# Travelling to Cuba ?



## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

I know I am not the only US/Mexican dual national here - and there are a ton of places here in Mexico we have yet to visit - BUT Cuba has always been on my list of places I would like to check out.

This came up recently with a couple of very well-educated Mexican friends who insisted that even though I now have a Mexican passport, I am still a US citizen and I am still not allowed to go to Cuba (I have no familial ties there). Our friends mentioned knowing someone who got in trouble with the US because of 'information sharing' between Mexico/US. 

Any thoughts ?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lat19n said:


> I know I am not the only US/Mexican dual national here - and there are a ton of places here in Mexico we have yet to visit - BUT Cuba has always been on my list of places I would like to check out.
> 
> This came up recently with a couple of very well-educated Mexican friends who insisted that even though I now have a Mexican passport, I am still a US citizen and I am still not allowed to go to Cuba (I have no familial ties there). Our friends mentioned knowing someone who got in trouble with the US because of 'information sharing' between Mexico/US.
> 
> Any thoughts ?



I hadn't heard of that. I am also a dual national and have thought about visiting Cuba. I will be interested to hear any responses you get.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

lat19n said:


> I know I am not the only US/Mexican dual national here - and there are a ton of places here in Mexico we have yet to visit - BUT Cuba has always been on my list of places I would like to check out.
> 
> This came up recently with a couple of very well-educated Mexican friends who insisted that even though I now have a Mexican passport, I am still a US citizen and I am still not allowed to go to Cuba (I have no familial ties there). Our friends mentioned knowing someone who got in trouble with the US because of 'information sharing' between Mexico/US.
> 
> Any thoughts ?


I went to Cuba long ago as a reporter, before relations restored and obviously well before the new restrictions on travel. I don't remember whether U.S. journalists could go to Cuba on assignment, but I do remember Cuban authorities simply did not stamp passports of any U.S. visitors so that U.S. govt could not harass or even arrest visitors. I remember Israel also used to not stamp.passports of visitors who thought they might travel to Muslim countries. No idea if that is still (not) done.

Maybe you can find out online if Cuba has re-instituted the process. Since tourist dollars are so crucial to its economy, it could be likely. If so, you could enter on U.S. passport and US govt would never know. The information must be reliable.. 

Sidenote: My trip was at height of U.S.-Cuban tensions over Central America. I flew in commercially from Acapulco, but I and two other reporters got bored after a week and another reporter had the idea of chartering a small plane from Miami to come get us, with a third joining. (Do I miss expense accounts). I had no idea such a service was possible, but despite the hostility, I learned it was common practice. Those were days of Cuba saying U.S. invasion was imminent and Reagan was rumbling about punishing Cuba for its support of Central American Marxists.

We flew into Miami (flying low over the Keys was spectacular. Alas, I've never made it on the ground..) and I prepared for a grilling from Immigration., but the official just asked:"Where are you coming from?"

"Cuba," I replied, ready for a great showdown on freedom of the press.

He just shrugged, didn't even open my passport and just waved me through.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

TundraGreen said:


> I hadn't heard of that. I am also a dual national and have thought about visiting Cuba. I will be interested to hear any responses you get.


I guess we will have to stop by our local SRE office and see what they think. They are really nice people (and there is a good hamburger joint in the same complex). I'll also have to find my Mexican passport and see if there is any obvious 'linking information' with my US citizenship. 

On a side note when we received our Mexican citizenship I went through my wallet trying to see what Mexican agencies I needed to inform. My driver's license has always said my nationality was Mexican. My CURP read 'Extranjero' and that looked like a good candidate. No - turns out I will always be an Extranjero...


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Canadians who are also dual citizens with the US travel to Cuba all the time. It’s a popular sunspot for Canadians in winter. It’s not Cuba that will hassle you if they know you have US Citizenship. It’s the US that might (if you travel back to the States) if they see you’ve traveled to Cuba. I’m pretty sure that Cuba doesn’t stamp anyone’s Canadian passport, and probably not Mexican either. They know that if someone wants to travel to the USA, having a Cuban stamp in the passport could cause problems. So you just get a “visa volante”, or a stamped paper permit (similar to the FMM in Mexico) admitting you to the country. DO NOT LOSE THAT PAPER. You will present this again on your way out.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

ojosazules11 said:


> Canadians who are also dual citizens with the US travel to Cuba all the time. It’s a popular sunspot for Canadians in winter. It’s not Cuba that will hassle you if they know you have US Citizenship. It’s the US that might (if you travel back to the States) if they see you’ve traveled to Cuba. I’m pretty sure that Cuba doesn’t stamp anyone’s Canadian passport, and probably not Mexican either. They know that if someone wants to travel to the USA, having a Cuban stamp in the passport could cause problems. So you just get a “visa volante”, or a stamped paper permit (similar to the FMM in Mexico) admitting you to the country. DO NOT LOSE THAT PAPER. You will present this again on your way out.


Thanks for your response. Trouble is, I was looking for something more concrete than "I'm pretty sure".

One interesting tid-bit I came across recently. A US (perhaps Mexican as well ??) citizen (with a legit reason) will receive a 30 day tourist visa. A Canadian citizen gets 90 days !! I guess they like those Loonies. Or maybe Canadians are simply swell people


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

lat19n said:


> Thanks for your response. Trouble is, I was looking for something more concrete than "I'm pretty sure".
> 
> One interesting tid-bit I came across recently. A US (perhaps Mexican as well ??) citizen (with a legit reason) will receive a 30 day tourist visa. A Canadian citizen gets 90 days !! I guess they like those Loonies. Or maybe Canadians are simply swell people


Well, I won’t argue with Canadians being swell, but likely loonies have more influence than politeness. My husband travelled to Cuba on a Mexican passport (arriving from Canada on a tourist charter flight), and they did not stamp his passport. They did detain him for secondary questioning, as he had stamps from various Latin American countries in his passport. I think they just wanted to make sure he wasn’t an anti-Cuban agitator or something. But he explained why he had visited each country, they were very nice throughout and let him proceed - with no Cuban stamp in his Mexican passport (just the paper permit).

When I say “pretty sure” I’m referring to the “no stamp” being standard practice for all tourists entering the country, regardless of country they are coming from. You can definitely request a “visa volante” and no stamp to be absolutely sure. They want tourist dollars and aren’t going to jeopardize that. With everything computerized, they can keep track of who’s coming and going without the stamped passport. On the way out, tourists have to go through Immigration again, and formally hand in their paper permit, which is checked against the computer.


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

I've never been to Cuba, but understand that when Americans visiting Cuba was sanctionable, Big Brother figured it out. Most went through Mexico City, where airline employees were paid a bounty to forward names and passports of Americans going to Cuba. Something like that happened to Americans going to Nicaragua in the mid-80's. Nothing illegal about it, but Reagan busy prosecuting his dirty war against that country (which in fact _was_ illegal) declared that good Americans shouldn't go there. Anyway, in early '86 I found myself waiting in La Unión for permission to leave El Salvador via a large canoe across the Gulf of Fonseca to Nicaragua. Within three days or so, about a dozen extranjeros waiting to do the same had accumulated at the small hotel. Mostly Euros, a couple of Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis; with myself being the only American. Curiously, I was the only one that the Salvadoran port comandante took a special interest in, making sure to xerox my passport but no one else's. Hmmmm...


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

I don't recall the year - but either Carter or Reagan was president and cut off financial aide to Latin America. For some reason, which even today I am not 100% certain, my welcome in Guatemala came to an end. They were nice about it giving me maybe 48 hours to get out. I wrapped things up, hopped in my pick-up and headed for the Salvadorian border. By that time my US passport had been stamped twice with "DEPORTADO". So there was a long'ish bridge across a dried up river bed at the border. I pulled up to immigration in El Salvador and the guy says - wait a minute - if Guatemala doesn't want you, we don't want you either. Hmmm. So I started back across the bridge, thought a minute and then returned to the Salvadorian side where the barricade blocking admittance was in the upright position. I slowed and waved as I continued on my way without stopping. Well I got about 5 miles down the hardly traveled road only to find a small platoon of soldiers spread out across the road with rifles pointed at my windshield. Did I mention that a bunch of nuns had recently been killed in El Salvador ? So I stopped and they walked me into a small guard shack where I spoke with the boss in the capital (whose English was much better than my Spanish). He said something like - I'll give you 6 hours to be in my office here. So we met and he told me he would let me drive to Honduras but I could not stay in El Salvador. So I cautiously made my way to Honduras where I guess the US still had good relations - because the guy took my passport and asked - how long would you like to stay in Honduras... I tried hard to have the US embassy help me get back into Guatemala but in the end I ended up leaving the pick up with friends and flying home to Miami.


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## HolyMole (Jan 3, 2009)

Sorry I don't have any edge-of-the-seat stories to tell....(some of you folks sure lead exciting lives!)....just a few pedestrian questions:
Our Canadian daughter will take her first trip to Cuba in December - a week at a Varadero all-inclusive. Apparently debit and credit card transactions are either non-existent or at least not recommended. I've read that exchanging Can $ (or Mexican pesos) for so-called "tourist pesos", i.e. Cuban convertible pesos, is no problem, either at the airport, or at ones hotel. For tips, are Canadian loonies and toonies well-received? Or would it be advisable to only use Cuban convertible pesos for all transactions? Is paying for something with Cuban convertible pesos and being stiffed with change in regular Cuban pesos widespread? 
(The convertible peso is pegged and equal to the US $, while there are approximateky 25 Cuban pesos to the US dollar. With the US crapping on Cuba for the past 60 years, and US tourists few and far between, one wonders why Cuba linked their tourist currency to the US $)
Any information or suggestions are welcome.


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## mm79 (Jul 28, 2010)

Mexico has no restrictions on travel to Cuba. As long as you are using your Mexican passport to travel there, you would have no problems.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Yes just travel with the Mexican passport and forget you are a dual citizen. When I go to Guatemala, next door I travel on the Mexican passport and same thing to Peru etc.. I am French so ther eis no restriction on Cuba but I would travel there with my Mexican passport, one less passport to carry or lose.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

HolyMole said:


> Sorry I don't have any edge-of-the-seat stories to tell....(some of you folks sure lead exciting lives!)....just a few pedestrian questions:
> Our Canadian daughter will take her first trip to Cuba in December - a week at a Varadero all-inclusive. Apparently debit and credit card transactions are either non-existent or at least not recommended. I've read that exchanging Can $ (or Mexican pesos) for so-called "tourist pesos", i.e. Cuban convertible pesos, is no problem, either at the airport, or at ones hotel. For tips, are Canadian loonies and toonies well-received? Or would it be advisable to only use Cuban convertible pesos for all transactions? Is paying for something with Cuban convertible pesos and being stiffed with change in regular Cuban pesos widespread?
> (The convertible peso is pegged and equal to the US $, while there are approximateky 25 Cuban pesos to the US dollar. With the US crapping on Cuba for the past 60 years, and US tourists few and far between, one wonders why Cuba linked their tourist currency to the US $)
> Any information or suggestions are welcome.


I can’t say for sure about loonies and toonies for tips, but in general in foreign countries changing coins (as opposed to bills) is not necessarily easy or even possible. I think it will be better for the local Cubans if your daughter exchanges Canadian bills into Cuban convertible pesos, and then leaves those convertible pesos as tips. I am not aware of people getting stiffed with receiving change in regular pesos, rather than the convertible pesos, but I suppose that could be a possibility if she leaves the resort environment, e.g. for a trip into Havana. My understanding is that tourists have no choice about which peso currency that exchange into - they have to exchange into Cuban Convertible Pesos. The regular pesos are only for locals. I would suggest she calculate for herself how many pesos to expect prior to doing the exchange, whether at the hotel or the airport. If I hadn’t done that, I would have been short quite a bit. When I pointed out the discrepancy, the guy doing the exchange was very apologetic but I was skeptical about it being an error. But to be fair Cubans generally are very honest. On the night of arrival at a resort, my husband left his backpack - with money, ID, iPad - in the hotel lobby. He realized the next morning. He was so relieved to find it at reception the next morning, belongings intact. The Cubans at the reception said of course no one had taken anything, stating “We Cubans don’t steal.”


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## HolyMole (Jan 3, 2009)

ojosazules11 said:


> I can’t say for sure about loonies and toonies for tips, but in general in foreign countries changing coins (as opposed to bills) is not necessarily easy or even possible. I think it will be better for the local Cubans if your daughter exchanges Canadian bills into Cuban convertible pesos, and then leaves those convertible pesos as tips. I am not aware of people getting stiffed with receiving change in regular pesos, rather than the convertible pesos, but I suppose that could be a possibility if she leaves the resort environment, e.g. for a trip into Havana. My understanding is that tourists have no choice about which peso currency that exchange into - they have to exchange into Cuban Convertible Pesos. The regular pesos are only for locals. I would suggest she calculate for herself how many pesos to expect prior to doing the exchange, whether at the hotel or the airport. If I hadn’t done that, I would have been short quite a bit. When I pointed out the discrepancy, the guy doing the exchange was very apologetic but I was skeptical about it being an error. But to be fair Cubans generally are very honest. On the night of arrival at a resort, my husband left his backpack - with money, ID, iPad - in the hotel lobby. He realized the next morning. He was so relieved to find it at reception the next morning, belongings intact. The Cubans at the reception said of course no one had taken anything, stating “We Cubans don’t steal.”


Thanks. I guess my initial post was unclear. I'm Canadian, living in Canada, so is our daughter. She'll be travelling direct from Canada to Cuba. Nothing to do with Mexico. (I had mentioned Mexican pesos only because I'd read that currency exchanges for Canadian $, US $ or Mexican pesos into Cuban convertible pesos were routine) I asked about loonies and toonies because the smallest Canadian bill is $5....perhaps more than she might want to tip in certain circumstances. Maybe she should take a wad of US $1 bills?


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

HolyMole said:


> Thanks. I guess my initial post was unclear. I'm Canadian, living in Canada, so is our daughter. She'll be travelling direct from Canada to Cuba. Nothing to do with Mexico. (I had mentioned Mexican pesos only because I'd read that currency exchanges for Canadian $, US $ or Mexican pesos into Cuban convertible pesos were routine) I asked about loonies and toonies because the smallest Canadian bill is $5....perhaps more than she might want to tip in certain circumstances. Maybe she should take a wad of US $1 bills?


I understood the situation. I’m Canadian, too. In my post I’m referring to Cuban regular pesos and Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC). In terms of tips, the easiest for the Cuban people she is leaving tips for is to tip in CUC rather than in either CDN or US currency. So she gets to Cuba, changes her Canadian money for CUC (at the resort is fine - it’s a fixed rate regardless, so no shopping around for the best exchange rate), and then leave tips in CUC. When exchanging she can ask for some of it in smaller denominations or CUC$1 coins (there are also CUC 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents coins). The CUC bills come in CUC$1, $3, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations. To the best of my knowledge there is a 10% tax if exchanging US currency, so it is *not* a good idea to purchase US$1 bills to take to leave as tips. 

*UPSHOT:* This is really straightforward. Take Canadian bills. Exchange for Canadian Convertible Pesos. Be sure to get several CUC$1 coins or bills (or even smaller CUC coins if she wishes). Use these as tips.


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## HolyMole (Jan 3, 2009)

ojosazules11 said:


> I understood the situation. I’m Canadian, too. In my post I’m referring to Cuban regular pesos and Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC). In terms of tips, the easiest for the Cuban people she is leaving tips for is to tip in CUC rather than in either CDN or US currency. So she gets to Cuba, changes her Canadian money for CUC (at the resort is fine - it’s a fixed rate regardless, so no shopping around for the best exchange rate), and then leave tips in CUC. When exchanging she can ask for some of it in smaller denominations or CUC$1 coins (there are also CUC 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents coins). The CUC bills come in CUC$1, $3, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations. To the best of my knowledge there is a 10% tax if exchanging US currency, so it is *not* a good idea to purchase US$1 bills to take to leave as tips.
> 
> *UPSHOT:* This is really straightforward. Take Canadian bills. Exchange for Canadian Convertible Pesos. Be sure to get several CUC$1 coins or bills (or even smaller CUC coins if she wishes). Use these as tips.


Thanks - this is exactly the information my daughter needs. My wife and I will be down in Zihuatanejo for 4 months this winter. On a whim - and if we can find reasonable airfares - we may look at spending a week or so in Cuba ourselves. Now that Trump is trying his best to make life even tougher for Cuba, it makes us think all the more that a visit might be a good idea.


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