Is Santeria Used As Ploy To Skirt Travel Rules To Cuba?
Author: Miami Herald Source: Global Exchange Title: IS SANTERIA USED AS PLOY TO SKIRT TRAVEL RULES TO CUBA? Despite the Bush administration’s crackdown on exiles’ trips back to Cuba, there are still ways to travel to the island without restriction. One seems to be increasingly popular: Go as a Santero. Religious groups can get licenses with little trouble. And the head of at least one group that says it practices the Afro-Cuban religion Santeria acknowledged that his congregation has exploded in size since the new travel restrictions kicked in. Jose Montoya, head of the Sacerdocio Lucumi Shango Eyeife in Miami, said that between 1996 and July 2004, he took about 60 people to Cuba under his religious travel license. Since the restrictions took effect in July, he has taken about 2,500, he said.
