In a move that’s expected to trigger a flurry of travel, unite families and generate badly needed currency, the Cuban government on Tuesday said it plans to wipe out an unpopular exit visa requirement that’s been in place since 1961. Analysts are at odds over why the socialist government is acting now. But what’s certain is that Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits are buzzing about the measure.

After the requirement ends in January, Cubans would be allowed to leave the island with a passport and a visa for the country of their destination. Cubans won’t get a passport if they have pending charges or civil, military, or national-security obligations. Also restricted, according to the law, will be Cubans whose jobs are tied to the country’s “economic, social and technical or scientific development,” or “security and the protection of official information.”

Granma, the newspaper of Cuba’s Communist Party, said officials are only trying to “preserve the human capital created by the Revolution.” And Cuban government supporters see the move as a victory in the U.S.-Cuba grudge match that’s been going on since 1959. “Even many of those who protested the exit permit have been left with their mouths open,” said Cuban author Marta Rojas, who lives in Havana. “Now the ball’s in their court.”

Critics, however, questioned how far the new law goes. “Raul Castro has used ‘reform’ and the promise of ‘reforms’ as a means to maintain and extend his dictatorship’s grip on power,” said Marc Masferrer, creator of Uncommon Sense, a website dedicated to Cuban political prisoners. “So it’s best to welcome this development with a healthy amount of skepticism.”

One open question, for instance, is whether the Cuban government will allow dissidents and critics to leave the country and then return. Yoani Sanchez, a Cuban blogger whose exit-permit application has been denied 20 times in five years, plans to find out. “Five years of dragging my suitcase from one corner of the house to the other has worn out its little wheels,” she wrote on Tuesday. “The underwear stored in the small zipped pocket has lost its elastic and its color has faded. The plane tickets I never used expired.”

Source: TheDailyBeast.com