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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fining the American Tourist

Aired August 22, 2001 - 08:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Imagine your summer vacation. You go to a beach resort, relax, see the sights and you come home with some souvenirs and a bill from Uncle Sam for, get this, $50,000.

Well, it could happen, depending on where you decide to travel, as Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): It may be hard to tell who's who, but among these tourists arriving from Toronto at Havana's international airport are not only Canadians but also Americans defying U.S. travel restrictions to this communist-run island.

(on camera): This is one of the first stops for American tourists, the Partagas cigar store. They come here with long lists of requests from friends back home. Until now, the biggest dilemma has been how to get all these cigars past U.S. Customs. Now the problem is how to get themselves past customs.

(voice-over): Dona Shultz, a retired social worker who lives in Chicago, traveled to Cuba via Canada for a bike tour. On her way home through Toronto, American Immigration and Custom officials were waiting.

DONA SHULTZ, TOURIST: This woman was leafing through my passport very carefully and then she said to me, have you been any place else besides Canada? And I figured I'd better -- you know I'd better say something. So I said, well yes, it's probably obvious that I had my passport stamped in Cuba.

NEWMAN: A couple of months later she received a notice from the U.S. Treasury Department for a $7,500 fine. Since May, hundreds of Americans who didn't even have their passports stamped have received these notices, which can go as high as $50,000.

For the last few years, U.S. authorities had basically turned a blind eye to the tens of thousands of Americans who come illegally to see this forbidden fruit of the Caribbean, but no more.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The sanctions our government enforces against the Castro regime are not just a policy tool, they're a moral statement. NEWMAN: On President Bush's orders, the U.S. Treasury Department has begun an energetic campaign to track down and punish Americans who come through third countries to scuba dive, smoke cigars or simply take a look. Critics charge the law which forbids unauthorized Americans from spending money here, thus effectively preventing them from traveling is a violation of the First and Fifth Amendments.

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: It's repugnant to everything that we, as Americans, think. You know this type of behavior is the behavior that you would expect from a communist dictatorship that wants to keep its people at home.

NEWMAN: Washington argues U.S. tourist dollars only help Fidel Castro stay in power. But most Americans have no idea the Bush administration is cracking down. They're still coming here as tourists against the law, unaware of what may be waiting for them when they return home.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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