Will anything happen from the US government if an American vacations in Cuba?

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Havanalover

If you are a US citizen you need a license from the OFAC
see http://www.treas.gov . This license is only delivered for
humanitarian, cultural, educational reasons , not for vacations or leisure. The fine for not following this rule is up to 1mil US $ or up to 10 years prison.
Having said this several US citizen travel to Cuba via other destinations mostly thru Cancun or Toronto , it's illegal but an estimated 100,000 did it already.
If you should chose for this way to travel be sure to avoid every possible reference to Cuba, don't buy souvenirs, rum or cigars , remove al tags from your lugage. The Cuban customs don't stamp your passport , you only need to buy a
tourist visa and they stamp this tourist visa (tarjeta tourista).
I read that they (US Customs) may inspect your camera for holliday pictures, so take and extra memory card with you and change it.
Good luck and have a nice trip , Cuba is wunderful.
Havanalover
http://www.havana-guide.com

Fly girl

If you travel illegally and are caught, then you may receive a huge fine (upwards of $5,000). There are no direct flights to Cuba from the United States (except a few charter flights out of Miami and NY for special circumstances). You can enter Cuba by way of Mexico, Bahamas, Canada, etc. Cuban Customs DO NOT stamp American passports. Something to think about. If you think you can get away with it and feel comfortable, go for it. Take the risk. The government should not be able to tell us where we can and can't travel. Cuba is one of our closest neighbors and there is no logical reason (besides Miami Cuban interest groups) why we've had an embargo for nearly 50 years.

Charlie

See site below and scroll down to paragraph 19..the sentence that starts,"Unless Otherwise exempted..."
I have always wanted to ask people who want to "vacation" in Cuba...Why do you want to go to a country that does not allow its own citizens to travel freely like you can? They are held prisoner in their own country. I would feel very uncomfortable in that situation..knowing I travel freely, but these people risk their lives trying to leave their country, and many have died trying.

Beardo

Tens of thousands of US citizens travel to Cuba every year, illegally. Probably only a handful of those get caught.

(The stupid, or the high-profile).

Even of those who get caught, only a fairly small proportion end up paying a fine.

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/travelcuba.htm

David G

mmuscs

Yes, when you get caught traveling to Cuba without a license the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets & Control will present you with a bill for $10,000 as a penality for violating the sanctions.

MIRO

hi,

as far as i know to fly to cuba one has to fly to a country which is not part of the US then catch a flight to the intended destination.

cheers

Joelou

Yes, you are not free to have a vacation in Cuba. However, my friends from New York and myself visited Habana just resently. We left from Cancun to Habana, the Cuban government did not stamp their passports. Good luck and I am sorry you are not openly free to enjoy beautiful Cuba.

garrisonbight

If they find out you can be arrested and spend some jail time for doing that.

With that being said.. the easiest way for an American to visit Cuba is to fly to Mexico and then fly from Mexico City to Havana. When you present your passport for customs and immigration, they will stamp your visa on a separate piece of paper which you can throw away when you come back into Mexico and before you re-enter the U.S.... you DO need a passport, though.

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