Should Americans be allowed to visit Cuba?

 

Overview: What is happening to American tourists visiting Cuba? Identify reasons why the American government is not allowing Americans to visit Cuba. Formulate an opinion about whether placing monetary fines on American tourists visiting Cuba violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Curriculum connections: International Relations, U.S. History, Government

Objectives
Students will be able to:

• Explain what is happening to American tourists visiting Cuba.
• Formulate an opinion if monetary fines imposed on American tourists visiting Cuba supports or refutes the First and Fifth amendments.

Standards
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
Standard II, Time, continuity and change, grades nine-12
High school students engage in more sophisticated analysis and reconstruction of the past, examining its relationship to the present and extrapolating into the future. They integrate individual stories about people, events, and situations to form a more holistic conception, in which continuity and change are linked in time and across cultures. Students also learn to draw on their knowledge of history to make informed choices and decisions in the present.

Materials
CNNfyi.com article, "U.S. fines citizens for travel to Cuba"
Internet access
World map

Suggested time
Article and questions only: 30 minutes
Full lesson plan: Two to three classroom periods

Procedure
1. Ask students what they know about Cuba's political structure. Who is Fidel Castro? With what type of government do they associate Castro? Help students to locate Cuba on a map or globe.
2.Have students read the CNNfyi.com article, "U.S. fines citizens for travel to Cuba"and ask the following:

• Who is Donna Schultz? What happened to her on the way back from Toronto, Canada, to the United States? What government agency is fining Americans who defy U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba? How much was Schultz fined? Do you think penalizing Americans financially is appropriate? Discuss.

• Why does the U.S. government forbid unauthorized Americans from spending money in Cuba? Why do you think President George W. Bush called the sanctions "a moral statement"? Do you think Americans should be allowed to visit Cuba? Explain.

3. Share with the students the quote by Rep. Charles Rangel: "It's repugnant to everything that we as Americans think. You know, this type of behavior is the behavior that you would expect form a communist dictatorship that wants to keep its people at home." Then ask: What do you think he is implying from this statement? Why do you think a communist dictatorship would want to keep its people at home?
4. Refer students to the third Web site below to identify the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Then ask: Why do you think critics are arguing that this action violates these amendments?

Assessment
Have students draw upon their research and class discussion to write position statements about whether they think fining unauthorized Americans for visiting Cuba violates the First and Fifth Amendments.

Challenge
Refer students to Episode 10 of CNN's Cold War Special and the accompanying Educator's Guide to learn about the history of U.S.-Cuba relations, including the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. Then, have students write persuasive essays about whether the U.S. should maintain or eliminate its embargo against Cuba.