Anxiety to repay biz loans may weaken DOLE program

by Jeremaiah M. Opiniano, OFW Journalism Consortium

PASAY CITY – A months-old program handing out business loans to returning migrant workers does not require collateral from borrowers, and a finance expert thinks borrowers might encounter uneasiness to repay these loans.
The P2 billion Reintegration Fund for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hands out loans ranging from P200,000 to P2 million to existing migrant entrepreneurs. But microfinance specialist Jun Perez is worried that required documents returning OFWs must present and frequently show might give borrowers hesitation to repay.
The context here, said the managing director of the microfinance network Seed Finance Corp., is the size of the enterprises vis-à-vis returning OFWs’ abilities to repay.
The loan range implies that borrowers run small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Meanwhile, lenders Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) will require OFW borrowers to show documents related to their enterprises, such as purchase orders and titles to equipment purchased. There’s no collateral required for this loan program.
And this is where Perez’s view comes in about borrowers’ “compunction,” or a person’s strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt.
Borrowers running SMEs have to title their properties just to secure their loans, though the situation might not be applicable to those running sari-sari (small retail) stores or buy-and-sell ventures. Titling these properties entails costs, in the hope that with the titling the enterprise grows. With such growth the enterprise will now institutionalize having purchase orders (like sari-sari stores) like what usual businesses have.
Then the uneasiness comes in since running the business, producing the titles and business-related documents, and repaying the loans all come into play for the OFW borrower. In such a situation, the scheme of not requiring collateral for these SME loans “might be disadvantageous to the banks (DBP and LBP),” Perez said.
The Reintegration Fund represents the new scheme of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) to hand out livelihood loans to overseas workers. No less than President Aquino III ordered the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to roll out this program.
But years of previous livelihood programs handled by OWWA, whether handled alone or in collaboration with financial institutions such as the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), have histories of high non-repayment rates by OFW borrowers.
Risks
The fund has P0.5 billion each from Land Bank and DBP, as well as a guarantee amount of P1 billion from OWWA (the world’s largest migrant welfare fund whose resources come from US$25 membership fees that departing overseas workers pay on a per-contract basis).
Officials of Land Bank and DBP explained during the fund’s launch months ago that both banks will offer an interest rate of only 7.5 percent to each of the loans, payable from two to seven years.
The loans, said Land Bank’s Cressida Mendoza and DBP’s Brillo Reynes during the congress, will make up 80 percent of the total capital needed by the enterprise. There’s also a catch: The businesses to be financed by these loans “must be earning”.
That way, said Mendoza, the situation “will be mutually beneficial to the OFW and to the bank”.
NRCO director Vivian Tornea said in a DOLE release that while there’s no collateral, loan applicants must “guarantee the business enterprise… is viable and profitable —or earning, say, like P10,000 a month”.
Actually, Perez and another development finance expert, Hector de Pedro of the nonprofit Mandato Inc., think both LBP and DBP have proven track records in handing out these reintegration loans.
It’s just that the image of these banks as part of the “government” that worries both Perez and de Pedro. Government-run lending programs “fail,” de Pedro thinks, because “the (word) government is literally synonymous to the word dole out —and the approaches of some agencies do not breed entrepreneurs”.
Thus, Perez said the Reintegration Fund’s implementation “must maintain the discipline and conviction that it must be sustainable, thus must support clearly-viable or potentially viable (enterprises) with community impact”.
Not surprisingly, the Reintegration Fund leaves those OFWs planning to launch start-up enterprises by the wayside—similar to how banks offer loans to existing ventures (but not to start-ups).
The upside of this regulation by DBP and LBP is that government invests its loan resources on proven practices, and that means all figures are (easily) given. Still, new business models coming from OFW enterprise start-ups may not be developed “because there is no support,” said de Pedro.
Repayment
The issue of repayment has haunted previous livelihood programs of OWWA, the most recent of which was the loans OWWA and the NRCO issued to OFWs displaced by the global economic crisis in 2009.
Previous OWWA and NRCO programs on reintegration saw OWWA directly providing these services, especially loans (even if OWWA is not a quasi-financial institution). OWWA also has a running Livelihood Development Program for OFWs (LDPO), in coordination with the National Livelihood Development Corporation —though information is not available on the nationally-run loan program’s repayment performance.
During a press conference after the fund’s launch, Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz told the OFW Journalism Consortium that OWWA “will exert extra efforts” to monitor borrowers’ repayment of their loans. Handling loans “is not OWWA’s forte,” Cruz adds, justifying DOLE’s partnership with LandBank and DBP. The partnership sees OWWA’s share to the Reintegration Fund as a guarantee fund in case of non-repayment, Cruz told reporters during a press conference.
LDPO has its own repayment woes. For example, officials of a cooperative in central Philippines that is a conduit of LDPO loans said there is a “high” non-repayment rate among their OFW borrowers. The conduit, the Philippine Cooperative Central Fund Federation, then conducted a financial education and business assessment seminar to some of its borrowers so that the latter are told how to handle the capital they have.
For migrant civil society advocates like Carmelita Nuqui of the Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), the reintegration fund’s regulations are “different from what the government says in public”. Loans for returning migrants, Nuqui says, are available “but why can’t overseas Filipino workers get them right away if these are really for them?” OFW Journalism Consortium
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FTTN to Scout New Targets at Investment Banking Conference

BRADENTON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
The executive leadership of First Titan Corp. (OTCBB: FTTN.OB – News) will seek out lucrative new business opportunities at the National Investment Banking Association (NIBA) Conference this week in New Orleans.
The conference will provide a forum for emerging companies seeking financing or exposure to present their story to venture capitalists, early-stage investors and industry leaders. The organization’s 121^st conference, it is planned to be a comprehensive showcase of cutting-edge, innovative entrepreneurs and businesses from across the country, including up-and-comers in the energy sector.
First Titan is in search of potentially lucrative new partnerships, joint venture candidates and possible acquisitions that will increase the company’s developing foothold in the energy industry. The NIBA Conference will offer a prime opportunity for the company to network with rising stars in need of assistance in funding, marketing and distributing their projects.
The conference runs Thursday through Friday at the Le Pavillon hotel.
For more information on FTTN’s energy exploration initiative, please visit www.firsttitanenergy.com/investors.
First Titan is working to develop new energy solutions to compete in a booming global industry alongside Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) and Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA).
About First Titan Corp.
First Titan Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Titan Energy, LLC, is committed to the exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources around the globe. The company continually seeks to partner with energy developers that are pursuing innovative new methods of oil and gas extraction, including the development of new technologies, cleaner methods and unconventional resources.
For more information about First Titan Energy, please visit www.firsttitanenergy.com. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/firsttitancorp.
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements that include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipate” or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition, description of anyone’s past success, either financial or strategic, is no guarantee of future success. This news release speaks as of the date first set forth above and the company assumes no responsibility to update the information included herein for events occurring after the date hereof.
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Thai-ASEAN News Network – Bank Admits Impact of Thailand Blacklisting

The Islamic Bank of Thailand’s managing director admitted bank clients could experience more inconveniences in making international financial transactions after Thailand has been put on the watch list for money-laundering and terrorism financing. The bank also plans to adjust its business strategy this year after it has been slapped with the 0.47 percent premium contribution to the national development fund.
Managing Director of Islamic Bank of Thailand Teerasak Suwanyos played down the impact on overseas investments of the bank’s clients after Thailand’s name appeared on the money laundering and terrorism financing watch list.
Hot on the heels of the triple bomb blasts in Bangkok last week, Thailand was identified by intergovernmental organization, Financial Action Task Force, as uncooperative in the global efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
Islamic Bank MD said the bank has ten clients who invest heavily overseas with a combined investment value of hundreds of millions of baht. Teerasak noted that the bank will be more rigorous in checking documents and transactions to prevent any possibility of being linked with any money laundering or terrorism activities.
Teerasak also commented on the new 0.47 percent premium that was slapped on all banks by the Finance Ministry and the central bank. The banker said the premium, slated to go towards the National Development Fund, will cost the bank 500 million baht in operating revenue. That’s almost 50 percent of the net profit calculated from its current deposit base of 117 billion baht.
He said the bank may have to revise its strategic business plan for this year to take into consideration the new premium.
The Islamic Bank has set a loan target of 20 billion baht for this year, including six billion baht for SMEs, ten billion baht for retail borrowers and four billion baht for major clients.
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Budget must provide 'clarity'

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Independent Newspapers
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Photo: Neil Baynes

In the Budget speech on February 22, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) will be “seeking clarity” on a number of issues, its CEO Neren Rau says.
These issues include the planned financing model of the various infrastructure investment programs and the specific borrowing strategy to avoid crowding out of the private sector, as well as the progress already made on provincial interventions by the National Treasury and the expected timelines for continued assistance to these provincial governments towards restoration of a conducive business environment and fiscal sustainability.
Sacci also wants information on the strategy to achieve a tax neutral outcome for the South African business community given the possible additional taxes such as the carbon tax and local business tax as well as progress on finding a suitable funding model for the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.
Other issues on which clarity is required concern tangible and immediate measures to cut regulatory bottlenecks and red tape for business generally, and SMEs in particular, in order to reduce the cost of doing business in SA.
Information on progress on the integration of development finance institutions (DFIs) and general business support, promotion initiatives and plans to ease the access to finance for SMEs is also required, according to Sacci.
Clarity for foreign and domestic investors on economic stability specifically relating to concerns on nationalisation is needed and Sacci hopes that the Budget statement “will reflect a business-friendly fiscal policy that reduces the many hindrances to achieving economic growth and job creation by the private sector in SA.” – I-Net Bridge

Ask the Elder Law Attorney: Disclosures and Loans

Craig Reaves, past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, practices elder law in Kansas City, Mo., and fields occasional questions from New Old Age readers. Submit yours to newoldage@nytimes.com. Please limit your queries to general legal issues, as Mr. Reaves cannot respond with individualized legal advice. Questions have been edited and condensed.
After my mother died in 2006, my father’s doctor said he shouldn’t be left alone. Apparently Mom was covering for him. I’d visited seven weeks earlier and had not recognized how advanced his dementia had become.
Their will, stored in a safe, indicated that two of my sisters should manage things if both parents died. So the family — eight siblings in all — agreed that these two should have legal authority. They were added to financial accounts and given power of attorney. No one was in a position to care for my father, so he moved into a care facility, first in Florida, now in Michigan. He’s in relatively good health at age 80, cheerful on most days. He still knows me.
We siblings have had some squabbles regarding the sale of my parents’ house and other issues. Their estate was not large, probably under $350,000; given my father’s condition, it was always a concern whether he could pay for the care he needed.
I’ve requested, from both sisters who are managing things, some kind of statement as to exactly what Dad’s financial status is. These requests have fallen on deaf ears at times and been met with fury at other times. One sister, who’s slightly more forthcoming, recently told me that Dad has about 18 months of long-term care insurance coverage remaining. After that, he probably has enough money for another 18 months’ care.
Do I have any way to compel my sisters to share what I believe they already should have? Friends have warned that their secrecy in itself could mean unethical goings-on. I’m worried that in three years, they’ll ask me for a significant contribution — even greater than a one-eighth share, because some siblings can’t afford to help at all. That will present a wrenching quandary; I’ve accumulated much less myself than the $350,000 Dad started with. He may yet live a good long while, and I’d like to find a way to help my family avoid becoming more anxious about money as time goes on.
Gina
Phoenix, Ariz.
Unfortunately, this is not an unusual story. I strongly suggest that you contact an elder law attorney in the state where your father resides. Every state has its own statutes governing durable powers of attorney, and they can be very different. Whether an attorney-in-fact — meaning the person appointed by the power-of-attorney document to act on another’s behalf — has a duty to keep other heirs and siblings informed will depend on how the document is worded, the applicable state law and the facts of the situation.
Generally, though, the attorney-in-fact owes a fiduciary obligation to the principal (your father, in this case), not his heirs (the rest of the family). Unless the law or the document requires disclosure, an attorney-in-fact is usually not required to share any details with the heirs. She may even be prohibited from doing so.
There may be extenuating circumstances in this case, though, since all the children at one point apparently agreed to contribute time and effort to help their father. Moreover, I’m unsure what you mean when you say that your sisters were added to your father’s financial accounts. It may make a difference whether their names were only added as agents for your father or as joint owners of the accounts.
If directly approaching the attorneys-in-fact brings no satisfaction, and especially if you’re concerned that your sisters may be taking advantage of your father, you can petition the probate court in his county to appoint a guardian or conservator for him.
That will not only provide court oversight but will give you and your siblings access to your father’s financial information. And it will provide a forum in which you can air grievances about your father’s situation. The court will make sure that your father won’t be taken advantage of.
This can be an expensive solution, though, and it is probably a last resort. Perhaps the mere threat of going to court will convince your sisters to be more forthcoming about what they’re doing.
By the way, if your father runs out of money for his long-term care, he should qualify for Medicaid assistance. It generally won’t become his children’s responsibility to pay for his care themselves.
My ex-husband died five months after we divorced. My minor children are his sole heirs. All the accounts and assets were probated, and I was made legal representative. Now my ex-father-in-law is suing the estate for $2,800 in “loans” he made to his son when my ex’s business was slow in 2010.
What proof does he need to provide that this was not just a gift? He may just be trying to hurt me. I’m not sure he realizes, at age 85, that this money would be coming from his grandchildren, not from me.
Dawn
Davie, Fla.
The answer to this question will vary by state, so I suggest that you contact the lawyer who represented you in the probate or an elder law attorney in your community. But generally speaking, if the probate has closed and the decedent’s father knew of the probate, he should be barred from suing to collect on an alleged loan.
If the probate is still underway, the father can file a claim with the court. If the personal representative — that’s you — disputes this supposed loan, the court will schedule a hearing and your former father-in-law will have the burden of proving that this sum was a loan. Normally, that would require a promissory note signed by his son. If he can’t prove that this was a loan, then he can’t collect.

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Craig Reaves, past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, practices law in Kansas City, Mo., and fields occasional questions from New Old Age readers. Submit yours to newoldage@nytimes.com. Please limit your queries to general legal issues, as Mr. Reaves cannot respond with personalized legal advice.
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Caixin Online: China pension funds closer to stock investing

By Lan Fang
BEIJING (
Caixin Online
) — China’s struggling securities market is getting a psychological shot in the arm on rising expectations that pension funds may soon provide hundreds of billions of yuan in new investment cash.
Since his appointment in late October, China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Chairman Guo Shuqing has mentioned several times that he wants to widen securities market access for pension and housing provident funds.
Chen Liang, director of fund oversight at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS), said a consensus could be reached soon among key parties involved in pension fund investment talks.

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Various government authorities including the CSRC, MHRSS and the National Development and Reform Commission have been discussing since late last year broad issues such as investment target qualifications, government policies, fund operations, market oversight and legal responsibilities, Chen said. They’ve also discussed opening the stock market to housing provident funds, which companies manage for employees’ future housing purchases.
A “breakthrough development” that would let urban pension funds — government-run social security funds for most workers in China’s cities — buy and sell stock was recently reached, said Ji Ning, deputy head of the Employment and Income Distribution Department at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Discussions are likewise continuing over whether private insurance schemes for rural workers, few of whom are eligible for social security, will be allowed to follow suit.
Neither securities regulators nor fund managers have set a possible timetable for unleashing the full power of pension funds on the nation’s stock exchanges. For now, the government limits market access to certain social security and annuity funds, which can invest up to 40% of their assets in securities.
As of the end of 2010, the nation’s urban pension funds controlled a cumulative 1.5 trillion yuan ($238 billion), including 857 billion yuan managed by the National Social Security Fund Council. The rural insurance plan, an option for farm workers and other self-employed launched in 2009, held 42.3 billion yuan.

Two sides

Supporters and skeptics of pension fund stock investing are among those participating in the ongoing negotiations. The former include government officials, who say funds would help stabilize the nation’s securities markets, which weakened in 2011. Doubters include State Council members, who call stock investing too risky for public funds earmarked for retirees.

A hard landing for the Chinese economy

Mark Faber, Editor and Publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report in Hong Kong, talks to Barron’s Michael Santoli at the 2012 Barron’s Roundtable conference about the consequences of a coming economic slowdown in China.

These and related disagreements have brewed for years while, according to reports, some pension-linked insurance funds have gone ahead and invested in stocks.
The State Council’s official position is that any change in pension investment policy should put safety first. The cabinet wants strict supervision of stock trading by pension funds, for example, and has called for tighter laws and regulations before regulators broaden investment channels.
For officials at MHRSS and NDRC, however, a main sticking point has been a disagreement over which government agency would actually invest pensioners’ money.
Caixin has learned MHRSS, NDRC and other agencies have reached a basic consensus on most pension-securities issues. For example, they’ve agreed individual accounts and a trust model should be used for all stock investing.
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Eastday-Financial regulators to minimize systemic risks

BEIJING – China’s major financial regulators highlighted the necessity to curb systemic risks and maintain financial stability by all means in 2012 on Sunday, one day after the National Financial Work Conference concluded.
“We will strengthen the monitor over financial institutions while tracking domestic and international economic situation, to effectively counter economic and financial risks,” said People’s Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, in a statement after its annual work meeting ended.
It said it would research specific measures to reduce systemic risks among financial institutions and gear up to set up a deposit insurance system to serve the purpose.
“We must firmly hold on to the bottom line of no systemic and regional risks,” said Shang Fulin, head of China Banking Regulatory Commission on Sunday in a statement.
He said banking environment will become more complicated and increasingly competitive in 2012, along with stricter requirements of banking services from society. “The regulatory task will be more difficult.”
The government will focus on potential credit and liquidity risks this year, and prevent the off-balance sheet risk from spreading, said Shang.
In November 2011, the International Monetary Fund warned that China faces near-term domestic risks to the financial system, including the impact of the recent sharp credit expansion on banks’ asset quality, the rise of off-balance-sheet exposures and lending outside of the formal banking sector.
It said the financial system could be severely impacted if credit, property, currency and yield curve shocks occurred together.
Premier Wen Jiabao called for the banking institutions to set up a more complete and prudent risk-monitoring regime on Saturday to prevent systemic risk.
Although the local government debts made via financing vehicles are “generally safe and controllable”, the revenues and spendings through the vehicles should be included in the government’s budget management, and a mechanism will be established to control the gross local government debts, he said at the end of the two-day National Financial Work Conference in Beijing.
Prior to the conference, analysts expected a new financial State-owned assets regulator to be set up soon for better control on risks, as the European sovereign debt crisis worsens and the global economy faces rising uncertainty.
“Although such an institution hasn’t come into being as the market predicted, the government will probably establish a financial systemic risk regulatory commission directly led by a vice premier,” said Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at the Industrial Bank Co Ltd.
Li Yang, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a major government think tank, said earlier that systemic risks could be well curbed as long as the country maintains comparatively high economic growth.
China could probably achieve an economic growth rate of 8.8 percent in 2012, as macroeconomic adjustments start to show effects since the second quarter, said Cao Yuanzheng, chief economist at the Bank of China Ltd.
The country will continue to implement prudent monetary policy this year to promote stable and relatively fast economic development, and will enhance monitoring and fend off risk of cross-border capital flows, said PBC.
After the central bank cut reserve requirement for lenders for the first time since 2008 at the beginning of December, new yuan loans in December registered a higher-than-expected 640.5 billion yuan ($101 billion), and M2, a broad measure of money supply, rose by 13.6 percent, according to data released by PBC on Sunday.
In 2011, the new yuan lending totaled 7.47 trillion yuan. Cao expected the figure for 2012 to stand at about 8 trillion yuan

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Bond financing to boost infrastructure

Helia Ebrahimi and Alistair Osborne, 6:04, Monday 28 November 2011
The Treasury is planning to use an innovative form of bond financing to galvanise a planned £200bn of infrastructure investment in the five years to 2015.
It is seeking to access the capital markets to fund greenfield projects, where the risk of construction cost overruns has traditionally deterred bond investors.
The initiative comes alongside a memorandum of understanding signed with the Government by the National Association of Pension Funds and Pension Protection Fund to develop a “new pension infrastructure platform” that encourages retirement funds to invest directly in infrastructure.
Pension funds hold more than £1 trillion in assets but only about 2pc of that is invested in such projects. Yesterday China Investment Corporation, the country’s main sovereign wealth fund, said it would look at investing some of its $410bn (£265bn) fund in UK infrastructure.
Funders of UK infrastructure projects have historically relied on bank finance throughout the construction phase. But that has dried up since the banking crisis, forcing the Government to explore alternative sources of finance.
Acknowledging that both pension funds and bond investors would balk at substantial construction risk, they are expected initially only to be involved in simpler projects, such as schools and prisons that are largely modular in design, or such things as road upgrades and street lighting.
Even so, infrastructure experts question how the Government can attract such investors without offering some sort of “guarantee” against construction risk.
Nick Prior, Deloitte’s infrastructure head, said: “This is going to be highly challenging. They want low risk, stable assets not taking on the major project risk through the build phase. But if you underwrite that risk, it becomes a contingent liability for the Government and an issue for the national debt.”
Another challenge for the Treasury is to create an alternative to the monoline insurance market, which packaged up infrastructure project debt into bonds that were “wrapped” and insured as AAA-rated. That market went with the credit crunch.
The Government, which wants 70pc of the planned £200bn investment to come from the private sector, is seeking to replace the discredited PFI and PPP models. It is today expected to unveil a list of 40 “priority” schemes though Richard Threlfall, KPMG’s head of infrastructure, said: “It seems unlikely that there will be any surprise entries on that list”.
Mr Prior said the Government needed to “find a new pipeline of assets. If you want infrastructure to be a generator of economic growth, you need to start digging now. We need to see shovels in the ground.”

Cubans agog at chance to travel, 50 years on

After half a century of Orwellian obstacles to travel, Cubans are marveling at the thought President Raul Castro is expected to unveil reforms Friday that could let them see the world, and their loved ones, at long last.
“I hope Raul will remove the road block, and that we will be able to travel without so many problems. It would be a great Christmas gift,” said Luis Pena, a 37-year-old engineer whose mother has lived in the United States for 30 years.
Pena, optimistic and hopeful yet cautious about whether the travel freedoms so many Cubans want so badly will materialize, admitted: “I don’t have any of my old childhood friends around any more. They have all left.”
The Roman Catholic Church and regime-friendly musicians like Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes have joined a chorus of Cubans calling for an end to the rules, including one that penalizes “permanent emigrants” from the only one-party Communist regime in the Americas.
Observers in Havana say Raul Castro is widely expected to make the announcement in an address to the National Assembly.
Local experts believe Castro will end the requirement of exit visas (for Cubans on the island), entrance visas (for Cubans living overseas who return home) and the legal status of “permanent emigrant.”
Those who are deemed to have left illegally (permanent emigrants) in essence are classed as defectors, their homes and assets seized.
Cubans can already leave the country in theory but only when they have received a letter of invitation from overseas. Then, they have to file for permission for an exit visa, just at the start of a maze-like bureaucratic process that costs about 500 dollars.
They also need entry visas from countries to which they would travel.
That might not all sound so insumountable in wealthier countries. But workers in Cuba — doctors and streetcleaners alike — make about 20 dollars a month.
So the system has kept travel painfully limited, year in and year out, from the Cold War through today, given that about one in six Cuban nationals lives abroad. Separation from family and friends makes the issue a highly emotional one in Cuba.
It also has drawn criticism from some rights groups about Cubans’ basic freedom of movement.
Since 2006 Raul Castro’s government has ended several unpopular restrictions. Among other things Cubans are now allowed to rent rooms in hotels geared to international tourism, sign cell phone contracts, and buy electric appliances.
In September, the government authorized Cubans to buy and sell cars, and this month private homes.
On August 1, Castro announced that there would be forthcoming easing of travel restrictions, which started fueling hopes.
“Everybody is waiting for that law (change) … really, nobody knows what is going to be approved,” said a more downbeat Adonis Gonzalez, 38, a driver who was waiting in line to get a Spanish (EU) passport as the grandson of a Spaniard, in order to be able to travel without fuss and high cost.
“Whatever gets approved on Friday, I don’t think anybody will be traveling anywhere Saturday,” he added skeptically.
But engineer Pena was trying to stay optimistic. He has only seen his mom once in 30 years, though she lives only a 30-minute flight away in Miami.
“If like they are saying, all of that is eliminated, my mom could come more often” to visit, Pena said, hopeful that she will have a chance to see his new baby boy, her new grandson.
If Havana makes the changes, they could be a stunning wake-up call to the United States, as they have potential to fuel a bilateral migration crisis.
As part of held-over Cold War policy, the United States still grants any Cuban who reaches US soil legal US residency on request. The United States does not have this policy for nationals of any other country.
With the US economy weak and the US presidential race in gear, the United States has not been planning a welcome for many thousands of new Cuban immigrants who soon may be calling, legally, by sea and by air.

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