LOS ANGELES — A U.S. citizen trying to challenge the ban on travel to Cuba on Friday bemoaned his inability to get arrested or cited — even after having his passport stamped in Havana and bringing back Cuban memorabilia.
Mytchell Mora, 39, a freelance entertainment-news producer, said he told U.S. customs officials he broke the law after flying through Costa Rica home to Los Angeles early Friday.
Officials punched some information about him into a computer and sent him home without punishment, Mora said. They didn’t even confiscate his Cuba T-shirt or postcards.
“I am just so surprised nothing happened to me,” said Mora, who lives in West Hollywood. “What can you really do when you’re saying, ‘Take me to jail or give me a ticket,’ and they do nothing to you?”
Jaime Ruiz, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said customs officers don’t issue citations for violations of the U.S. Cuba policy but rather refer cases to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
