Cuba: Fort Lauderdale company denied license by US to run ferry to Cuba, plans to appeal - by Doreen Hemlock

Just two weeks after a Fort Lauderdale company publicly complained of government delays on its application for ferry service to Cuba, a U.S. Treasury agency has denied the request.

Officials at Havana Ferry Partners say they will appeal. Its executives see no reason why U.S. authorities allow planes to carry U.S. passengers to Cuba but not ferries. Current U.S. regulations allow both "aircraft and vessels" to serve Cuba as an exception to the U.S. embargo against the communist-led island.

The denial came from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees the 50-year-old U.S. embargo against Cuba. Its Feb. 27 letter said ferry service to Cuba is "beyond the scope of current policy."

"We're not going away," said Leonard Moecklin Sr., Havana Ferry's managing partner.

Note EU-Digest: the 50 year old US embargo against Cuba is not only outdated but it has even hampered political change and Democracy in Cuba. Far more so than if an open free trade policy had been instituted between Cuba and the United States. Its high time to do away with this archaic embargo and let the free market system do its work.

For more: Fort Lauderdale company denied license to run ferry to Cuba, plans to appeal - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com