Travel to Cuba low now – travel restrictions and economies prevent

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2AC AT: Case Offense

AT: Environment DA

Not unique- Cuban government already working to improve environment

Rodriguez 6/12 – meteorologist for the Weather Channel, PhD. (Andrea Rodriguez, The Weather Channel, “Cuba Girds for Climate Change by Reclaiming Coasts,” 6/12/13, http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/cuba-girds-climate-change-reclaiming-coasts-20130612, accessed 6/27/13, IS)

CAYO COCO, Cuba — After Cuban scientists studied the effects of climate change on this island's 3,500 miles of coastline, their discoveries were so alarming that officials didn't share the results with the public to avoid causing panic.¶ The scientists projected that rising sea levels would seriously damage 122 Cuban towns or even wipe them off the map.¶ Beaches would be submerged, they found, while freshwater sources would be tainted and croplands rendered infertile. In all, seawater would penetrate up to 1.2 miles inland in low-lying areas, as oceans rose nearly three feet by 2100.¶ Climate change may be a matter of political debate on Capitol Hill, but for low-lying Cuba, those frightening calculations have spurred systemic action.¶ Cuba's government has changed course on decades of haphazard coastal development, which threatens sand dunes and mangrove swamps that provide the best natural protection against rising seas.¶ In recent months, inspectors and demolition crews have begun fanning out across the island with plans to raze thousands of houses, restaurants, hotels and improvised docks in a race to restore much of the coast to something approaching its natural state.¶ "The government ... realized that for an island like Cuba, long and thin, protecting the coasts is a matter of national security," said Jorge Alvarez, director of Cuba's government-run Center for Environmental Control and Inspection.¶ At the same time, Cuba has had to take into account the needs sof families living in endangered homes and a $2.5 billion-a-year tourism industry that is its No. 1 source of foreign income.¶ It's a predicament challenging the entire Caribbean, where resorts and private homes often have popped up in many places without any forethought. Enforcement of planning and environmental laws is also often spotty.¶ With its coastal towns and cities, the Caribbean is one of the regions most at risk from a changing climate. Hundreds of villages are threatened by rising seas, and more frequent and stronger hurricanes have devastated agriculture in Haiti and elsewhere.¶ In Cuba, the report predicted sea levels would rise nearly three feet by century's end.¶ "Different countries are vulnerable depending on a number of factors, the coastline and what coastal development looks like," said Dan Whittle, Cuba program director for the New York-based nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.¶ He said the Cuban study's numbers seem consistent with other scientists' forecasts for the region. The Associated Press was given exclusive access to the report, but not permitted to keep a copy.¶ Cuba's preparations were on clear display on a recent morning tour of Guanabo, a popular getaway for Havana residents known for its soft sand and gentle waves 15 miles (25 kilometers) east of the capital.¶ Where a military barracks had been demolished, a reintroduced sand-stabilizing creeper vine known as beach morning glory is reasserting itself on the dunes, one lavender blossom at a time.¶ The demolition nearby of a former swimming school was halted due to the lack of planning, with the building's rubble left as it lay. Now inspectors have to figure out how to fix the mess without doing further environmental damage.¶ Alvarez said the government has learned from such early mistakes and is proceeding more cautiously. Officials also are also considering engineering solutions, and even determining whether it would be better to simply leave some buildings alone.¶ For three decades Guanabo resident Felix Rodriguez has lived the dream of any traveler to the Caribbean: waking up with waves softly lapping at the sand just steps away, a salty breeze blowing through the window and seagulls cawing as they glide through the crisp blue sky. Now that paradise may be no more.¶ "The sea has been creeping ever closer," said Rodriguez, a 63-year-old retiree, pointing to the water line steps from his apartment building. "Thirty years ago it was 30 meters (33 yards) farther out."¶ "We'd all like to live next to the sea, but it's dangerous ... very dangerous," Rodriguez said. "When a hurricane comes, everyone here will just disappear."¶ Cuban officials agree, and have notified him and 11 other families in the building that they will be relocated, though no date has been set. Rodriguez and several other residents said they didn't mind, given the danger.¶ Since 2000, Cuba has had a coastal protection law on the books that prohibits construction on top of sand and mandates a 130-foot-wide (40-meter) buffer zone from dunes. Structures that predate the measure have been granted a stay of execution, but are not to be maintained and ultimately will be torn down once they're uninhabitable.¶ Serious enforcement only began in earnest in recent months, as officials came armed with the risk assessment.¶

Cuba has incredibly strong policies to keep the environment intact despite other factors

Radio Cadena Gramonte, 6/26 – (“Cuba Affirms Commitment to the Environment”, Radio Cadena Gramonte, http://www.cadenagramonte.cu/english/index.php/show/articles/14774:cuba-affirms-commitment-to-the-environment)//AB

The head of the North, Central America and Mexico Area of the Cuban Communist Party International Relations Department, Alberto Prieto, put forth the Cuban position at the forum. Prieto said that Cuba is determined to develop a more efficient and sustainable economy in the benefit of the people and in full harmony with the environment. The official said the strategic guidelines of the Cuban Revolution include the design of an integral scientific, technological, innovative and environmental policy in correspondence with the country’s social and economic development. This policy aims at meeting the needs of the people and at encouraging their participation in the construction of the socialist society by protecting the environment, the national heritage and culture, Prieto explained. The guidelines, adopted by the latest congress of the Cuban Communist Party, also include the development of comprehensive research to protect and rehabilitate the environment and adapt policies to the new economic and social scenarios. However, he said, such efforts are to be taken amidst the stiffening of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, which has inflicted huge loss to the Caribbean nation. Prieto stressed the ideas of Revolution leader Fidel Castro on climate change and the protection of the environment. Experts from several Latin American countries, gathered in San Salvador, are addressing ways to harmonize social and economic development with nature. The forum, which is being sponsored by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, is being attended by representatives from Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela and Norway, along with several Salvadorian organizations.(ACN)

Cuba has strong eco-tourism and keeps the environment safe with it

Whittle, et al, 03, (Daniel, “International Tourism and the Protection of Cuba's Coastal and Marine Environments, in Tulane Environmental Law Journal,” p. 29-30)//AB

Cuba now has a dedicated entity for ecotourism, the National Commission for Ecotourism. The Commission is comprised of officials from CITMA, MinTur, and the Ministry of Agriculture and publishes guidelines and criteria for ecotourism, approves guides and tour leaders, and promotes tour packages worldwide.189 Several state-owned companies now exclusively book and operate eco-tours. Working with CITMA, MinTur, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Commission, the IPF in the Ministry of Planning has identified 50 areas with nature tourism potential throughout coastal and interior Cuba.190 Many, but not all of these, are in national parks or other protected areas and emphasize ecotourism over other natural tourism offerings.191 And though income from ecotourism and other forms of nature tourism still represents a small percentage of Cuba’s tourism-based revenues, their popularity is on the rise. In 1999, revenues from ecotourism packages were $11 million, in 2000 they had almost doubled to $19 million, and by the end of 2001, ecotourism generated $25 million in income.192 Cuba’s intention to develop and expand ecotourism is promising, but not without its skeptics. They fear that these efforts could easily be overwhelmed by the attention given to conventional “large-scale beach and urban tourism” and observe that “[m]any Cubans openly worry that the island is on a slippery slope back towards the Caribbean-style, foreign-owned tourism.”193 They wonder whether ecotourism is simply a “window dressing over the island’s mushrooming conventional tourism.”194 These are legitimate concerns and present challenges to planners and environmental officials who are working to keep environmental protection on an equal footing with economic development, in many places as well as Cuba.195 But in the case of Cuba, early efforts to invest in real models of ecotourism are encouraging and offer hope that the country will emerge as a leader, not a follower, in Caribbean ecotourism.

AT: Prostitution/Sexual Exploitation

Link turn - prostitution only occurs where poverty exists—increased tourism improves the economy and decreases poverty

Miami Herald 3/17 (“How Cuba became the newest hotbed for tourists craving sex with minors,” 17 March 2013, http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/16/3289971/how-cuba-became-the-newest-hotbed.html, accessed 25 June 2013)

Exploitation thrives were poverty exists, and in that respect Cuba is no different than other destinations for sex tourists. ¶ Ivan Garcia, 43, a dissident Havana journalist who has written several articles on prostitution, said the underage prostitutes are typically poor, hopeless and desperate. “For these people, ‘future’ is a bad word,” he said.¶ Today, prostitution may well be the most profitable job in an island where the average monthly salary officially stands at less than $20 and a bottle of cooking oil costs $3.¶ But Garcia argues that there’s more to prostitution on the island than poverty — that most Cubans dream of meeting a foreigner who will take them away from the island’s grinding isolation.¶ “They see that this girl married some Italian and now she’s dressing nice, fixing up her mother’s house – it’s the illusion that you can get ahead if you prostitute yourself … the illusion of leaving the country, the illusion of a visa,” he said.¶ Garcia said he knows two 12-year-old girls currently working the streets and has heard of 11-year-olds. Havana lawyer Laritza Diversent said she knew of one nine-year-old girl who “was groped lasciviously” for cash.

AT: Security Threat

No link – not a security threat

Right to travel to Cuba Campaign, No date- promotes and defends the right of U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba

[“Ten Reasons to Oppose the Cuba Travel Ban”, no date, http://www.righttotraveltocuba.org/defending/ten_reasons, accessed 7/1/13]

5. Cuba is not a national security threat

In regards to the Supreme Court’s ruling in 1984 about restricting travel for national security reasons, the world has changed tremendously since 1984. At that time, the U.S. accused Cuba of being an ally of the U.S.S.R. and supporting armed revolution in Central America and Africa. Now the Soviet Union no longer exists and there is no Cuban involvement in armed struggle in Central American or Africa. It would be ludicrous to say that Cuba, a tiny island of under 11 million people undergoing a severe economic crisis is in any way a threat to the United States. The only foreign military base in Cuba is the U.S. base at Guantanamo! According to a Center for Defense Information study, Cuba spends in a year on its military what the U.S. spends in 12 hours.¶ 6. The U.S. is alone in its Cuba travel ban¶ Hundreds of thousands of Canadians, Latin Americans and Europeans travel to Cuba every year in just as normal a fashion as U.S. citizens vacation in the Bahamas. Cuba now has cordial diplomatic relations with almost every country in the world. The U.S. embargo against Cuba has been overwhelmingly condemned by the United Nations General Assembly year after year. The only other country to vote with the U.S. was Israel, which currently operates the largest citrus plantation in the world in Cuba -- a clear example of the contradictions between Israel’s political and economic policy.¶ 7. The U.S. does not ban travel to any other communist or so-called ‘enemy’ nations¶ We can travel freely to the world's largest communist country -- China. Restrictions on travel to Vietnam have been lifted, and we can even go to the Middle East. Perhaps most ironic is the fact that, in the past, we were not allowed to travel to Cuba because, as a Soviet ally, it was considered a national security threat. Yet even at the height of the Cold War, we were always allowed to travel to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe!

AT: Hurts Culture

Tourism and culture are mutually beneficial

Arzeni, 09 - Director, OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development (Sergio, Organization For Economic Cooperation, “The Impact of Culture on Tourism,” 2009, http://www.em.gov.lv/images/modules/items/OECD_Tourism_Culture.pdf, accessed 6/25/13, IS)

Culture and tourism have a mutually beneficial relationship which can strengthen the attractiveness and competitiveness of regions and countries.¶ Culture is increasingly an important element of the tourism product, which¶ also creates distinctiveness in a crowded global marketplace. At the same¶ time, tourism provides an important means of enhancing culture and creating income which can support and strengthen cultural heritage, cultural¶ production and creativity. Creating a strong relationship between tourism¶ and culture can therefore help destinations to become more attractive and competitive as locations to live, visit, work and invest in.

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