Florida Judge: Ban on Cuba Student Travel Stands

A Florida judge has struck down an ACLU challenge to halt enforcement of the state's May ban on academic travel to Cuba. U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan, who said on Friday that a detailed ruling is forthcoming, refused the June lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union with the Florida International University Senate to halt enforcement of the law in a two sentence ruling. The Florida law essentially banned all academic travel to Cuba with tricky wording regarding usage and administration of public and private funds by Florida schools; in June, Florida ACLU Communications Director Brandon Hensler called the law "political grandstanding" ("Florida Sued Over Cuba Travel Ban").

Several bills regarding the decades-old US embargo on Cuba trade have very recently been introduced in the House, however, and the passage of one may ease restrictions on all travel to Cuba, which is currently considered a terrorist state. Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, who has co-sponsored H.R. 654 which would lift bans on Cuban travel, said of US policy on Cuba, "Far from hastening democratic reforms, our current policy has given Fidel Castro a convenient scapegoat for his own regime’s failures."

The US's Travel to Terrorist States act limits travel to North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. Currently, students from states other than Florida may travel to Cuba for academic research but must generally show plans to stay in Cuba for 10 weeks. Pleasure travel to Cuba by US citizens has, essentially, been illegal since 1963.

• World Peace Herald: "Lawmakers Aim at Relaxing Cuba Policy"
• May 2006: "Florida Bill Cuts Student Travel"
• June 2006: "Florida Sued Over Cuba Travel Ban"

_{Related: "Minnesota School Pays Fine for Cuba Travel"}