Cuban dissident visits Miami family

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Thu, Jun. 07, 2007
Cuban dissident visits Miami family
A maverick Cuban activist who angered many exiles by going back to Cuba in 2003 has returned to Miami for a visit.
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
[e-mail]

Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, the 72-year-old unorthodox Cuban dissident who shocked the traditional exile community in 2003 when he abruptly decided to return to the island, was back in Miami -- but only for a family visit.

He told The Miami Herald in a brief telephone conversation this week that he returned to see his family in South Florida because the current U.S. travel policy to Cuba makes it difficult for his family to visit him.

''The embargo impedes the frequent visits of relatives to Cuba,'' Gutiérrez Menoyo told The Miami Herald by phone on Tuesday. ``It's really due to the travel restrictions that I'm here.''

In 2004, the Bush administration tightened travel limits for U.S. citizens and residents who have relatives in Cuba, allowing travel to the island only once every three years -- instead of once annually.
(snip)

In late 2004, Gutiérrez Menoyo told friends in Miami that he had received a letter from the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department warning that his presence in Cuba could cost him his U.S. residence, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/131346.html

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Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo