Posted on 05/20/2002 3:18:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA -- During a historic visit last week, former President Carter urged the U.S. government to shelve its 40-year-old policies against communist Cuba. But when President Bush has the last word today, he plans to do just the opposite.
In Washington, and later in the heart of Florida's politically powerful Cuban-American community, Bush is expected to lay out his agenda to clamp down even tighter on this island 90 miles from the U.S. shore.
Bush believes continued pressure on Cuban President Fidel Castro will force the communist leader to allow democratic elections and address human rights issues in his country.
A strict trade embargo is to remain in place, and administration officials said Bush will step up efforts to punish Americans who defy their government by traveling here.
Bush also is expected to call for increased promotion of Cuba's anti-Castro dissidents and strengthen U.S. government broadcasts of news and opinion to information-deprived Cubans.
"My message to the Cuban people is: Demand freedom, and you've got a president who stands with you," Bush said last week.
That approach is applauded by the Cuban exile community in Florida, many of whom supported Bush in the disputed 2000 election that sent him to the White House and now back his brother Jeb's re-election as Florida's governor.
But in Washington, where a group of lawmakers is gathering support for increasing sales of food and medicine to Cuba, as well as on the streets of Havana, Bush's stance disappoints.
"We had hoped that Carter's visit would be the start of better relations, because no matter what our governments do, the people of the United States and the people of Cuba are friendly," said Luis Herrera, a taxi driver outside the Habana Libre hotel. "Carter cares about the Cuban people. Bush only listens to the Florida mafia."
For impoverished Cubans, whose economy took a nose dive when the Soviet Union collapsed a decade ago, opening trade with the United States would mean more food and clothing at government stores and a greater variety of goods everywhere.
And for those lucky enough to have jobs in tourism, where U.S. dollars flow as freely as Coca-Cola (imported from Mexico to skirt the trade embargo), easing travel restrictions on Americans would be a huge boost.
Castro, who once denounced tourism as a capitalist decadence, embraced it about 10 years ago in an effort to cash in on Cuba's beautiful beaches and nearly pristine diving sites. In 1993, he made the dollar legal tender here, along with the Cuban peso.
Since then, with the help of foreign investors, Cuba has developed glitzy golf and beach resorts and erected hotels and restaurants that cater to 350,000 tourists a year from all over Latin America as well as Canada and Europe.
Before the tourism boom, virtually all Cubans were relatively equal in their poverty. But now, there are two classes of Cubans -- those who have dollars and those who don't.
The "haves" talk on cell phones, dance and sip mojitos in Havana's swanky nightclubs, and shop in stores that until just a few years ago required a foreign passport for entrance.
The "have-nots" stand in line for hours for a short supply of rationed food and clothing. They beg, "Money for baby's milk," or demand a dollar to smile for a tourist's camera or to open a door.
Even the grand Coppelia ice cream parlor in the city center -- a traditional gathering place for all Havana residents -- is now divided. Those with dollars go to the head of the line. Those without stand for hours and are sometimes still waiting when the ice cream runs out.
"It's very bad for those who don't have dollars, but what can you do," said Raciel Hernandez, 41, as he shelled out a greenback for a bottle of Heineken at a local cafe.
Still, he said, "We are all Cubans, and we know each other. If you don't have enough money, you say to your friend, `I'll pay you tomorrow.' And if he works at a government restaurant, he says, `Don't worry, it's not my money,' and you don't pay."
But although Cubans are now divided into economic classes, none of them has what tourists do.
The elaborate seafood buffets at tourist hotels and beach resorts are off-limits to Cubans. Nor can they stay in the hotels, even if they can afford to pay in dollars.
The only exception is when they are on their honeymoon. In that case, a night in a state-run hotel is a gift from the Cuban government.
Still, those who work in tourism have much better access to dollars and want to see more such jobs created.
Tourism is now the country's fastest-growing industry and accounts for more than 40 percent of its economy.
"I'm very optimistic about the future," said Cuban Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz. He said that later this year, Cuba hopes to start drawing Canadian snowbirds away from Florida's beaches to this Caribbean island of 11 million people.
"Canadians are our No. 1 tourist group, followed by Germans and Italians," Ferradaz said. "We've been studying this, and by next winter, we'll have what they want here.
"And the day the U.S. travel ban is lifted, the number of North American tourists here will increase dramatically," he added.
Last year, about 80,000 U.S. citizens traveled to Cuba, Ferradaz said. About half carried licenses from the U.S. government, giving them permission to spend dollars as they visited family or took educational or cultural tours to study the country's music or agricultural techniques.
The other half came illegally, skirting U.S. travel restrictions by arriving on flights from Mexico, Canada or one of the Caribbean islands and paying their bills in cash.
"We don't mark their passports, so unless the U.S. government has a satellite looking down on them in Cuba, no one knows they've been here," Ferradaz said.
He estimates that if the United States were to lift the travel ban, the number of U.S. tourists would jump to 1 million the first year, and five years out, that number would rise to 5 million annually.
A recent poll of Florida's Cuban-American community showed most supporting the U.S. trade embargo on their homeland, even though many send dollars to support family members left behind when they fled across the Florida Straits.
But on the issue of tourism to Cuba, the exiles were split, indicating it may one day be politically popular to allow Americans to travel freely again.
The telephone poll of 800 Cuban-Americans in the Miami area, conducted in April for the Cuban Study Group, showed that 46 percent favor the travel restrictions, compared with 47 percent who oppose them. The rest gave no opinion.
But Ferradaz said the reality is that regardless of where official U.S. policy is headed, curious Americans will find ways to visit Cuba, just as they always have.
"The president of the United States can do what he wants, and what the citizens of the United States permit him to do," he said. "But whatever happens on Monday in the United States, it will be like any other day of the week in Cuba. He won't stop the Earth from spinning. People will still come here."
Carter should just butt out (Mouthpiece for ADM?)
Carter's speech likely to bring support from EU - I guess no one was listening to President Bush.
Among the measures:
o Offering scholarships for study in the United States to family members of political prisoners and to Cuban students and professionals trying to build independent civil institutions.
o Negotiating for direct mail service between Cuba and the United States. Mail must now go through a third country.
o Providing direct assistance to Cubans through nongovernmental organizations, sidestepping the Castro regime's role in assistance.
o Facilitating and permitting humanitarian assistance by American religious and other nongovernmental groups. ***
Cuban Americans send $800 million dollars to relatives in Cuba each year. Those most adament about maintaining the policy are the ones most guilty of undermining the policy.
The younger generation of Cuban Americans tend to favor a change in policy.
When you're so close to achieving your goal, you don't hand the other team the ball. We must not lift the embargo and prop up Castro. Look at Venezuela and Columbia. Castro is not dead yet and he's as determined as ever to work against free societies and promote communism. Just because there isn't a perfect solution (there aren't many perfect solutions in life), you don't throw up your hands and walk away. Ever since the Soviet Union fell ( thanks to Reagan, Thatcher and the Pope) the Castro regime has been a dead man walking. It would be pure insanity to resuscitate him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.