Members of the Cuban American Commission for Family Rights (CACFR) traveled to Tallahassee, FL, today (Wed. June 11) to meet with Townson Fraser, Governor Charlie Crist’s deputy chief of staff and legislative affairs director. During the almost hour-long meeting, the issue discussed was Senate Bill 1310, the law introduced in the Florida legislature by State Rep. David Rivera, from Miami, which passed both the Florida House and Senate, and should go into effect on July 1.

We were there to insist that Governor Crist veto the law for reasons outlined during the meeting.

“Not only is the law unfair and discriminatory,” Fraser was told. But if allowed to take effect it will only create greater chaos and pain in a community already rattled by federal regulations that limit family visits to once every three years; limits remittances; and defines who family members one can visit and send remittances to.

Rep. Rivera claims 1310 will help Florida regulate travel to Cuba, calling it a terrorist state. What the Miami republican fails, or refuses, to realize is that Cuba travel is already heavily regulated by the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury through OFAC.

At a time when Florida is facing cutbacks to education, health care for children, social services and a host of much needed state services due to a receding economy, Rivera and his ilk want to create and even costlier bureaucracy which will only mirror at times federal law and regulations. At the same time, 1310 will probably put a number of Cuba travel providers out of business creating greater unemployment and loss of revenue to the state.

In a hot 90 degree day in Tallahassee, more than 100 Cuban Americans from Miami also traveled all night in buses where we all participated in a rally after the meeting with the governor’s office. From children to elderly citizens participated peacefully, asking the governor to veto 1310.

Stay tuned for further developments…

Alvaro F. Fernandez

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 7:16 pm and is filed under Cuba, Florida, Miami. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.