Tours changing American perspectives of Cuba, US foreign policy
When U.S. President Barack Obama reinstated "people-to-people" travel to Cuba in 2011, the idea was that visiting Americans would act as cultural ambassadors for a U.S. constantly demonized in the island's official media. Two and a half years later, a survey suggests the trips are not only improving Cubans' views of Americans, but they are also changing U.S. travelers' opinions of the Caribbean nation for the better, and dimming their view of Washington policies that have long sought to pressure Cuba's Communist leaders.
"I think U.S.-Cuban relations should be open. People should be talking to each other. People should be sharing," said Ellen Landsberger, a 62-year-old New York obstetrician who recently visited on a people-to-people tour. "We have this tiny little island that is no threat to the U.S. that we're isolating from the world," she said. "It doesn't make sense."
There's surely significant self-selection among people-to-people travelers; supporters of a hard-line policy against Cuba are unlikely to consider such a tour. And the people who run the trips tend to be more or less sympathetic to the idea of easing or lifting the 52-year-old U.S. embargo, which could potentially be a boon to their business. Still, the results of the multiple-choice survey by Friendly Planet Travel, a company based in suburban Philadelphia that promotes legal tours of Cuba, are eye-catching. Three-quarters said they were drawn by curiosity about life in a nation that has been off-limits to most Americans for decades.
Before travel, the most prevalent view of Raul Castro's government was "a repressive Communist regime that stifles individuality and creativity," 48 percent of respondents said. That fell to 19 percent after their visits, and the new most-popular view, held by 30 percent of respondents, became the slightly more charitable "a failing government that is destined to fall."
Most striking, 88 percent said the experience made them more likely than before to support ending the embargo against Cuba. Peggy Goldman, president of Friendly Planet Travel, said visitors are surprised at how hard it is to find many goods, even something as basic as an adhesive bandage.
Some leave Cuba blaming U.S. policy for the shortages — as the Cuban government does constantly, although analysts also point to a weak, inefficient and corruption-ridden economic system as a key cause of scarcity. "In day-to-day life, it's so difficult for the average Cuban. When the travelers go and they see that, and they experience it themselves, it makes sense that they say it (the embargo) doesn't make sense," Goldman said. "It hasn't toppled the government in all these years. We need to try a different way."
旅遊在改變美國對古巴的看法及美國外交政策
美國總統歐巴馬在二○一一年恢復「人民對人民」的古巴旅遊時，美國的構想是，前往古巴觀光的美國人可以充當文化大使，扭轉美國不斷遭古巴官方媒體妖魔化的形象。過了兩年半之後，一項調查顯示，這些旅程不但改善了古巴人對美國人的看法，也改善了美國遊客對這個加勒比海島國的觀感，但也造成遊客們對美國長期以來向古巴領袖施壓的政策的看法負面化。
六十二歲的紐約市婦產科醫師艾倫蘭德斯伯格最近參加了這種「人民對人民」的古巴之旅前往該島一行，她說：「我想美國和古巴的關係應該開放，兩國人民應該彼此對話，兩國人民應該開始分享。這個蕞爾小島對美國全無威脅，但我們卻在國際上孤立它。這是沒有道理的。」
參加這些人民對人民古巴之旅的觀光客，肯定是經過認真的自我篩選；支持對古巴採取強硬政策的人不太可能考慮參加。安排這些古巴之旅的人大多是比較同意放寬或完全解除美國對古巴行之五十二年的禁運措施，因為放寬或完全解除禁運對他們的生意大有好處。設在費城市郊，旨在促進合法古巴觀光的友善行星旅遊公司進行了一個多項選擇題調查，調查結果是很讓人觸目的。四分之三的受訪者說，在一個幾十年來美國人不准踏足的國家，這個國家的生活情形如何讓他們感到好奇，吸引他們的正是這份好奇心。
百分之四十八的受訪者說，行前大部分人對勞爾卡斯楚政府的看法是「這是一個打壓個人及創意的高壓共產主義政權」。但在古巴之旅結束後，持同樣看法的人的比例降到了百分之十九；為三成左右受訪者所接受，而且也是最主流的新觀點，則是一種比較客氣的觀點，認為「這是一個失敗中的政府，註定是會垮台的」。
最特別的是百分之八十八的人說，這次經驗讓他們比以前更有可能支持結束對古巴的禁運。友善行星旅遊總經理佩姬戈特曼說，遊客發現很多商品，甚至像 ok 繃那麼基本的東西，都很難找到，他們都覺得很意外。
有的旅客離開古巴時像古巴政府一貫的做法，把古巴的匱乏歸罪美國，雖然分析師指出這個國家物資缺乏的主因是疲弱，效率不彰以及充滿貪腐的經濟制度。戈特曼說：「在日常生活中，一般古巴人生活都很艱難。遊客前往古巴看到同時也體驗這情形時說禁運不合理，這倒是很合理的。禁運這麼多年來都未能打垮古巴政府，我們得試用別的辦法。」
全通翻譯引用 http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=4255&pre=1&sub=7
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