Cuba

[Terry Hull]

I am trying to determine if it is possible, legally, to visit Cuba. I have looked at the OFAC (Treasury)regulations and think it may make sense to build a case in one of two ways.
The first I am working on, involves a non-profit Spanish Society (Sociedad Hispana Doylestown) I organized several years ago. The other leads me to believe a photographer to photographer exchange might be better way to do so. My questions are the following: Has anyone done this without paying the exorbitant fees the few companies that get licenses charge? Would anyone have an interest in this if I were successful in getting a license? Does anyone know any Cuban resident photographers?

Sorry for the US centric post, and jealousy of those that can travel freely to Cuba.

[Raymond Bleesz]

Terry,

I may not be able to answers your questions, however, a fellow photographer may as he has been to Cuba numerous times and has and is offering photo workshops to Cuba---He seems to know the rules & regs as well as people of note.

"Steve Anchell" in Montana.

Raymond, in the Vail Valley, Colo

[Joanna Carter]

Sorry for the US centric post, and jealousy of those that can travel freely to Cuba.

Now, you do surprise me. I thought it was only communist countries that stopped their people travelling

[msk2193]

There are several ways of doing this....

1. Fly via Canada or Mexico and the immigration guys in Cuba will NOT stamp your passport. It is like you've never been there.

2. Do it as a journalistic exploratory trip which is allowed under the rules. You can then fly via Miami. This is also the same as doing it via a religion-based trip.

In either case, please understand that you cannot use a U.S.-based bank credit card for any expenses and wil have to take all of the costs with you in cash. Most hotels can be pre-paid via the Canadian or Mexican travel agencies.

Enjoy.

[Vaughn]

A good APUG thread -- wanders a bit, of course!

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum49/8...avel-cuba.html

[Ed Kelsey]

Mark Tucker has images from Cuba on his website. He's from Nashville, TN. You could contact him.

http://marktucker.com

[Terry Hull]

I want to do it legally-hence no Canada, Mexico. I have read the OFAC rules vis, cultural, or journalistic, or religious, etc. approach, but wonder if anyone knows Cuban resident photographers? I think I want to organize this myself for cost reasons, as the available tours of Cuba I find are premium priced, nearly $5,000 for nine days, land portion only. Thanks for the Steve Anchell name, I will contact him.

[Steven Tribe]

I think the Cuban authorities are the source of the "group/charter/theme" restriction which means that accomodation has to be booked before entry for the first couple of days at least. It applies to non-USA visitors too.

Getting about (transport) is the only problem - a really big problem.

[Noah A]

I've been to Cuba several times in 2001 and 2003, though at the time I was employed as a full time staff photojournalist.

Nevertheless, I always flew through Canada since the direct flights from the US are (or were, all of my info is old I'm afraid) very expensive and hard to book. I always booked a flight from Toronto via a canadian travel agent and then just booked my flight from the states to Toronto online.

Going through customs in Cuba is a breeze and they won't stamp your passport if you're from the US. We stayed in private homes and at the time paid $10-20 a night depending on the room and the city. Before you leave write down the name and address of one of the 'official' hotels and tell the cuban immigration guys that's where you are staying. If you don't, they'll make you book anywhere from a few nights to your whole trip in advance, on the spot, at a hotel of their choosing. It can be an expensive mistake. If you're really cautious, you could actually book a night or two in an official hotel, but in general the casa particulares are much nicer, much cheaper and in some cases they'll cook great food for you.

You will need to carry all cash since US debit and credit cards won't work in Cuba.

If you're a fulltime accredited journalist for a legitimate newsgathering organization, at least in 2003, you didn't need to do any paperwork or get advance permission to go from the US government. You just needed to carry news credentials and maybe a letter of assignment. If you're freelance, I've heard the process and paperwork involved are quite a hassle.

I don't know if things have eased up, but back when I was going going through the official channels to get OFAC permission was really difficult and a few people I know who tried either were denied or gave up.

Good luck though. It's a wonderful place.

[Noah A]

Oh, and I had no problems getting around. I traveled on everything from a jet to a donkey cart...obviously speaking at least some Spanish helps.