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RFK Wanted to Lift Cuba Travel Ban, Too

Obama should quash 'inconsistent' rule, says former AG's daughter

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 23, 2009 9:06 AM CDT

(Newser) – Blocking Americans from traveling to Cuba is "inconsistent with traditional American liberties," according to the US attorney general. Eric Holder in 2009? Nope: Bobby Kennedy in 1963—who opposed prosecuting students who went to Havana and unsuccessfully pushed the Johnson White House to lift the ban. As daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend writes in the Washington Post, that travel prohibition is even more indefensible today than it was in the 1960s.

Barack Obama and his administration have taken an important first step in lifting restrictions for Cuban Americans. But 64% of Americans support free travel for all to the island, and lifting the ban would not only help advance democracy in Cuba, it would benefit relations with the whole of Latin America. "This is the time to normalize relations with Havana," writes Kennedy Townsend, "and take Cuba off the hemispheric agenda for good."

[Images (6)]

[Quotes (1)]

Boys play handball in a park in Old Havana, Wednesday, April 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

An employee of the Defense of the Revolution Committee reads an issue of Cuban newspaper Granma next to an image of Cuba's leader Fidel Castro in Havana, Wednesday, April 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Robert Kennedy, who served as attorney general from 1961 to 1964, advocated a lifting of the travel ban to Cuba. (Getty Images)

Barack Obama, left, looks on during the installation ceremony for Attorney General Eric Holder as the 82nd attorney general of the United States, Friday, March 27, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Cuba's President Raul Castro reviews the honor guard during a visit by Dominican Republic's President Leonel Fernandez, unseen, in Havana, Tuesday, March 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

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The goal is not only the advancement of democracy in Cuba, but, as Robert Kennedy believed, a policy consistent with the sanctity of traditional liberties and
the values of a free society—our own. - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

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RFK Wanted to Lift Cuba Travel Ban, Too