Cuba travel sites embargoed by US

Americans should think twice before booking a Cuban holiday through scores of travel websites that the US government has deemed to be off-limits.

The US Treasury Department has blacklisted more than 60 Cuba-centric sites, many maintained by a travel company called Tour & Marketing International. The last update to the list was published by the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on 30 June.

Certain travel-oriented websites made it to the verboten list because they provide easy access to Cuba for Americans who choose to break the law, the OFAC says. While visiting the sites may be permitted, downloading software from them probably isn't.

The reason lies in a section of federal law prohibiting people living under US jurisdiction from doing business with those on the OFAC's list of "specially designated nationals", a category that also includes known terrorists, narcotics traffickers and rogue regimes, such as Iraq, Iran and Syria. (Many of the Cuba sites have been on the list since a December update.)

It's already illegal to go to Cuba without a special Treasury Department-issued licence, typically granted based on educational or professional purposes. Tourism, according to federal guidelines, is not allowed. Once licensed, travellers must make travel arrangements with an organisation chosen from a list of OFAC-approved agencies.

But if booking travel with an unauthorised dealer is already illegal, then is booking travel through a company also on OFAC's verboten list an even greater offence? Lawyers aren't sure.

Daniel Waltz, a Washington, DC, lawyer who specialises in US embargoes, said: "I don't know what penalties OFAC would propose in connection with the use of these sites. They might take the view that because they're listed [with OFAC], the penalties should be higher. They might take the view that we'll penalise you once for travel and impose a second penalty for use of the listed site."

Douglas Jacobson, a sanctions lawyer in Washington, DC, said: "The problem, really, with the OFAC regulations and export controls generally is they weren't designed for the internet."

Several of Tour & Marketing's sites - with gocubaplus.com as the flagship - allow customers to make online reservations for flights, hotels, rental cars and tour packages in Cuba by travelling via a "third country". The site mandates that customers pay online and claims to be "not only Cuba's number one agency for American travellers but also... able to serve all travellers - regardless of whether they have a Treasury-issued licence", according to a Treasury Department press release.

The bulk of the sites under the company's ownership provide information about the geography, history and tourist attractions in a host of Cuban locales, from Baracoa to Varadero Beach. Ads - also operated by the company - rim each page and point to the ecommerce sites.

It doesn't seem to be a crime to check Cuban weather or read up on Ernest Hemingway's ties to the island at the sites. Signing up for free email lists would also be permissible, said a Treasury spokeswoman, provided that they did not include "interactive software". That's because transfer of "intangible" goods, like information, is exempt from the regulations but goods considered tangible, such as software, are not.

Using the sites to get money to Cuban companies would clearly be illegal but lawyers suggested that enforcement may be a little fuzzier.

Jacobson said: "Theoretically, yes, a person can be prosecuted and subject to civil or criminal penalties by OFAC for purchasing a ticket or doing any businesses with any of these websites. The reality is, the chances of them actually being caught is relatively slim, because there's really no way to track that information. The only way they would do it is to raid their offices, take the server, get email addresses... But I don't think they would go that far."

Anne Broache writes for CNET News.com