Should I travel to Cuba?? I live in the U.S.? I keep on getting mixed answers.?

Question

My friends and I want to travel to Cuba in July. I understand being a U.S. Citizen it is against the law to travel there, but should I go or not? I really want to go!! I keep on getting mixed reactions from people. Some say to not worry, it will be fine and others are freaked out about it. WTF?! Has anyone gone recently that can give me specific answers? Help!! My friends are now backing out of the trip because they are so scared about getting busted. Please, the more info you can give me ther better. It will help me out tremendously! (should I just pick another South American country?)

Answer 1

Contrary to John H's comment, Cuba does not stamp your passport at any time.  I asked for it to be done several years ago  for a souvenir but that's the only time it's been stamped.  If you go you will have a wonderful time.  The Cuban people  will welcome you with  the same open arms as they do every nationality.  Any thinking person knows the American policy is  hypocritical, you can legally go to Communist China probably the biggest violator of human rights  the world has ever known besides Hitler .  So much for the American claim to be the  freest nation on earth.

Answer 2

As Richard K said, Cuba does not stamp passports (unless you ask them to). And to be sure of anything, you can always ask them not to. What they do stamp is your carta turista (tourist card)...and once you leave the country you don't need it and can be thrown away.

The issue of travel restriction is using your money in Cuba. So it's not the 'travel' itself that is illegal. Many US citizens travel to Cuba all the time via a third country (such as Canada or Mexico). As long as you don't leave paper trails and bring back Cuban souvenirs.

See the links below and read thoroughly for more information.

I hope you and your friends go. You will love it and just want to go back.

Have a great trip!

*ps: you can go to another country, but in all honesty, you won't find it the same as Cuba....if you go to Cuba, you'll want to just keep going there all the time lol.

As looardislander said, as long as you pay for everything (plane ticket/reservations/insurance pkg) in cash, then there will be no questions from credit cards statements or cheques.

Answer 3

Too much hassle and risk. Just choose another country to visit

Answer 4

you really DONT have to worry. im going there next week for a whole month! im going through grand cayman. you could try to go through mexico. cuba rocks! if you really want to go then just do it.

Answer 5

Going to Cuba without State Department permission could be risky business. When you come back to the States with a Cuban stamp on your passport, you are likely to have some long talks with customs, FBI, Homeland Security, and who knows who else.

Go ahead. Have a good time. Let us all know how it works out for you.

Answer 6

"The land of the Free" - hmmm? Your take your own money and decide to visit somewhere outside your country. You are not hurting anyone else and making your own choice.

Yet when you come home you face problems with Customs and whoever else.

Sorry. I'm generally a US fan, but in this regard it's just hypocritical and the sooner a flood of people turn up at customs with the Cuban stamp the better.

Answer 7

Once again, the experts on here who have never tried something, expand on why you can't do it and the people who have actually tried it, can tell you how it's done.

If you are a U.S. Citizen, then you need your PASSPORT and about $2000 in CASH.  You can not and must not create any kind of a paper trail because that can land you into trouble when you come back to the U.S.

Start your trip by FLYING into Mexico City. Then BUY an airline ticket FOR CASH in Mexico City and fly on to Cuba.  When you get off the plane and go through customs and immigration, you may or may not have to request they do NOT. stamp your passport.  There have been so many AmeriKans using this backdoor way to go to cuba, they already know not to stamp your passport... but it still doesn't hurt to mention it.

Pay for everything while you are there WITH CASH... and bring nothing back that could have only come from Cuba... like Cuban Cigars or LEATHER PRODUCTS.

When you get back to Mexico City, throw the separate sheet of paper with your Cuban Visa away and fly back to the U.S.

Have a nice trip... you are just joining the 5,000 or so AmeriKans who visit Cuba every year and really don't CARE what the U.S. Government says

Answer 8

Technically it is not illegal to go to Cuba, but it is illegal to spend money in Cuba.  But the thing is unless Cubans are paying for your food, hotel room, bus fare, etc, there is no way you can not spend money and I highly doubt any Cuban is going to pay everything for you unless you seduced some Cuban woman who happens to have money.