As we know, the reality of open travel between the U.S. and Cuba is in a state of flux. As we also know, Florida is positioned to be a major beneficiary.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa has been working hard for months — out front and behind the scenes — to get TIA added to the short list (Los Angeles, Miami, New York) of airports authorized for direct flights to Cuba. That has mattered since the spring when President Obama moved to lift restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to their home island.
And that certainly matters to Tampa, whose historic soul is Cuba. Why should local and regional Cuban-Americans have to travel to Miami to fly to Havana? Rep. Castor doesn’t think so and wants Tampa to get a piece of that travel action.
But the Cuban-American demographic is only a portion of the potential market for passengers to Cuba. That number could easily triple or quadruple once all Americans are restored their rights to travel freely to Cuba. That’s why it makes no sense – beyond business-as-usual, political calculation – for Tampa’s Democratic Congresswoman to not do everything in her power to fill as many planes from Tampa as possible.
Ironically, she, along with the other 26 members of the Florida Congressional delegation, has conspicuously not signed the “Freedom To Travel To Cuba Act.” But more than 150 members of Congress, whose states will benefit less than Florida from free travel to Cuba, have done so.
Rep. Castor is uniquely positioned to make a difference in opening up Cuba to American travel. She has the ear of some key people. So, let’s see if we have this right. She wants flights taking Cuban-Americans to Cuba to leave from Tampa because that’s good for them and good for TIA. But she doesn’t want as many passengers on those flights as possible?