Cuba travel

I’m amazed so many people and institutions are expressing indignation because the Cuban government, until Friday, prohibited people born in Cuba from entering or leaving the country by ship or boat. They argued that such discrimination was a violation of the universal right to travel.

For decades, Americans had been forbidden from traveling to Cuba. Even now, Americans can only travel to the island on so called people-to-people trips. And for most of the Obama era, the U.S. government discriminated against U.S.-born citizens by allowing only those born in Cuba to visit there, supposedly to see family.

Why don’t the people who were complaining also raise bloody hell about the discrimination against U.S. citizens? Such restrictions are obnoxious, absurd and a relic of the Cold War.

This story was originally published April 24, 2016 at 9:07 AM with the headline "Cuba travel."