Americans are not forbidden to go to Cuba.
They are only forbidden to spend money.
Almost 70,000 (non-Cuban) Americans travelled
to Cuba in 2000. For that year less than 2,000
fines were issued for travelers, and most of
those where never convicted and thus never
had to pay anything. The fine can be up to
$8,000. Even though Congress is weakening
the travel restriction ban, the Bush administration
has been increasing the numbers of fines
but still the vast majority of travellers do not
have to pay a fine. If you are careful you will
have no problems. If you want to go legally you
can apply for a visa from the Treasury department.
To learn more read this document before
contacting them.
http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcemen ... 11cuba.pdf.
Here is how to contact the Treasury
Department:
OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Washington, D.C. & Miami, Florida
202/622-2520 :: 305/810-5140
http://www.treas.gov/ofac
Contacting them may just draw attention to
yourself, so read the document first and see if it
applies to you. If you choose to gowithout an
official OK from the Treasury Department you
can minimize your risks by following these
steps.
Book a ticket to a third country that makes
sense for your location. For instance if you live
in Texas, go to Cancun or Mexico city. If you
live in Florida, go to Jamaica. You can contact
Divermex in Mexico and possibly arrange
for a flight from Mexico.
(
http://cancun.com/tours/divermex/.)
They will hold a flight for you that you can pay for when
you arrive at the airport.
Buy your ticket to Cuba at that airport.
Usually, you can get out that day or the next. If
you arrive early in the morning, you can get on
a flight to Cuba without ever leaving the airport.
There are many airlines that fly to Cuba. The
cheapest is Cubana, the state airline of Cuba.
You can log on to Cubalinda.com to get a list of
prices from various destinations.
There are also taxes that you will need to pay. So
expect to pay a $20 dollar airport tax in Cuba upon
departure and other costs that may be specific to the
airport you are flying from. When you buy your ticket
you will need your passport.
The Cubans know not to stamp your passport if
you are American. They will normally stamp your
tourist visa instead.