What happens if i get caught with cuban cigars

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X Most Common Issues:. We've helped over 5 million people. Get Started. Get Legal Help Now. President Obama reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba. He did not lift the embargo on Cuba—that will take an act of Congress. While the United States will soon ease restrictions on travel and banking, for the time being, the ban on trade remains in place. Which means you won't be able to buy legal Cuban cigars from American retailers anytime soon.

If you want legal cigars, you need a license to cross the straits of Florida. The White House says the government will allow Americans to travel to Cuba to visit family, to conduct official government business, to produce journalism, for professional research, for educational activities, for religious activities, for public events, to support the Cuban people, for humanitarian projects, to act on behalf of private foundations, to transmit information materials, and to conduct "certain export transactions.

That said, the Associated Press reported that , Americans visited the country legally last year. If you're thinking of traveling to Cuba now that the United States has restored full relations, here's what else you should know. Cuban cigars been contraband for half a century. After an all-night interrogation session, which ended when both men signed federal court appearance affidavits, White and Jack knew that the Cuban embargo is serious business. These are just lousy cigars!

Two days later, White got a phone call from a Treasury agent telling him that the charges had been dropped against him. Ironically, White doesn't even smoke cigars.

Still, considering their blatant attempt to defy the embargo, White and his friend got off relatively unscathed. They part company with their booty and walk away free--if bitter. The laws that make up the embargo are quite explicit. A U. Supreme Court ruling determined that it is within the right of the government and president to restrict travel. One wealthy jet-setter regularly defies the law, claiming that he travels to Cuba because "as an American I intend to exercise my constitutional right to travel wherever the fuck I want, when I want.

Even those who are not convicted, however, suffer because Customs keeps a record of all seizures, and the names of the carriers or recipients of seized parcels are kept on file. When they're in bundles, the guys at Customs will grill me: 'Are you sure these aren't Cubans?

That was before When one of Thompson's boxes was identified as "Honduran cigars," a Customs official told him, "we believe these to be Cuban cigars. Thompson's name is in a Customs' file, and it is nearly impossible for him to travel abroad without being searched upon his return.

I said, 'Look, you're British; bring these to the States with you. I guess she thought if I wasn't nervous about it, then there wouldn't be a problem. And the next thing you know they're pulling Cuban cigars out of my bags. I'm thinking, 'holy shit, what did she do? It was a sickening feeling. Thompson didn't go to jail, but he doesn't bring cigars back anymore, either.

Thompson has lost thousands of dollars in cigars, but has never been fined. Under TWEA both civil and criminal fines may be imposed, although there are no strict guidelines or definite dollar amounts and most people end up just losing their cigars. Customs officials around the country concede that the amount of paperwork involved in processing one box of Cuban cigars is just too daunting. In addition, it's bad press if Customs starts to crack down on minor cigar smugglers while dope slips through the cracks.

Customs in San Diego. Jeff Casey, deputy special agent for U. Customs in San Diego, says that almost no case involving smuggled Cuban cigars would be likely to draw the attention of the U. Attorney's office. A Customs official in Miami defines the problem: "It's not that people aren't concerned about Cuban cigars.

But when you have minimums of 10 pounds of coke, 2, pounds of marijuana or five pounds of heroin [below which] the U. Attorney's office won't even accept the case for federal prosecution--a box of cigars just pales by comparison.

At other major ports of entry, such as Logan International Airport in Boston which receives daily international flights from Geneva , a Customs official claims that Cuban cigars have never been a headache because, to his knowledge, none have ever been seized.

The story is similar at Dulles airport in suburban Washington, D. Referring to the seizure of Cuban cigars, Tony De Felippo, chief inspector of passenger operations at Dulles, says, "it happens, and when it does we reluctantly enforce the rules. It is unclear whether this was due to policy or some ongoing investigation Kennedy has been the focal point of interdicting Cuban cigars in recent years , but questions about Customs operations at the airport were dodged and attempts to visit Customs at Kennedy were refused.

Publicly, officials at OFAC take a dim view of lax embargo enforcement. However, one official, who does not wish to be identified, says, "no one has ever told me not to enforce the law, but if you have a docket full of murderers and then a guy spitting on the sidewalk, what's going to take precedent?