Part-Time Purpose, Part-Time Party

FROM: THE HILL

When the Obama Administration first announced its new regulations for people-to-people ("purposeful") travel this year, the AP reported:

"If it is simply salsa dancing and mojitos, no. That doesn't pass the purposeful-travel criteria," a State Department official involved with the policy said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Moreover, when the Treasury Department announced its official guidelines for these new regulations, it emphasized that:

Authorized trips are expected to be led by the licensed organization and to have a full-time schedule of activities in which the travelers will participate.

Yet, this month's New York Times story on "people-to-people" licensed travel makes it abundantly clear that -- in reality -- these trips are only part-time purposeful and part-time party.

Here are some excerpts:

- Despite the intense schedule, Ms. Brout and the group found time in Varadero, in the northwestern province of Matanzas, to wade in the sea and sip mojitos at Xanadu, the grand former mansion of Irénée du Pont, now part of a golf course.

- This group squeezed in some leisure time, too, touring Havana's carefully restored old city, catching some jazz at La Zorra y el Cuervo and dining at La Guarida, a bohemian restaurant tucked at the top of a crumbling central Havana mansion.

- While visitors are shuttled around on a tight schedule, their evenings are often free, and several said they felt they had time to draw their own conclusions, both positive and negative.

- "You spend a day in a dance class, and then in the evening, you can go to a club and dance with Cubans. And you're not breaking any rules," she said. "That's great."

Actually -- you are breaking the rules.

And that's not to mention the recent onslaught of luxury travel announcements to Cuba -- which inherently defy the purpose of these trips.

Remember when travel advocates would argue that visitors would stay in "casa particulares" and eat at "paladares"?)

Yesterday, Treasurywarned of misstatements in the media -- and abuses -- regarding its Cuba travel policy.

Now, the question remains -- will they pull the licenses of these obvious violators?