the expansion of travel opportunities from the U.S. to Cuba. While we applaud the Administration’s reinstatement of the general license for family travel and remittances last year, the U.S. has yet to eliminate the irrational and unlawful prohibition against travel to Cuba by non-Cuban Americans.

The existing restrictions on travel raise serious constitutional and international human rights concerns. The Administration should take corrective measures which would bring the U.S. closer to compliance with the U.S.Constitution and international human rights law.

Constitutional and International Human Rights Implications

The Supreme Court has recognized that the United States Constitution’s substantive due process guarantees include a limitation on the government’s ability to restrict travel. Among other things, the Fifth Amendment requires that any restriction on a citizen’s right to travel must be justified by a  government interest important enough to outweigh that right.

In the past, the Court has sided with the U.S. government and upheld Cuba travel restrictions based on the government’s argument that “interests of national security” outweighed any right to travel to the island. However, since reimposing the travel restrictions in 1982, the U.S. government has consistently claimed that the restrictions on travel-related transactions are intended to cut off the flow of hard currency to Cuba.

Whether such a governmental interest could withstand constitutional challenge under even rational review, given the clear infringement of U.S. citizens’right to international travel, is highly dubious – particularly when considered against the $600 million to $1 billion sent to Cuba in recent years in the form of permissible remittances.

Finally, allowing permissible travel to Cuba would be one step in bringing the U.S. into compliance with the mandates of international law. The United Nations has passed near-unanimous resolutions condemning the U.S. embargo against Cuba, including its travel ban, as a violation of international law every year since 1992.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has long advocated for changes to the U.S.policy toward Cuba, based on international law, constitutional law, and moral principles.

Expanding the ability of U.S. citizens to travel to the country would be a first step in reforming what individuals across the political spectrum have acknowledged to be a mistake if not total failure in foreign policy, and in keeping with this Administration’s efforts to restore U.S.relations abroad.

Sincerely,

Vincent Warren
Executive Director
The Center for Constitutional Rights

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/117470