5) Description of initiative: FRD seeks to apply the experience of three decades of successful work for normalization of US relations with Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos to the equally intractable problem of achieving mutually respectful relations between the US and Cuba. Our primary immediate goal is to end travel restrictions which by intention prevent all kinds and levels of informal and programmed people to people interaction. A process that was gaining great momentum in the last years of the Clinton Administration was brought to a virtually complete halt during the first term of the Bush Administration by those who saw bilateral suspicion and hostility melting away. Tens of thousands of Americans discovered for themselves the complicated reality in Cuba and the stultifying impact of a unilateral US embargo and regime change agenda on natural growth and evolution of Cuban society. In the case of Indochina, our work combined introducing various sectors of US society to post-war Indochina with mobilizing their support for change in US policy. In the case of Cuba we simply need to mount a campaign to remove the obstacles to well established but frustrated interest. We work in coalition with religiously based, foreign affairs, public policy and Cuban American organizations to turn polls showing 2/3ds of Americans support normalization of relations into effective grass roots pressure on government.

6) Description of innovation: We bring a unique perspective to coalition discussions and planning meetings based on our experience with the normalization process with Indochina. We are the only organization that is specifically working to engage travel agents in this campaign. (Like farmers who have achieved the ability to sell their goods in Cuba, travel agents have a real and practical interest in being able to sell Cuba as a destination to a wide range of clients.)

7) Delivery model: Constant Contact e-mail postings; petitions; advertisements in the travel industry trade press and travel publications.

8) Key operational partnerships: Religiously based advocacy groups in Washington. Cuban American organizations seeking the ability to freely visit their families and provide remittances. Public policy and foreign affairs organizations. Travel Agents, other business sectors.

9) Financial model: n.a.

          • Costs as percentage of income: n.a

          • Financing: Foundation grants; individual gifts.

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: Bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate voted to defund enforcement of travel restrictions but their legislative victory was stolen in conference committee by the leadership of the former Congress.

          • Number of clients in past year: n.a.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Scaling Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: Were funds available we would advertise regularly in the travel industry trade press and in travel publications and fund work on Cuba b by he Friends Committee on National Legislation.

12) Origin of the initiative: My Peace Corps service was in Peru. The war in Indochina redirected much of my life to be an activist in the peace movement and then as a leader in the two decade effort to normalize economic, cultural, educational and diplomatic relations and to address the legacies of war such as Agent Orange. As we achieved success with most of our Indochina agenda, my attention turned to analogous problems in US relations with Cuba which I had visited in 1971.

Contact Information:
John  McAuliff
Executive Director
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
(NGO)
145 Palisade Street, Suite 401, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
United States
Tel: 914-631-6270
Email: jmcauliff@ffrd.org
Website: www.ffrd.org