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01/15/13 - Columbus Dispatch - Cuba eases travel rules in bid to boost economy

Architect Felix Borges, who last left Cuba in 1989 to visit Angola, is
among a wave of prospective tourists seeking to go abroad as President
Raul Castro begins easing travel rules on the communist island.

As of yesterday, Borges and other Cubans no longer needed exit visas or
invitations from a resident of a foreign country to travel, a rule that
kept many from leaving the island for decades. The policy shift comes as
Castro takes steps to open up the economy as part of the biggest overhaul
since the 1959 revolution led by his brother Fidel.

"They'll have normal rules where people can leave and come back," said
Philip Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.
"People can go abroad to get a degree and come back, or work and send
money back. It's going to have an economic benefit because it will connect
people to the outside world."

While lifting travel restrictions might cause more Cubans to flee the
island for good, Castro is betting that most will return and help rebuild
the nation's economy, Peters said. Yet in a country where the average
monthly salary is $19, according to Cuba's statistics agency, even buying
an airplane ticket will be beyond the reach of most of the island's 11
million residents.

"Tickets are too expensive even for professionals who just scrape by day
to day on their salaries," Borges, 55, said in an email.

In addition, not everyone will be allowed to take advantage of the new
rules, which enable Cubans to stay abroad for two years, up from 11
months. The government, in announcing the changes in October, said that it
can prevent Cubans from leaving for national- security reasons and "to
preserve the human capital created by the revolution."


Original Source / Fuente Original:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2013/01/15/cuba-eases-travel-rules-in-bid-to-boost-economy.html