Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange

The following post was written by Global Exchange Co-founder Kevin Danaher.

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There is a broad range of opinion about Cuba here in the United States. Some people think it is one big prison. Others think Cuba is further down the road to sustainability than the United States. That range of opinion is also present in Cuba: there are people who love their system, people who hate it, and many in between.
 
This is not to say that Cuba is not a threat. It is. But it is not a threat against the United States per se; it is a threat to the elites who run our country. If millions of people from the U.S. were to visit Cuba and see free neighborhood medical clinics where the nurse and doctor live in apartments above the clinic and go out on house visits every afternoon, the visitors might think, “why don’t we do that?”
 
Cuba has many problems as a poor nation under the thumb of the most powerful country in the world. But Cuba also has things we can learn that have application at home. For example, the first time I visited one of the many elder centers where neighborhood elders hang out with each other, playing checkers, exercising, and getting regular checkups by the doctor and nurse on the staff,  I noticed an abundance of young children playing with the elders. When asked the director of the center who organized these children to be there he said, “These are just neighborhood children who come in and out as they please.” Try to find an elder center in the United States where that happens.
 
The Cubans may be recycling everything and promoting urban agriculture because they are poor and have to conserve resources. But when you are on a huge farm in the middle of the capital city, Havana, and see crops spreading out toward the horizon, you are convinced of the rightness policies that promote sustainability.
 
Global Exchange has been organizing group tours to Cuba for 24 years, so we are well acquainted with the pluses and minuses of Cuban socialism. The best way for you to cut through the debate over US policy toward Cuba is to go there and see for yourself.
 
What I learned the first time I went to Cuba in 1979—and many, many times since then—is that our role is NOT to tell Cubans how to run their society. No, it would be much more appropriate for us to focus on changing our own society, especially the economic embargo our country has imposed for over 50 years against a small Caribbean nation that NEVER harmed the United States.

In another major change in Cuba, the Cuban government has lifted unpopular restrictions on its citizens who wish to travel abroad.

Cubans were thrilled to learn last week that cumbersome, bureaucratic hurdles to travel will be scrapped for most travelers starting January 14th 2013. A note in the island’s Granma newspaper announced that the much reviled “carta blanca” or “white card” and exit visa will no longer be required for travel abroad.

All most Cuban travelers will need is an updated passport and a visa for the country to which they will travel, if one is required.

For many years Cubans have loudly complained about the costly requirement of securing a letter of invitation from the country to which they were traveling as well as a “permiso de salida” from Cuban Immigration that cost some $170.00 USD, about what the average Cuban earns in six months.

Obtaining the expensive documents also required multiple visits to banks and government agencies where the long lines often meant hours of waiting.

Another important change announced, was that Cubans may now stay abroad for 24 months without giving up their property and other rights in Cuba. They can also apply for longer stays if necessary. Previously, they were only allowed to stay outside the country for 11 months without sacrificing those rights.

Though the liberalization of travel restrictions will affect most Cubans, the announcement noted that Havana reserves the right to restrict the travel of some individuals for national security reasons and to prevent the loss of qualified professionals needed by the country.

Since the island boasts one of the finest education systems in Latin America, it has produced many qualified professionals over the years and has grappled with how to prevent the”brain drain” that is plaguing the developing world.

Photo Credit Global Exchange

Another obstacle that potential Cuban tourists and travelers will face is the difficulty in obtaining entry visas to industrialized nations like the United States, since the great majority are poor compared to those in developed countries.

One of the many contradictions of US policy concerning Cuba, is the “wet foot, dry foot” prevision under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. That gives any Cuban citizen who manages to get to US territory the right to permanent residence in the United States. At the same time, the US State Department regularly denies Cubans on the island permission to travel legally to the United States, which prompts many to attempt to make the dangerous journey to the United States by sea, or by other illegal means.

We will have to wait until the new policy goes into effect next year to see exactly how this exciting change in the island’s immigration policy will affect the majority of its citizens.

TAKE ACTION!

For more information on the work of Global Exchange in Cuba and to learn how you may qualify to travel to Cuba please give us a call (415-255-7296 ext. 211) or email drea@globalexchange.org.

Photo Credit Global Exchange

New regulations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regarding legal travel to Cuba were released in July that contain a number of new guidelines and directives for organizations that are licensed to provide travel to Cuba, including Global Exchange.

While these new regulations are leaving people confused and unclear about what this means for future educational travel to Cuba, Global Exchange along with many other organizations are thoroughly reviewing the regulations so as to be in compliance.

So why are OFAC’s new guidelines problematic?  As Anya Landau French, Director of the New America Foundation’s U.S. – Cuba Policy Initiative and the editor of The Havana Note explains:

Restricting contacts in the first place is a bad idea, but this sort of ‘Big Brother is watching’ approach to people to people engagement is counterproductive (and more than a little ironic). Providing a full itinerary, explaining how contacts with the government helps to make people more independent of the government, and so on, is an odd way to try to open up what many consider a closed society. And therein lies the problem: the objective of such travel is to open up Cuba, instead of to foster mutual understanding, a principle that should stand on its own. In this way, the Obama administration has backed itself into a policy corner.

Ellen Creager of the Detroit Free Press also offers us a critical look at the challenges that may lie ahead despite the few positive changes that have come in the last year.

While here at Global Exchange we continue to review these new regulations, the Cuba section of our Reality Tours website will be “under construction.” Please feel welcome to contact us should you have questions, since we do retain our license as an authorized Travel Service Provider to Cuba.

TAKE ACTION!

1. Direct OFAC and the State Department to carry out President Obama’s Cuba policy - Sign this petition!
2. Keep updated about Cuba travel regulations, subscribe to our Reality Tours blog and sign up for the Reality Tours email list to receive regular updates.

Last June I journeyed to one of my favorite destinations on the planet, Cuba. Despite the fact that I have lived and worked there off an on since 1991, and have had the honest pleasure of facilitating over twenty some delegations over the years, this last group was one of my most enjoyable ever. I am not sure really why. We were 13 dynamic, well traveled and inquisitive individuals with only one thing in common…the intrepid travel writer Jeff Greenwald.

I met Jeff in 2003, after he had recently founded, the Ethical Traveler. I  loved the idea of ET and was honored when a few years later he asked me to serve on its advisory board. Since then we’ve been on countless panels together; collaborated on campaigns that mobilize the international community of travelers as a global PAC to use their clout and advocate on important social and ecological justice issues; and promoted “voting with your travel budget” at the World’s Best Ethical Destinations.

I remember the day Jeff and I spoke about creating a tour for him and his friends. I felt awestruck. There is so much to see, do and learn. As we brainstormed about an itinerary, he said, “Malia, I want to see your favorite places and meet some of your favorite people”. I smiled and thought, well it will be one trip of many for you then.  I love that personally he trusted me with this challenge and a few months later, our group met in Miami and were off to soak up the sights, sounds and stories of Cuba.  It was wonderful to reconnect with communities and friends from the Mureleando arts project and the intergenerational voices at the Convento de Belen in Havana, to engaging with the teachers, parents and kids at the Love and Hope arts program for children with Down’s Syndrome and advocates for community development and conservation at Las Terrazas in the provinces.  I encourage you to read more about Jeff’s ever thought provoking insights from his “Dispatches from Cuba”. Today, I have the honor to feature a few of Jeff’s thoughts and share the word about his upcoming and yes, second trip back to Cuba.

The Beauty of the Vinales Valley, Pinar del Rio

The trip was a watershed event in my travel career. The country affected me profoundly—just as Nepal did, during my first visit in 1979. The art, music and mojitos were a revelation …. Not to mention Piñar del Rio’s gorgeous landscape, Havana’s neoclassical architecture,  and the warm, generous Cubans we met along the way.

This coming June, I will be leading another trip to the island. It’s called “Exploring Cuba: Sustainable Development, Community & Art,” and will take place June 12th-20th. Though the trip is a benefit for Ethical Traveler, the cost is very reasonable. Like last year’s trip, we’ll meet with social leaders, artists, naturalists and entrepreneurs. We’ll explore spectacular landscapes, and tour World Heritage Sites like Old Havana. Again, this will be a fairly small group — between 12-18 people. This really is a wonderful opportunity to visit a remarkable, fast-changing country. I hope to hear back from you, and promise that this will be a journey to remember (in a good way!!).

Sonrisas en Havana

Learn more about the background of Global Exchange’s  Cuba program and future Reality Tours to Cuba after you have read Jeff’s Dispatches. If you still want to read more, check out more coverage from our Alumni in the news. Recently Stelle Sheller and Janet Young, traveled with us and were featured in their local newspaper in the article, “ Local women travel to Cuba and discover two worlds” and they share  their “unexpected” findings.

The folks behind this delegation: Eco Cuba Exchange and Solar Energy International  invite renewable energy professionals and active lay enthusiasts to participate in this exciting April 2012 delegation and conference. This is your chance to see Cuba’s remarkable achievements for yourself!

Eco Cuba Exchange is a program designed to promote environmental interchange between U.S. and Cuban environmentalists. Solar Energy International is a US non-profit organization whose mission is to help others use renewable energy and environmental building technologies through education.

About CUBA SOLAR: CUBA SOLAR is Cuba’s award-winning NGO promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency in Cuba. The organization was founded in the early 1990′s to solve the “peak oil” crisis that ensued when Cuba lost its preferred trading relationship with the countries of the former Soviet bloc.

How this all began: Global Exchange organized the very first Cuba tour focused on energy issues back in 1996. Laurie Stone of Solar Energy International in Colorado was one of the participants.  Our two organizations have partnered ever since to organize Renewable Energy Cuba tours and Laurie has become the foremost U.S. engineer researching and writing about Cuba’s progress.

2006 was the “Year of the Energy Revolution” in Cuba when the country replaced the majority of Cuba’s ancient refrigerators and other energy-guzzling appliances with new energy efficient ones from China, exchanged all incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescents, and sent a small army of trained social workers into every community to educate the public on energy efficiency.

In the preceding ten years, the Cuban NGO Cuba Solar had also installed thousands of solar panels on the roofs of family doctor clinics and schools in remote rural areas that were off the electricity grid. They also converted sugar mills and other factories to run on biofuels such as animal manure and bagasse and established rural vocational-technical schools to train workers on how to maintain these refurbished facilities.

About this upcoming delegation: This year’s research delegation is happening April 19 – 29. This is your chance to see for yourselves Cuba’s remarkable achievements to date in this crucial field. Participants will visit installations in Havana, Pinar del Rio and Santiago de Cuba, as well as participate in Cuba Solar’s Tenth International Conference in the Sierra Maestra.

An agripark in Cuba, Dec 2011

Here’s more about what participants (you?) will do on this exciting research delegation:

• Visit renewable energy installations in urban and rural settings
• Learn about Cuba’s energy efficiency program
• Hear from the policy makers and practitioners who make it happen
• Meet renewable energy engineers from all over Cuba and the world
• Enjoy the vibrant cultural scene in Havana and Santiago de Cuba!

Learn more about renewable energy and energy efficiency in Cuba: For articles and videos on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Cuba, including some by Laurie Stone, visit our website.

As Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute, has said:

“We need an example of what to do when the effects of Peak Oil really hit internationally. Cuba provides us with that. Cuba has already undergone an energy famine.“

CUBA SOLAR Conference and Research Tour: April 23 – 27, 2012 in Santiago de Cuba

• Find out more about CUBA SOLAR Conference and Research Tour here.
• Sign up to go on the CUBA SOLAR Conference and Research Tour here.
• Questions? Contact pam@globalexchange.org or call 510-649-1052.

Joe Perez of Cuba Travel Services, John Albrecht from Oakland International Airport, Carol Steele - Global Exchange, Mike Zucatto - Cuba Travel Services, Isaac Kos-Read - Port of Oakland

A direct flight from Oakland to Havana?  It’s closer than you think!

Yesterday, in partnership with U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, who has a long and progressive history of championing improved relations between the U.S. and Cuba, the Port of Oakland hosted a Community-based round table to discuss how to increase travel between the San Francisco Bay Area/Northern California region and Cuba via the Oakland international Airport. Oakland is the only approved regional gateway for direct flights to the island.

I was proud to be present at this inaugural meeting of the minds and want to report that it was a very productive discussion, in a room that was buzzing with passion and information about why operating these flights would be a great thing!

There were representatives there from many different parts of the community, from religious and community leaders to people representing the health and the medical community, to many of us, like Global Exchange, who have been operating Legal Delegations to Cuba for more than 20 years, offering a wide spectrum of cultural, educational and sustainability-focused trips, with many participants coming from all over Northern California that would jump at the chance to fly directly from the Oakland International Airport!  Also present at this meeting were Joe Perez and Michael Zucatto of Cuba Travel Services, tour specialists with Cuba for many years, that would be operating the charter flight.

This was an excellent opportunity to foster greater ties between our two countries and explore the possibility of history making flights and economic development! Who knows?  Maybe by the time some of our trips are leaving in the Fall, people will be able to fly directly to Havana from Oakland International Airport!  What has been a dream of many of us that work with Cuba, seems to be a very tangible reality in the not so distant future! Thank you Congresswoman Lee for inviting us, and thank you for all of the work that you do to to further develop our relations with Cuba, and untiring efforts to End The Embargo!!

I want to be on that first flight – who’s coming with me?

Cuban kitty has her eyes on you

*See below under “Take Action” for update added on 1/18/2012.

Walking along the bustling streets of Havana, you hear a tiny cry.  It’s repeated. You look down to see a tiny yellow kitten with newly opened eyes staring up.  As the animal focuses on you, its pitiful meows become more insistent…..it needs you.

Though Cuba provides full health care free-of-charge to its citizens and low cost pet assistance, the situation of stray cats and dogs has gotten out of control in recent years due to hard economic times and perhaps a strong dose of “machismo” which keeps some animal owners from neutering their pets.

Human and feline Cubans

Cuban veterinarians and animal lovers are working hard to do something about the very visible and heartbreaking problem. Joining them are their colleagues and supporters from other countries. Emma Clifford of the US group Animal Balance is working with a Canadian group to support a project to neuter stray cats in the highly populated  “Old Havana” neighborhood.

Emma Clifford, Founder and Director of Animal Balance shares her story in this Global Exchange exclusive:

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Caring for Cuba’s Cats

Cuban woman with cat is all smiles

Cuba’s cat and dog populations have a champion in Terry Shewchuk of the Canadian organization The Spanky Project. Like most countries, the Cuban cats and dogs have done a great job at finding food and increasing their populations, alongside the increasing number of humans.

Terry recognized that the animals and communities where they live needed some help so he formed The Spanky Project, named after his beloved dog.  That was 8 years ago, and now Terry is working with Cuban NGOs Sociedad Patrimonio, Comunidad y Medio Ambiente and Consejo Cientifico Veterinario de Cuba to organize free sterilization and deparatization (treatment for parasites) programs for the animals.

Emma Clifford (front) and Terry Shewchuk (back) working to help animals in Cuba

Two years ago I contacted Terry Shewchuk of The Spanky Project to ask if they would like some assistance with their spay and neuter efforts in Havana, Cuba. Terry kindly invited myself and Dr. Byron Maas to volunteer for The Spanky Project this past September on their sterilization campaign. Our goal was to assess the current situation, meet his Cuban partners and ascertain how Animal Balance could best assist his organizations existing efforts.

Terry took us ‘on tour’ of the beautiful city of Havana and what we immediately noticed was that there were cats hanging out in the sun, grouped in various locations around the city. At dusk we saw even more and we quickly realized that due to Terry’s amazing work to stabilize the dog population, the cats had now become more visible.

Man and dog cruising Cuba

The Spanky Project and its partners have sterilized 80% of the dogs in Old Havana. Most animal population specialists will tell you that one has to sterilize 70% of any given animal population to see stabilization and then natural decline of that population.  It was clear to us that The Spanky Project‘s dog sterilization had achieved its objective.

Cuban kitty lazing about

So, with cats lazing around us, we talked about the possibility of my organization, Animal Balance, assisting The Spanky Project with a trap, neuter and return program for Havana’s beautiful cat population. That way the cats would be sterilized, treated for parasites and vaccinated against disease and then returned to where they live. The cats could live out the rest of their lives healthy and safe.

Cats and people in Cuba

Now we are making plans and Animal Balance will visit Havana with The Spanky Project in February 2012 to get everything organized with the cat’s caretakers. Then in May they will safely and humanely trap their cats, bring them to our clinic and after they have fully recovered, be returned to where they live. We will do this in conjunction with Clinica Veterinaria Laika and the Agrarian University’s Veterinary School.

The cats and dogs of Havana will be healthy and their populations will be controlled. This will be the first time that a trap, neuter and return program will have been attempted in Cuba. We are now working to find ways to transport the humane feral cat traps to Cuba. This is something that you can help us with. They are crucial in order for this program to be successful. The traps weighs 4lbs and their dimensions are 32” L x 10”W x 12” H. If you can help take a cat trap to Cuba, please contact Clifford@animalbalance.org.

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TAKE ACTION!

To find out more about the Spanky Project, please visit www.spankyproject.blogspot.com.
To find out more about Animal Balance, please visit www.animalbalance.net.

(Added 1/18/2012) Learn about another animal rescue organization called APAC-Varadero Canadian Branch, also doing great work to help animals in Cuba. Visit their Facebook page.

Travel to Cuba to see for yourself! Global Exchange invites you to visit Cuba on one of our Reality Tour trips.  You will  have the opportunity to meet Cubans doing various types of social justice work. Here are two upcoming trips to check out:

Health and Healing in Cuba 
Dates: March 2, 2012 – March 11, 2012
For over twenty years, Global Exchange has organized these tours to study Cuba’s internationally lauded health care system, which has been providing high quality, free universal health care to its 11,000,000 citizens for fifty years. See what Cuba is doing right!
Program Highlights may include:

• City Tour of Havana
• Hospital visit
• Ministry of Public Health representative
• Family Doctor Clinic
• Senior Center
• Society of Social Workers
• Center for children with special needs

Learn more: complete details about this trip here.

Public Education – A Legacy of Literacy and Learning
Dates: March 23, 2012 – April 1, 2012
In 2005, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released its Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report, that specifically focuses on elevating the quality of education for all children, especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, by the year 2015. Cuba is singled out in the report as a high-performance country and role model to follow in terms of the quality of its educational system. Come see for yourself!
Program Highlights may include:

• City tour
• Literacy Museum, Museum of the Revolution
• Ministry of Education
• Special Education School
• School for the Arts
• Latin American School of Medicine
• Intentional Community, Las Terrazas
• Provincial community education project

Learn more: complete details about this trip here.

Ron Herman's image from Havana

A few weeks ago I received an email from Ron Herman, a dynamic and gifted photographer and chair of Foothill College’s photography department sharing with me a cover story in the Palo Alto Weekly about his customized Reality Tour to Cuba.

The article called “A Changing Cuba: Cuban, Local Photographers Reveal the Heart of the Country” featured the story of Ron and those that traveled with him. In it was a detailed narrative with beautiful imagery about the customized Reality Tour Ron made happen, a rich testament to dreams becoming reality, specifically Ron Herman’s photographic educational travel dream becoming a Reality Tour!

After reading the article, I asked Ron if I could share it and include a few of his words about why he created the customized Reality Tour and why he choose to partner with Global Exchange. Here is what he had to say:

Like many, the mystique of Cuba has always intrigued me. Right now, Cuba is at a transitional point, and I believe that the Cuba today will look and be very different from the Cuba tomorrow. I decided that the timing was right to make this trip a reality, and so I contacted Global Exchange to arrange a customized tour for my group of photography professionals.

Ron Herman's image from Havana

Global Exchange’s Reality Tours emphasize education and relationship building to improve international relations. Cultural exchange is very important to my personal travel philosophy, so I knew Global Exchange would be the right organization to arrange our trip. When developing our tour, they made sure that every day was one where we learned something new and unexpected about Cuba. They incorporated a variety of activities where both cultures could learn from each other, which in the end, resulted in a socially responsible and personally rewarding travel experience.

In 2010 and 2011, I led groups of photographers to Cuba to engage in activities that brought photographers from both countries together to share ideas and information. We mounted an exhibition of our work in Cuba and upon our return, mounted two joint photography exhibitions of Cuban and American work.  These exhibition opportunities are just one link in the chain that connects American and Cuban photographers, and I hope we’ll see more creative collaborations in the future.

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Photo Credit: http://cubainfocus.wordpress.com/

On behalf of Reality Tours we thank Ron for working with us and look forward to building upon the relationships we have been developing between his community and those in Cuba. The relationships as captured by these Cuban and American artists are revealed in their images as is a shared spirit of education.

TAKE ACTION! For those of you in the Bay Area check out “Cuba in Focus,” an exhibition by 11 American photographers (Katherine Bazak, Mary Bender, Harlan Crowder, Lisa D’Alessandro, Ron Her- man, Bob Hills, Mary Ellen Kaschub, Robin Lockner, Laura Oliphant, Cynthia Sun and John Thacker) and seven Cuban photographers (Guillermo Bello, Raúl Cañibano, Mario Diaz, José Manuel Fors, Eduardo Garcia, Jorge Gavilondo and Perfecto Romero) at the  Krause Center for Innovation, Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. The exhibition runs through Dec. 8.

As Eduardo Garcia, one of the Cuban photographers who met with the group and has work in the exhibition,  “We photographed together with common goals. Now our American friends can show our reality from their perspective. For us, it’s important to gain the friendship of people who care about Cuba.”

Go to Cuba! Find out how you can travel to Cuba with Global Exchange Reality Tours.

The following was sent out to our Reality Tours email list today. Sign up here to receive this free monthly email update filled with past trip participant experiences and upcoming opportunities to travel with Global Exchange, plus a whole lot more.

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This Thanksgiving, we at Global Exchange are giving thanks to our members, supporters and leaders in our movement for social, economic and political justice.

We are thankful to all of you who have traveled on a Reality Tour – you met the people, learned the facts and you make a difference.

Below we’ve profiled Bill Patterson who learned about Cuba, traveled with us on a Reality Tour and continues to make a difference by supporting our work. We’re also hard at work planning an amazing Reality Tour to Cuba for New Years. We have over 40 people signed up. We warmly invite you to register as soon as possible.
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When Bill Patterson happened across a book about Cuba over a decade ago, he had no idea it would change his worldview forever. The book’s author happened to share his last name, except the author’s last name had one ‘t’ instead of two. He picked it up and started reading.

From this initial chance encounter, Bill’s interest in Cuba grew, and he started absorbing whatever he could about the small Caribbean nation, from books to magazines articles. He was struck by the contrast between U.S. propaganda and reality, shocked by statistics about the pre-revolution lives of Cuba’s citizens: 3 million people without any electricity, 39% illiteracy, 50% unemployment, 80% of the best property owned or controlled by U.S. interests. He read more about the embargo and the other long term destabilization efforts of the U.S. against the Castro government.

After finding this new information about Cuba, the conclusions were inescapable.

“If you are concerned about Cuba, you know that our country is pretty shameful… I read a great deal about Cuba, and our conduct is really beneath our stature,” Bill said.

Cuban farmer working the field

Reading is one thing. But seeing is another. And Bill knew that the only way to get the real scoop on Cuba would be to go there.

In a country suffering under decades-long travel ban imposed by Washington, this was easier said than done. He eventually settled on a Global Exchange Reality Tour as the best way to make it happen. In the spring of 1999, he began making arrangements to travel where few Americans have. And in June of that year, he found himself stepping off of an airplane in Havana.

While there, he was able to see for himself, without the biased filter of the US press, how Cuba’s people lived and to hear about both their challenges and their triumphs. He also witnessed their vibrant cultural and social life. The experience was a game changer for Bill.

He liked it so much that he did it again the next year.

Since he first traveled with Global Exchange, Bill’s become a solid supporter, giving every month as a member of Global Exchange Monthly Supporters (GEMS) program. Like us, Bill sees the great value in building people-to-people ties, and he feels pretty confident that he’s putting his money in the right place.

“You do things so well, and you’re so disciplined, it’s quite easy to be comfortable.”

Support from our members like Bill makes our work possible. We sure are glad he happened across that book.

We hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

~Leslie Balog
Cuba Reality Tours Director

P.S. Who else are we thanking? Read Gratitude to All Those Who Have Stood Up to Resist Injustice and find out!

Sustainable Cuba Delegation, June 2011

A new revolution is sweeping the island of Cuba. One that the world needs to take notice of if we are to seriously confront climate change. In the past three years, this small island of 11 million people has successfully embarked on an Energy Revolution unparalleled in the world.

In fact, in its 2006 Living Planet report, the World Wildlife Fund declared Cuba the only country in the world to achieve sustainable development due to their high development level and low ecological footprint. 

Interested in traveling to Cuba for New Year’s?

If you are considering traveling to Cuba, our annual  “Sustainable Cuba New Years Delegation” might be just for you.

City Panoramic of Havana

On this annual New Year’s delegation we examine environmental and human aspects of Sustainable Development via four different areas: Architecture and Urban Planning, Health Care and Alternative Healing, Public Education and Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development. You choose your area of preference.

Here are some basic facts about these Cuba Reality Tours:

• Choose Your Interest: Trip participants will be broken into four groups (depending on what area they work in) and will visit different places at different times but specific to the area they work in.  This means that in each of the subgroups there will be 10-20 delegates.
• The More the Merrier! The delegation for the New Year’s group is typically larger than our normal group size of 10-18, it is upwards of 50-100 people.
  
• Optional Excursions: Each of the groups have optional day excursions outside of Havana planned during the recognized holidays of January 1st and 2nd with many activities for you to enjoy. This is an opportunity for an examination of rural development and provincial realities.
• New Years Paaaaarty! There is also a huge New Year’s party we throw for our Cuban friends (about a hundred of whom participate) and trip participants. Dinner and dancing the night away – it’s SO very fun!
  

How to qualify:

• If you are currently employed full time in one of the areas covered by the trip, then you would qualify under the “general” license of the US Treasury Department’s office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC.  
• If not, you have the option to travel legally on a special license for an additional administrative charge and will  have to write up a summary of your experience.

What Makes Special License So Special: The special license is not something that can be used on all of our delegations which makes this trip unique. It is also one of the only trips where families, students and retirees can all participate.  With each of these 4 programs  occurring simultaneously there is ample opportunity for you to learn, engage in research, explore Cuba and personally contribute to over 23 years of building “People to People Ties”.

On behalf of Reality Tours and our extended Global Exchange familia in Cuba,  I hope this helps give you a better idea about the delegation and how you might qualify. For more info about our upcoming Cuba New Year’s trips, visit our website.