Cuba condemns new U.S. travel restrictions on Cubans
President of Cuba's Congress Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada this week condemned two new U.S. travel restrictions on Cubans living in the United Sates.

On July 10, U.S. President George W. Bush presented a bill to Congress, outlawing special visits by Cubans living in the United States to Cuba.

Alarcon said, in a signed article in Cuba's official newspaper Granma, the initiative is "cruel and discriminatory" and is against the U.S. constitution.

The bill is a follow-up to a law passed in May which forces Cubans to apply for leave from the Treasury Department.

Under the May law, Cubans are restricted to visit only close relatives -- husbands or wives, brothers or sisters, parents or grandparents, with a maximum of once every three years.

"Cubans and their descendants living in the United States are treated as second class citizens, whose rights are restricted in away that does not exist in any other segment of the U.S. society," Alarcon said.