Many AU students praised President Barack Obama's recent promise to ease tense relations between Cuba and the United States.
Obama announced last week that he is searching for a "new strategy" for the United States to use in its relations with Cuba, especially regarding travel and trade, according to The Washington Post. He will likely reduce restrictions on Americans' ability to travel to Cuba before the mid-April Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
"I think it's definitely a good step forward in foreign policy, and not just in travel issues," said Taline Kevonian, a second year graduate student in the School of International Service.
While many Americans enter Cuba through Mexico or Canada, many more will likely visit the island if restrictions are loosened, she said.
"A lot of straight-edge people don't want to go through Mexico or Canada because the government says it is illegal," Kevonian said. "But they will say, 'OK, the government isn't against Cuba, so I can go [if restrictions are lifted].'"
Katie Shankle, a junior in SIS, said she definitely opposes the embargo on Cuba yet has concerns about the process and implications of lifting the restrictions. She spent the fall 2008 semester in Havana, Cuba, studying with AU Abroad's enclave program.
"The Cubans want the embargo lifted," Shankle said. "They are a poor country and need money, and the cheapest country to trade with is the United States."
But from a historical perspective, she said lifting restrictions would alter a country where there are cars from the 1950s and buildings from before the Cuban Revolution; where there are no McDonald's restaurants on Cuban street corners and no real Chinese food restaurants.
"What I am sad to see is the Americanization of a place that is frozen in time," Shankle said. "Cuba will look at the last days of what it's been like for 50 years."
Cuba's infrastructure may also not be able to support American tourism, since the nation is very different from typical American tourist destinations and situations like power outages are common, she said.
Lifting travel restrictions may eliminate some problems Shankle said she faced in Cuba.
"When we were there, the discussion was on whether the program would survive with the restrictions," she said.
Americans do not have access to banks, credit cards or means of cashing checks while in Cuba, Shankle said.
The AU students who travel there could only travel outside of Havana for education purposes and could only buy education or art-related items, she said.
"We had to be very cautious bringing back T-shirts because technically we're not allowed to," Shankle said.
They could not have an internship or stay with a Cuban family and the classes they could attend were limited, she said.
"The United States wants to keep us in a pocket of Havana and doing exactly what they specify in classes with chosen Cuban teachers and American students," Shankle said.
Easier travel would come at a cost, she said.
"I'm grateful I got to see Cuban government as a closed government, pre-whatever happens before the embargo is lifted," Shankle said. "It's still untouched so it's incredibly unique. It's a glimpse of a closed society and what those peoples' lives are like."
You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.
