Cuba's Havana Carnaval. Photo: CGTN.
By Cheryl LaBash – Jul. 12, 2025
It was not that long ago the shiny new internet and social media world dangled before us visions of instant communications with friends and the possibility of international collaboration for a better world. Increasingly, it seems harder to sort through all the layers of ads and fake news. An example of how the online world has become a political battle ground can be seen in the topic of travel to Cuba.
Suddenly, previously unknown online travel sites are popping up with blaring and alarming false headlines that travel to Cuba can result in exorbitant fines. Not true! The reality is, travel to Cuba is legal for many purposes that are not “tourism.” Every day, many regularly scheduled flights depart from US airports, carrying hundreds of travelers to Havana and other Cuban cities, just like anywhere else. Check out the details on the many ways YOU can travel to Cuba, in this thorough video: Yes You Can Travel to Cuba.
But, in the online world, the headline often is the story. That false headline may be all a reader digests to scare them away. Was the travel site just trying to get people to make their online publication look popular with clicks to find out the details? Maybe their online advertisers will pay more. There is also a very good chance that those scary headlines aren’t click bait to boost web viewers—they could be part of the media war against Cuba.
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In a March 19, 2025 article about news outlets squealing at USAID’s initial—since restored—budget cuts demonstrates the media war is high on the State Department agenda.
“The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) had an active grant approved in 2023 and valid until September 2025, for $2 million, for “democracy programs in Cuba for independent media and free flow of information.
“According to USAID’s own statistical sources, in 2023, the agency dedicated a budget of $9.5 million to programs on Cuba. While in 2024, USAID graciously handed over a total of $2.9 million to these dependent media outlets alone.”
For the fiscal year 2024, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting alone raked in a $25 million budget.
Like all Caribbean islands, the tourism industry provides critical income for Cuba. Tourism underwrites the free health care, education, and other rights Cuba guarantees to all of its people to maximize human development to the best of its ability. It isn’t far-fetched to conclude that false headlines predicting astronomical fines for exercising the statutory right to travel to Cuba are another weapon in the US media war against the island nation.
Cheryl LaBash
Cheryl LaBash is Co-Chair of National Network on Cuba, activist and writer
