Retired Military Officers Urge Ending Cuba Travel Ban

Washington, D.C. - On Monday, April 13, 2009, a group of 12 former senior U.S. military officials sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to support and sign pending Congressional legislation that would repeal the travel ban for all Americans who wish to visit Cuba.

Click here for text of the letter.

The retired officers -- including former SOUTHCOM Commanders Gens. James Hill and Barry McCaffrey as well as Major General Paul D. Eaton and Lt. General Claudia J. Kennedy -- argue that, based on national security grounds, lifting the ban would  allow us to send our best ambassadors-the American people-to engage our Cuban neighbors, giving America a much better chance of influencing the course of Cuban affairs.

The letter, organized jointly by the National Security Network and the New America Foundation, also examines the negative national security impact the travel ban and overall embargo has on America's interests in the region, creating a situation where our confrontational policy of isolation towards Cuba hinders, not heightens, America's overall security objectives. 
 
For more information please contact Kate Brown, New America Foundation's Media Relations Manager, at 202-596-3365 or brown@newamerica.net, or Adam Blickstein, National Security Network's Press Secretary, at 202-289-7113 or ablickstein@nsnetwork.org.

About the New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.

Related Programs: Arms and Security Initiative, Regional Policy, U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative
Topics: Foreign Policy