A passenger waves a Cuban flag from the deck of an American Carnival cruise ship headed for Cuba. (Credit: Instagram)
The first American cruise ship in decades set sail from Miami to Cuba, with planned stops starting Monday in Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba.
Not all were happy with the departure, and protesters gathered at the Miami port and on a nearby boat labeled “Democracia,” holding signs that read: “Castro why do you ask Cubans for a Visa to visit their own country?” The sign was apparently a reference to the fact six Cubans were among the 700 passengers aboard the Carnival cruise ship – but barely. Cuba has had in place a long-standing a law halting Cuban-born individuals from traveling to the island on boats, a policy that effectively put a stop to Carnival’s ticket sales to Cuban passengers.
Cubans who wanted to make the trip sued, and Carnival announced it wouldn’t sail to the island if Cuba didn’t change its law. Cuba shortly after overturned its ban on Cubans visiting via cruise ships, and Carnival quickly scheduled its trip.
CNN reported Carnival just received permission to allow Cubans to make the historic trip a week or so ago.
The cruise manager, during departure, stood beside an American flag and a Cuban banner an announced to boarding passengers the trip marked “the beginning of a new era.”
The seven-day cruise kicked off with a Cuban on deck theme, which included a salsa band playing serenades among waving Cuban flags.
Cuba, after pressing from President Obama, just saw its diplomatic relations restored with the United States – an overturn of 50-plus years of cold relations that was highly criticized by the likes of Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio and scores of Cubans living in the United States who experienced first hand the atrocities of the island’s dictatorship under Fidel Castro.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/u-s-cruise-ship-sets-historic-sail-for-cuba/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/u-s-cruise-ship-sets-historic-sail-for-cuba/
No comments:
Post a Comment