Cruising Around Cuba

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Boracay

It's probably easy to get on some kind of black list that way.

Black list! Joseph McCarthy died in 1957; J. Edgar Hoover died it 1972, and people are still worried about the black list?

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Bash

Black list! Joseph McCarthy died in 1957; J. Edgar Hoover died it 1972, and people are still worried about the black list?

Blacklisting came long before McCarthy and Hoover, and certainly outlived them. To this day, people are blacklisted for all sorts of reasons; e.g. Sen. Edward Kennedy found himself unable to fly from Washington to Boston when an Irish suspected-IRA member with the same name was added to the no-fly list.

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black⋅list

  /ˈblækˌlɪst/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [blak-list] Show IPA Use blacklisted in a Sentence

–noun 1. a list of persons under suspicion, disfavor, censure, etc.: His record as an anarchist put him on the government's blacklist. 2. a list privately exchanged among employers, containing the names of persons to be barred from employment because of untrustworthiness or for holding opinions considered undesirable. 3. a list drawn up by a labor union, containing the names of employers to be boycotted for unfair labor practices.
–verb (used with object) 4. to put (a person, group, company, etc.) on a blacklist.

Origin:
1610–20; black + list 1

Synonyms:
4. blackball, bar, debar, proscribe, ban, shun, ostracize.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source |
Link To blacklisted

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TaoJones

[mesquaukee]

Now it is a no-fly list. Perhaps one day a no-sail list?

I travel through the US numerous times a year on my way to and from Canada. I have noticed they do keep track of my travels from comments they (immigration) make.
With newer, faster and interconnected computers it is very easy to do.
There is some sort of an information trading agreement between Canada and the US which I am sure will expand with time.

With all the worries of terrorism and the like I’m sure a “lost” passport would be quickly found.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by mesquaukee

Now it is a no-fly list. Perhaps one day a no-sail list?...

Let’s create a list of suspected terrorists, so dangerous that we can't ever let them fly, yet so innocent that we can't arrest them - even under the draconian provisions of the Patriot Act.
Let’s keep the reasons on can be included on the list secret.
Let’s keep the names of individuals on the list secret.
Let’s prevent individuals on the list from gaining a judicial review or appeal of their case.
Let’s call it a “No-Fly” list.
Let's extend that list to include sailors.

Let’s all feel safe and secure.

[mesquaukee]

I feel safer already,
less boats to drag down on me.
A bit lonely though.
Nobody dragging by for a coffee or beer.

[Endojoe]

Change a few group names, and this is quickly becoming as relevant today as the day it was written...


When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not protest;
I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.

Source here


"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." -- Thomas Paine

[osirissail]

"Black List" would be okay compared to time in a local prison as a "suspected terrorist." Since 9-11 the USA has been pushing hard to get countries to adopt computer systems and share database information. More and more Caribbean islands are using the computer systems and not even bothering to stamp your passport (bad for souvenir collectors of passport stamps). If you use that "lost passport" it will flag you out and you can expect an extended "vacation" in a local prison at worst or be deported back to the USA and spend time in prison there at best. And, the country that caught you gets to keep your boat.
Machine readable passport are required now and next time you renew you will get one. An option is the new E-passports which contain a micro-chip to speed your processing through the officials of major countries (they also have the machine-readable barcode for countries without chip scanners).

[jdoe71]

Well this one sure went way off track.

To sort of get back to this, while we've never cruised Cuba, we stayed at a resort in the Cuban Keys and went out on a day charter on a Cuban owned and operated Bahia cat. The area is fabulous, tons of great places to anchor and hardly any boats though we did see a couple of privately owned foreign sailboats. The cuban people are the friendliest we've ever met in the Caribbean though in truth we did not travel outside the tourist area. Would love to spend a winter in that area on our boat.

[Dick Pluta]

I live in the Bahamas in the winter and, last year, thought about going to Cuba from there. After all, who's going to know? Well, I have an Austrian friend who has been coming to Nassau for over 30 years and never comes through the US. Her daughter was returning to Austria via Atlanta last year. As she was going through US Immigration, which is at the Nassau airport, the agent recited her mothers name and travel history. Who's going to know? Big Brother, that's who. I decided to wait until it's legal.

When you come back to the US from the Bahamas, Mexico or where ever you are required to fill out an Immigration form. It asks what countries you have visited. If you go to Cuba, stamp on a piece of paper notwithstanding, you have to declare that fact. You are then subject to a $2000 fine and imprisonment. If you don't declare your visit you have committed a felony. The odds of getting caught are small, but very real and VERY serious. I don't need to screw up the rest of my life to go somewhere, no matter how interesting.

Dick Pluta
AEGEA

[osirissail]

Actually arriving back to the USA on a sailboat or power yacht you do not fill out any forms as you do when you travel by air. Nobody's ever asked where I have been. I do not have the Local Boaters Option so they just scan the passport and sometimes ask when I arrived back. But I agree that it is just too risky and still too much hassle right now to go to Cuba. Despite the "new administration" there are still a significant amount of "career bureaucrats" who can make your life a living hell if you give them the slightest reason. After all, for the last, God knows how many years, the USA has evolved into a country "of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats, and for the bureaucrats . . . "

[mesquaukee]

I suppose it maters where you clear customs and immigration.
The last time that I cleared in to the US was in Key West. The form I was required to fill in asked what countries I had visited since I left the US. I being Canadian thought this was an inappropriate question and said so. The official insisted I fill it out, I asked in which order going chronologically forwards in time or backwards in time. He said it did not mater. I picked going backwards in time. As the space was quite small there was not enough room for all the countries, therefore I could not list Cuba. I pointed this out to the official. He said it was acceptable as I had filled the form out.