By Rosemary McClure
Los Angeles Times

The Cuban government cooperates with backdoor travelers; customs officials generally do not stamp the passports of Americans when they enter. "All travelers are legal as far as we're concerned," said Miguel Alejandro Figueras, a Cuban tourism official.

U.S. sanctions limiting travel to Cuba have waxed and waned in the last four decades. Travel loosened during the Clinton administration; it has tightened during the Bush administration.

Backdoor travelers risk penalties ranging from a warning letter to $65,000 fines.

But many backdoor travelers say free travel is their constitutional right. "Making it difficult for us to visit doesn't help the Cuban people. It just makes life harder for them," said a Chicago businessman who loves Cuba and visits frequently, sometimes illegally. "I think tougher restrictions have more to do with the politics of Florida than anything else," he said, speculating that President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are influenced by the Cuban exile community in Miami.

Backdoor travelers usually play down the hazards, but the U.S. government managed to ferret out about 500 of them between January and October last year.