No one can remember the last time they had a full House of Representatives committee hearing on whether to lift the U.S. travel ban on Castro’s Cuba.

Perhaps that’s why some strong feelings spilled out into the open.

Florida Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a staunch defender of keeping the decades-old travel ban, told one witness who had advocated lifting it that she found some of his comments “shameful.”

The witness, retired U.S. General Barry McCaffrey, riposted that he was offended by Ros-Lehtinen’s “marginalization” of his viewpoint, adding that her line of questioning was “silly.”

The hearing Thursday of the House Foreign Affairs committee started out peacefully enough. Chairman Howard Berman said lawmakers should examine why Cuba was “the only country in the world where our people are not allowed to go.”

Most of the witnesses then spoke in favor of changing U.S. policy, which was launched in the 1960s in a Cold War bid to isolate Fidel Castro.

But Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American born in Havana, was clearly determined to resist what proponents say is their best chance in years to lift the ban on travel to Communist Cuba, 90 miles from her state.

She mocked a reference McCaffrey had made to “Communist morality” and rolled her eyes when McCaffrey said he had once spent seven hours with Castro.

“I always find it intriguing that people are so proud of the number of hours that Castro spent with them,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

McCaffrey, who once headed the U.S. Southern command coordinating U.S. national security operations in Latin America, was irked that Ros-Lehtinen had not referred to him by the title of general.

He corrected her, and for that he got an apology.

Other lawmakers and witnesses tangled over whether they had done enough to help anti-Castro dissidents while visiting Cuba (under apparent exceptions to the U.S. travel ban.)

They also debated whether, if a flood of American tourists were suddenly allowed to visit Cuba, would they be allowed to meet anyone other than hotel workers, or would they have enough Spanish to spread democracy.

Representative Albio Sires, who was also born in Cuba, pointed out that not everyone was fluent in Spanish who claimed to be. His own brothers’ Spanish was “an embarrassment,” he said.

Republican Representative Jeff Flake said he was offended by a comment from another witness, Ambassador James Cason, that tourists go to Cuba for “rum, sun, cigars, song and sex.”

Cason is a former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana and he opposes lifting the travel ban.

One thing that did become clear during the hearing: the 47-member committee is a real battleground for efforts to lift the travel ban.

In opening statements, 15 members spoke against lifting the travel ban and 10 favored lifting it. No action is expected before next year.

Berman, who favors lifting the travel restrictions, called the hearing “a great example of democracy in action.”

“One thing I think the entire committee shares is a desire that one day in Cuba, that kind of peaceful clash of ideas can be expressed in the political system,” he said.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas (Ros-Lehtinen in Honduras in October); Reuters/Enrique de la Osa (Cuba’s Capitol building at sunet Oct. 19)

Perhaps you've heard about the Russian submarines patrolling international waters off the U.S. East Coast (if you haven't, take a look at a Reuters story about it) in what feels like an echo of the old Cold War. The Pentagon's not worried about this particular venture, but there are concerns from the U.S. energy industry about another Russian foray -- this one in concert with Cuba. In rhetoric that may ring a bell with anyone who saw the 1964 satirical nuclear-fear movie "Dr. Strangelove,"
the Washington-based Institute for Energy Research is sounding the alarm about a Russian-Cuban deal to drill for offshore oil near Florida.

"Russia, Communist Cuba Advance Offshore Energy Production Miles Off Florida's Coast," is the title on the institute's news release. Below that is the prescription for action: "Efforts Should Send Strong Message to Interior Dept. to Open OCS in Five-Year Plan." OCS stands for outer continental shelf, an area that was closed to oil drilling until the Bush administration opened it last year in a largely symbolic move aimed at driving down the sky-high gasoline prices of the Summer of 2008.

Environmentalists hate the idea. So does Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who has made opposition to offshore drilling one of his signature issues. But as it turns out, it's unlikely that anybody -- from Russia, Cuba, the United States or anywhere else -- is going to get petroleum out of the OCS in the immediate future.

For a start, it takes time to set up a deep-water offshore drilling rig. And any Cuban effort would be further hampered by the need to use equipment with less than 10 percent American technology, to comply with the long standing U.S. embargo against Cuba. As my Reuters colleague Russell Blinch reported in June, there may be scope for possible U.S.-Cuban cooperation here but no Cuban drilling platform is likely to be in the area this year.

Reports of a Russian-Cuban deal to explore for oil in the Gulf of Mexico prompted a quick response from the Institute for Energy Research, self-described as a free-market energy think-tank.

"This agreement between Russia and Cuba should serve as a wake-up call to Congress and this administration, especially (Interior) Secretary (Ken) Salazar, who is slow-walking a new offshore energy blueprint for the nation," the institute's president, Thomas Pyle, said in a statement. "If we are to remain competitive in the global market, our government must take its foot off the brake, and expand domestic energy production of all forms, onshore and off.”

What's your take? Should the United States drill baby drill off Florida's coast, reasoning that if U.S. companies don't, Russia and Cuba will? Keep a congressional ban in place? Or wait and see?

Photo credit: Reuters staff photographer (Pensacola Beach, Florida, June 25, 2008); Reuters stringer/Russia (Russian nuclear submarine off Vladivostok, July 24, 2009)

A group of the 13 Chinese detainees held at the controversial U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba appealed directly to President Barack Obama for their immediate release, arguing that they have been cleared by the United States of any wrongdoing and they questioned why it was taking so long to go free.

The members of the Uighur ethnic group originally sent the appeal to Obama on March 8 but it was not cleared by the U.S. government for release until July 14, according to their attorneys. Two of the signatories have since been released to Bermuda, the lawyers said.

“After 6 years of investigations, the US military confirmed that we are innocent,” the Uighurs said in their letter. “We are innocent civilians, however, we are currently still being held in jail.”

In June four Uighurs were transferred from the Guantanamo prison to the Atlantic island of Bermuda. The entire group, who come from China’s largely Muslim far-west region of Xinjiang, were captured by the U.S. government during fighting in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in Washington and New York.

There has been some talk that the remaining 13 Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay could go to the tropical Pacific island of Palau, where the government has agreed to take them temporarily as a humanitarian gesture. China has demanded that they all be returned to Chinese soil but the United States has said it could not return them because they would face persecution.

“The State Department, in coordination with the Defense Department and other interested agencies, is working to make appropriate arrangements to carry out transfers of these individuals in a manner consistent with national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, as well as U.S. policies concerning humane treatment,” said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd.

Obama has vowed to close Guantanamo prison by January 2010 and his administration has been trying to find places to send those detainees who have been cleared for transfer. But they have run into trouble finding countries willing to take former prisoners, particularly if the United States does not accept some of them as well.

“We do not believe that there is no country out there that would give us political asylum,” the letter said. “We do not believe that the U.S. government cannot find a solution for the Uighur issue here.”

For more Reuters political news, click here.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Brennan Linsley

Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been everywhere in the media over the last several days, talking about swine flu. His calm demeanor and practical advice — cover your cough, wash your hands — showed up on every major television network this morning. It seemed like he was live, simultaneously, on several of them.

In some Washington circles, this kind of media blitz is known as “The Full Ginsburg.”

For those with long memories, when sex was the biggest scandal in the U.S. capital, William H. Ginsburg had 15 minutes of fame as Monica Lewinsky’s attorney. He represented the former White House intern in 1998 when she was called to testify about her relationship with then-President Bill Clinton. The case ultimately led to Clinton’s impeachment.

But when Lewinsky was flavor-of-the-month in Washington, Ginsburg controlled access to her, and that made him much in demand. He was an almost constant media presence, especially on morning television. In an age before tweets and blogs, when using the Internet was considered novel for much of official Washington, Ginsburg got coverage simply by showing up.

Times change and the world has changed, and a sex-and-lying scandal seems almost diverting compared to the possibility of a flu pandemic, Somali pirates and deep economic turmoil.

Besser is not the only voice on the swine flu situation. President Barack Obama speaks to the National Academy of Sciences this morning and the disease outbreak is expected to be mentioned there. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano explained that the U.S. declaration of a public health emergency was needed for free up government money and resources to tackle the problem.

Elsewhere in Washington, diplomats from 17 of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters — including the United States — gather at the State Department to discuss the fight against climate change. On Capitol Hill, the Senate scheduled a vote to end a Republican roadblock against an anti-fraud bill and a House committee considers the status of trade with Cuba.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Mike Theiler, Dr. Richard Besser (R) makes remarks to the media as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano listens at a briefing on swine flu outbreak, April 26, 2009

It’s not yet 9:00 on a Monday morning, and the federal government has already dumped another $30 billion into the tottering financial system. The money goes to insurer American International Group Inc., which just announced a fourth-quarter loss of $61.7 billion — the largest quarterly loss in corporate history.

For those keeping score at home, U.S. taxpayers have now pumped $180 billion into AIG.

Some good news: consumer spending and incomes rose in January, buoyed by salary increases for government employees.

The government will open two hours later in Washington as commuters cope with up to 10 inches of snow. DC residents awaiting more pooh-poohing from their president, who like many northerners is not impressed with the panic that accompanies snowflakes in Washington.

Obama is expected to name Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his health secretary today. Sebelius will play a key role in Obama’s efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, but as the New York Times points out, she didn’t have much luck with that in her home state.

The Senate begins debate on a spending bill that includes a measure that could make it easier to travel to Cuba.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Egypt for a conference about rebuilding the war-torn Gaza Strip, has said no U.S. funds will go to Hamas, the Islamist group that holds power there.

photo credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed (Snow falls inside the grounds of the White House, March 2)

For more Reuters political coverage, click here.

MIAMI - Republican John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” bus took a little detour today, depositing McCain at a Cuban-American restaurant in Little Havana.

McCain, who likes to keep a cup of coffee at his side most of the time, decided to sample the espresso served up at Cafe Versailles, ordering a cup at a window for ordering items to go.

Taking a sip from the small ceramic cup, he must have found it a pretty strong brew. He pumped his fist as he tasted the coffee.

“Do I have any enamel on my teeth?” he asked. “Delicious!”

This was after McCain stopped at La Casa del Preso, a memorial to deceased and current political prisoners in Cuba. After a tour inside, he spoke to a group of Cuban-Americans gathered outside.

“Buenas tardes,” he told them, then admitted that was pretty much the extent of his knowledge of the Spanish language.

In English, he proceeded to criticize Cuba’s communist government and vowed that sooner or later the Cuban people would be free.

Somebody in the crowd thought McCain should pick a vanquished Republican adversary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, as his vice presidential running mate.

“Romney for vice,” was one sign held up by people in the crowd.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (McCain speaks at town hall meeting in Miami)