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Washington (CNN) — The U.S. government has no right to restrict American tourists from traveling to Cuba, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Thursday.

“It is the only country in the world where our people are not allowed to go,” said Rep. Howard Berman, D-California, at the start of a hearing on whether it is time to lift the travel ban.

“Let’s face it. By any objective measure, the nearly 50-year-old travel ban simply hasn’t worked,” Berman said, referring to the Communist nation’s refusal to embrace democracy.

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“I think it has proven more complicated than anticipated,” Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Noting he had pushed for a firm deadline of January 2010 for closing the controversial facility, Gates said: “If you have to extend that date, if at least you have a strong plan showing you’re making progress in that direction, then this — it shouldn’t be a problem to extend it and we’ll just see whether that has to happen or not.”

In a separate interview on the ABC program “This Week,” Gates said closing the military prison on schedule would be “tough.”

Also on ABC, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said he attended briefings in which he was told the Guantanamo facility was unlikely to close on schedule.

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Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales said at the end of the two-day meeting in the city of San Pedro Sula that the OAS had rectified a serious error.

The United States led the push to suspend Cuba from the OAS at the height of the Cold War, also breaking diplomatic relations with the island nation in 1961 and establishing an economic embargo the next year.

“This is an important message to the whole world, not just our continent,” Zelaya said, later adding, “The Cold War ended today in San Pedro Sula.”

The United States sought to obtain concessions from Cuba this year in exchange for readmission to the 35-nation group. In particular, the United States wants greater political and personal freedoms for the island’s 11 million citizens.

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FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

President Obama says some terror suspects from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility will be sent to U.S. prisons.

Despite opposition from Congress, the president is moving forward with his plan to close Gitmo by next January. He insists that he won’t authorize freeing any detainees who would endanger the American people, but says some of these suspects will be tried in U.S. courts and held in super-maximum security U.S. prisons. The president says other detainees could be tried by military commissions and sent to other countries.

Congress has dealt President Obama a big blow by blocking funds to close Gitmo until he comes up with a detailed plan on what to do with the 240 detainees held there. Majority Whip Senator Dick Durbin is one of the few who voted against blocking the 80 million dollars. He says the U.S. can safely house these terror suspects just like we are already housing 348 convicted terrorists in U.S. prisons.

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WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Obama administration had no choice but to order the shutdown of the prison at Guantanamo because “the name itself is a condemnation” of U.S. anti-terrorism strategy.

In an interview broadcast Friday on NBC’s “Today” show, Gates called the facility on the island of Cuba is “probably one of the finest prisons in the world today.” But at the same time, he said it had become “a taint” on the reputation of America.

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“Let’s be honest, there’s a mystique about Cuba,” said Graham Cook, a Canadian golf course designer.

Or ask South African pro golfer Ernie Els, the star attraction at a Cuban golf tournament aimed at turning the island into the sport’s next destination.

“It would be great to see the Americans and the Cubans get together,” Els said. “There’s lots of potential here.”

Every year, foreign travelers escape to Cuba’s exotic shores and Spanish colonial streets, pumping an estimated $2 billion into the island’s economy.

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That frank assessment from Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California, has resonated loud and clear from the island of Cuba — 90 miles from the southernmost point of Florida — to the halls of Congress.

For the first time in nearly 50 years, relations between the two nations, which have a history steeped in tension, have seemed to ease a bit.

That was apparent this week as a delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus traveled to the communist country on a fact-finding mission, with plans to deliver a report to the White House. Video Watch CNN’s Ed Hornick discuss the story »

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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will soon move to ease travel and financial restrictions on Cuba as his administration conducts a broad review of its policy toward the communist nation, a senior American official said Monday.

“We can expect some relaxation, some changes in terms of the restrictions on family remittances and family travel,” said Jeffrey Davidow, the White House adviser for the upcoming Summit of the Americas, which Obama will attend.