Speakers Wanted for pgDay Cuba

I'm probably going, but my company supports this trip.

On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 10:35 PM, Josh Berkus <josh@agliodbs.com> wrote:

Hi Josh

We are looking for one or more PostgreSQL contributors to travel to
Havana, Cuba, to present at the second pgDay Cuba. In order to
encourage this young community, we will be funding[1] up to $3000 in
total travel funds for one or two speakers.

Strictly speaking, I am not a contributor (yet). I already planned to be
in La Habana in October and fortunately the financial aspect is already
solved through a mix of company and private funds.

In any case I find the initiative great and hope it may help someone.

IMPORTANT: if you travel to Cuba on SPI funds, there will be significant
restrictions on your travel due to US regulations regarding Cuba. These
apply even if you are not a US Citizen.

This month on the 20th, Cuba and the US reinitiated diplomatic
relationships. Do the restrictions still apply? Or more in general what
restrictions are imposed on a scholar giving a lecture in Cuba?

I am asking out of curiosity, because the idea sounds quite bizarre in
my ears. I am aware that the economic embargo is still in place and I
heard about restrictions in commercial or security/military related
areas, but somehow I don't get the point how this is related to a
community developing an open source database.

Thank you and bye
Charles

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On 07/25/2015 12:01 AM, Charles Clavadetscher wrote:

Hi Josh

We are looking for one or more PostgreSQL contributors to travel to
Havana, Cuba, to present at the second pgDay Cuba. In order to
encourage this young community, we will be funding[1] up to $3000 in
total travel funds for one or two speakers.

Strictly speaking, I am not a contributor (yet). I already planned to be
in La Habana in October and fortunately the financial aspect is already
solved through a mix of company and private funds.

Good, because the US funds restictions are cumbersome. Are you speaking?

IMPORTANT: if you travel to Cuba on SPI funds, there will be significant
restrictions on your travel due to US regulations regarding Cuba. These
apply even if you are not a US Citizen.

This month on the 20th, Cuba and the US reinitiated diplomatic
relationships. Do the restrictions still apply? Or more in general what
restrictions are imposed on a scholar giving a lecture in Cuba?

These are specific to the US. Just because diplomatic relations are
resumed doesn't mean all restrictions are lifted.

I am asking out of curiosity, because the idea sounds quite bizarre in
my ears.

It's US international relations. If you expect it to make sense, you'll
hurt your brain.

--
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL Experts Inc.
http://pgexperts.com

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On 07/25/2015 11:22 AM, Josh Berkus wrote:

On 07/25/2015 12:01 AM, Charles Clavadetscher wrote:

Hi Josh

We are looking for one or more PostgreSQL contributors to travel to
Havana, Cuba, to present at the second pgDay Cuba. In order to
encourage this young community, we will be funding[1] up to $3000 in
total travel funds for one or two speakers.

Strictly speaking, I am not a contributor (yet). I already planned to be
in La Habana in October and fortunately the financial aspect is already
solved through a mix of company and private funds.

Good, because the US funds restictions are cumbersome. Are you speaking?

IMPORTANT: if you travel to Cuba on SPI funds, there will be significant
restrictions on your travel due to US regulations regarding Cuba. These
apply even if you are not a US Citizen.

This month on the 20th, Cuba and the US reinitiated diplomatic
relationships. Do the restrictions still apply? Or more in general what
restrictions are imposed on a scholar giving a lecture in Cuba?

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/07/244623.htm

Also
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/cuba.html

Click on Entry, Exit & Visa Requirements

General & Specific Licenses for Travel:

These are specific to the US. Just because diplomatic relations are
resumed doesn't mean all restrictions are lifted.

I am asking out of curiosity, because the idea sounds quite bizarre in
my ears.

It's US international relations. If you expect it to make sense, you'll
hurt your brain.

It is international relations in general.

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

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Hi Josh

Thank you for your answer.

Strictly speaking, I am not a contributor (yet). I already planned to
be in La Habana in October and fortunately the financial aspect is
already solved through a mix of company and private funds.

Good, because the US funds restictions are cumbersome. Are you speaking?

Yes I am. I will give a workshop on authorization in PostgreSQL: https://postgresql.uci.cu/

These are specific to the US. Just because diplomatic relations are resumed
doesn't mean all restrictions are lifted.

I am asking out of curiosity, because the idea sounds quite bizarre in
my ears.

It's US international relations. If you expect it to make sense, you'll hurt your
brain.

As a matter of fact, according to what I saw on the links sent by Adrian and some additional documents that I found following them, there has been an amendment on this regulation. I will send some more information on that in the response to Adrian, but to put is short, attending a conference falls into one of 12 categories for general authorized travel, making life easier for participants.

Bye
Charles

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Hello Josh and Adrian

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/07/244623.htm
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/cuba.html

Thank you for the links. I read a little about that regulation. I found also a FAQ document to the last amendment of the Cuban Assets Control Regulation.

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_faqs_new.pdf

The amendment specifies 12 categories of generally authorized travel. According to the FAQ (link above) people travelling to, from or within Cuba that fall into one of these categories don't need an explicit licence, as this was the case before the amendement. Now category 4 under §515.564 is, from the description, the one that participants to a PgDay would fall into.

§ 515.560 Travel-related transactions to,
from, and within Cuba by persons subject
to U.S. jurisdiction.

(a) The travel-related transactions
listed in paragraph (c) of this section
may be authorized either by a general
license or on a case-by-case basis by a
specific license for travel related to the
following activities (see the referenced
sections for the applicable general and
specific licensing criteria):
[...]
(4) Professional research and
professional meetings (see § 515.564);
[...]

And more in detail.

§ 515.564 Professional research and
professional meetings in Cuba.
(a) General license
(2) Professional meetings. The travel related
transactions set forth in
§ 515.560(c) and such additional
transactions as are directly incident to
travel to Cuba to attend professional
meetings or conferences in Cuba are
authorized, provided that:

(i) The purpose of the meeting or
conference is not the promotion of
tourism in Cuba;

(ii) The purpose of the meeting
directly relates to the traveler’s
profession, professional background, or
area of expertise, including area of
graduate-level full-time study;

(iii) The traveler does not engage in
recreational travel, tourist travel, or
travel in pursuit of a hobby; and

(iv) The traveler’s schedule of
activities does not include free time or
recreation in excess of that consistent
with a full-time schedule of attendance
at professional meetings or conferences.

What you can or can't do is described in the FAQ under Q25 and following (or § 515.560(c) in the CACR).

I am not proficient in legalese, but I got the impression that In general, the amendment simplifies travel enormously. As long as participants do not engage in touristic activities beyond reasonable limits and don't buy too many cigars and liqueurs, they act legally and don't need to go through the extenuating case-by-case licencing process.

Enjoy the Sunday
Charles

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On 07/26/2015 01:59 AM, Charles Clavadetscher wrote:

I am not proficient in legalese, but I got the impression that In general, the amendment simplifies travel enormously. As long as participants do not engage in touristic activities beyond reasonable limits and don't buy too many cigars and liqueurs, they act legally and don't need to go through the extenuating case-by-case licencing process.

It's a little stricter than that; no tourist activities *at all*, like
not even one afternoon sightseeing.

--
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL Experts Inc.
http://pgexperts.com

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