The Morrill Majority

Videos from my trip…

…will be posted here:
www.youtube.com/morrillmajority

Arrival in Cuba video:

1 comment May 9th, 2009

Home today from Cuba, under threat of “huge penalties”

Me at the Havana Mets game

I arrived in Harrisburg this morning after a two-day trip from Havana that brought me to Toronto last night. Direct commercial flights between the United States and Cuba are prohibited by US law.
I got to the airport in Toronto at 5:35 AM. I checked in with Air Canada and proceeded to U.S. Customs. I filled out my declaration form honestly and wrote that my trip included Canada, Mexico and Cuba.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers screen people in Toronto and other major Canadian airports instead of in the U.S. The officers can deny entry to travelers and can impose fines, but they do not have the power to arrest in Canada.

When I got to the customs officer he asked me the usual questions until he got to the section about what countries I had visited. When I mentioned Cuba he stopped the interview, put a big red “S” on my declaration form and brought me to a room for “further screening.”

I waited about five minutes before my name was called by an officer. (I have the names of all of the officers and supervisors involved, but will not use them in public.) He began by yelling at me, “What year were you born? Don’t you know that we’ve been trying to isolate Cuba since 1959?”

I answered that I thought the embargo was unjust and should be repealed. I wanted to challenge the embargo and refused to lie about going to Cuba.

(Over 100,000 US citizens go to Cuba each year without a license from the US Treasury Department. Almost all of them lie. It’s easy to do and tour books on Cuba even tell you how to do it.)

Another officer yelled from her station nearby, “It’s people like you who make it bad for everyone else!”
The first officer said, “You’re in big trouble. Plan on staying here a while. What time is your flight?”
I told him 7:30. He told me there was no way I would make that flight. He then left me to get some paperwork.
While he was gone his supervisor came over and said, “I understand you have a problem with rules. You’ll find out what it’s like for rule breakers.”

When the first officer cam back he said “We’re confiscating everything that reeks of Cuba.” He then looked at every item in both my carryon and my big bag. He finally identified the following as subject to confiscation: two books, two DVDs, three music CDs, two t-shirts and 2 hats (for my younger children), daily newspapers, business cards from Cubans and a other printed materials that originated in Cuba. Oh, and two packs of Cohiba cigarettes for friends who asked me to bring them Cohibas (I couldn’t afford the cigars!). I also had about 20 Cuban coins for my kids’ coin collections.

He took all of my papers, including business cards of people I met, notes, and travel information. They made copies of everything.

While they were making copies, other officers came by to check me out. Two officers came by picking up each item, whispering to each other and laughing while pointing at me. Another supervisor looked at each item, making small talk. One of the CDs had a statue of Che on the cover, prompting him to say, “Songs about a terrorist. You can lose your passport for this.” Another officer came by and said “I just wanted to see the crusader. This is probably going to be your last flight out of the country.”

Around 7:30 the first officer told me they were going to confiscate everything that was questionable. I told him that even during the Cold War it was permissible to bring back educational and informational materials. That has always included books and has been expanded to include DVDs and CDs in recent years. He said that was true only under licensed travel.

Around 7:45 I was told I could go. (My flight was scheduled for 7:30) They told me that I could keep the printed materials and the CDs and DVDs, essentially agreeing with me about my ability to bring them back to the US. They also told me that they were not confiscating my other items, but I couldn’t bring them into the US. The officer told I would have to throw them away. When I got to a trash can I placed the items on top of the can so that someone might find them and take them since they were brand new. He told me I had to put them in the can. I reluctantly complied.

Before leaving me, he said “This isn’t over. You can expect a big bill in the mail.”

I got on my flight and returned to the land of the free.

-Michael Morrill

1 comment May 6th, 2009

Internet Problems: Will have all daily reports up tomorrow

One critique all visitors to Cuba will likely share is the antiquated internet access. The system is very slow dial up, and there are few terminals at our hotels. I’ll be in Canada tomorrow, so I’ll file all of my daily reports then.

Hasta la victoria siempre,
MM

Add comment May 4th, 2009

First Full Day in Cuba: Sightseeing

My first full day in Cuba was scheduled to be a sightseeing day. This is my second visit to Cuba, and I have seen mosat of what we were shown today. The country is pretty much the same as in 1996 when I was here before, from what little i’ve seen so far. The major differences seem to be more tourists, more new cars and more building and renovation of existing buildings.

I visited the Maelcon, the beautiful sea wall adn walk along the shore; the U.S. Interest Section (didn’t really visit, just viewed it from across the street) and the downtown shopping district. That’s another change I noticed., When I was here before it was the end of the Special Period, the time of adjustment in the Cuban economy after the fall of the Soviet Union. Stores were very empty and there were huge lines for even the basics back then. Now the shopping is similar to other Latin countries. More choice, no lines.

I had a great lunch of shrimp sauteed in garlic while I watched the waves crash on the sea wall.

In the evening I fulfilled one of my dreams by going to the LatinoAmericano Stadium to watch a baseball game. It was the playoffs, but the team I wanted to see, the Industriales, were away. Instead it was the lowly Habana Mets. Still, it was a fun experience and got to talk baseball in my broken Spanish and locals broken English.

I’d love to share more, but except for a few friends, who share my passion for baseball, it would be pretty boring.

Videos are going to be impossible to send from here. My hotel only has dial up and the truth is that dial up and YouTube are not a good mix. I’ll try to post some still photos and upload the videos when I get to Canada.

Oh yeah, Cuba is stopping all flights to and from Mexico. That mean I have to find another country to fly to before coming home. All flight to other Latin countries are booked for at least another week, so it looks like I’ll be flying to the nation of my mother’s birth.

More later.
-MM

1 comment April 30th, 2009

Arriving in Cuba

[Sorry for the delay in posting this. The internet connection on the hotel computer was down, and I couldn't get to another due to the schedule. I'll post again tonight and hoepfull will stay current daily. -MM]

From Monday:
I’m sitting in the airport in Cancun waiting for my flight to Habana. About a third of the people are wearing masks, hoping to screen out the swine flu that is terrifying the entire country. I talked to some of the security people and they said that people are really fearing for their lives. They think that things are even worse than the media are reporting. Many people believe that the government is underplaying things to prevent full panic from breaking out.

I arrived in Cancun around 11:30 local time (12:20 Eastern) and had to pick up my bag and go through immigration and customs, due to the fact that Delta wouldn’t recognize my next flight to Habana because of the Helms-Burton Act that prohibits any business that wants to do commerce in the U.S. from doing business in Cuba. That means things as simple as allowing Delta to transfer my bag to an airline going to Cuba. So I entered Mexico and immediately went back in the other door.

Before checking in I had to get a visa. I couldn’t get one in the U.S. The process was very simple. Show your passport and pay $18.00 US. The entire process took less than 2 minutes (I timed it).

The flight to Habana took about an hour and a half and was pretty uneventful. The plane was an old Russian YAK 42.

We arrived in Habana’s Jose Marti Airport aropund 5:10 and were met immediately by uniformed nurses wearing masks. We were given a cursory examination and questioned about our state of health. Everyone was given a card explaining how to access the Cuban health system if we started to feel ill. Cubans are obviously taking this swine flu scare pretty seriously.

I got to my hotel, the St. John’s and checked in. I met a friend from Pennsylvania who is in Cuba on under a U.S. Treasury licensed tour sponsored by Global Exchange. We went out to dinner at a restaurant in Habana Vieja, where we met some labor representatives from unions in the U.S. and Australia.

In all, a pretty unventful day. You can see video from the day, and other videos as I post them at:
www.youtube.com/morrillmajority

Reader be forewarned: The posts of my trip to Cuba will probably be pretty boring stuff. More like your granparent’s vacation movies than our usual postings. But I want to put this trip on record, to show that I am in Cuba and to force the Obama Administration to either enforce the outrageous travel ban or to admit that it is a failed policy and admit to the world that it is not and should not be enforced.

Until tomorrow,
MM

1 comment April 29th, 2009

On My Way!

I’m on my way! I left home at 4:00 AM for Harrisburg International Airport. I left HIA at 6:20 and just arrived in Atlanta. My next flight is to Cancun and from there to Habana.
I thought I’d spend a few minutes posting some comments from organizations opposed to the ban on travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens. Here’s a sampling:

American Farm Bureau Federation
President Bob Stallman joined congressional members today on Capitol Hill to advocate the removal of travel restrictions to Cuba. Stallman spoke in support of S. 428, sponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan (D- N.D.), Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), which opens Cuba to travel by U.S. citizens and gives the U.S. president authority to restrict travel to Cuba only in times of war or imminent danger.
“This legislation is an important step in easing trade restrictions on Cuba,” Stallman said. “Allowing unrestricted travel to Cuba will increase U.S. agricultural sales and boost tourism.”

Amnesty International
Amnesty International urges the US government to lift the nearly five–decade long economic and trade embargo against Cuba as it is detrimental to the fulfillment of the economic and social rights of the Cuban people. It obstructs and constrains efforts by the Cuban government to purchase essential medicines, medical equipment and supplies, food and agricultural products, construction materials and access to new technologies. The embargo also denies Cuban-Americans their right to travel freely to their country of
origin. The embargo has been overwhelmingly rejected by the United Nations General Assembly for the past seventeen years.

Nation Council of Churches of Christ
Because of a lengthy history and close relationships with churches in Cuba, NCC‐ member communions have experienced the impact of the travel ban both on our own work, and on the lives of the Cuban people. Restrictions on travel have curtailed our ability to send religious
delegations to Cuba and severely diminished our capacity to accompany and support our Cuban brothers and sisters in Christ. The National Council of Churches strongly believes that the
current restrictions on travel to Cuba are unfair and inappropriate, restrain religious freedom and reflect undue governmental interference in the exercise of religion.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing
more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, would like
to express its support for H.R. 874 and S. 428, the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act,” introduced
by Reps. Delahunt and Flake and Sens. Dorgan and Enzi. The Chamber supports efforts to
broaden economic engagement with the island in the belief that additional commercial and
people-to-people contacts would promote a transition to democracy and full civil liberties.
Allowing Americans to act as ambassadors of freedom and democracy is an important
first step in reforming U.S. policy toward Cuba. The last 50 years of U.S. policy toward Cuba
have proven that unilateral sanctions do not work.

Add comment April 27th, 2009

Pennsylvania Activist to Break Travel Ban to Cuba

(This is the news release we are sending out about my trip to Cuba. Check back daily for updates. -MM)

Michael Morrill of West Reading will risk 10 year prison term, $250,000 fine for visiting island nation