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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — The Alliance of Baptists applauded President Obama for loosening restrictions on American’s travel to Cuba and called for more reform during the progressive group’s April 17-19 convocation in Charlotte, N.C.
After experiencing hindered access to Cuba under the previous administration, the Alliance welcomed the president’s April 13 order relaxing restrictions on the ability of Cuban Americans with family members in Cuba to travel to the communist nation and send money to relatives. The group said Obama’s move was “an important first step toward creating a rational and effective policy toward Cuba.”
The Alliance called on Obama to ease travel restrictions further and to continue a thorough review of United States policy toward Cuba, including a nearly half-century old trade embargo “and its destructive impact on both countries.”
The Cuba statement called on Alliance members to lobby their representatives and senators to pass legislation allowing all Americans to visit Cuba.
A Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act now before Congress would prohibit any president from regulating or prohibiting travel to or from Cuba by U.S. citizens or legal residents except in times of war, armed hostilities or imminent danger to health or safety of U.S. citizens.
A bipartisan bill, H.R. 874 has 124 co-sponsors in the House and awaits a hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The companion Senate bill is S. 428.
Mark Siler, a member of the Circle of Mercy church in Asheville, N.C., said President Obama’s recent comments on Cuba policy represent a “tipping point” in U.S.-Cuba relations.
While the Alliance has adopted several statements on Cuba in the past, Siler said: “This one is truly a call to action. It’s time to put feet on our hopes and prayers.”
He said it would take “a significant groundswell of folks like us” getting in touch with their elected officials to make the change.