Speech: Bush Refuses to Lift Cuba Embargo

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Monday refused to support lifting the Cuban trade embargo unless Fidel Castro releases political prisoners, conducts independently monitored elections and accepts a list of tough new U.S. conditions for a "new government that is fully democratic."

"Freedom sometimes grows step by step, and we will encourage those steps," the president said, outlining his new U.S. policy on Cuban Independence Day.

Seeking to balance his hard-line policy with a sensitivity to Cuba's grinding poverty, the president outlined administration actions designed to make life better for the Cuban people. One initiative would resume direct mail service to and from Cuba.

Bush's speech, which aides said has been in the works since January, came a week after former President Carter traveled to Cuba and urged the people to embrace democracy while calling on the United States to lift the 40-year-old trade embargo.

Carter and other critics argue that the restrictions have failed to end Castro's regime while making life tough on ordinary Cubans. Bush also has been accused of shaping his policy to win support of Cuban-Americans, a force in Florida politics and thus a key to his re-election hopes.

Indeed, Bush was traveling to Miami later in the day to address Cuban-Americans eager to hear his anti-Castro rhetoric.

Speaking in Spanish at times, Bush said Cuba's legacy of freedom "has been insulted by a tyrant who uses brutal methods to enforce a bankrupt vision. That legacy has been debased by a relic from another era who has turned a beautiful island into a prison."

If all his conditions are met, Bush will support lifting the congressionally mandated trade ban - even if Castro is still in charge - said two senior White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. But they said Bush does not envision Castro's making the necessary changes, prompting the new policy designed to foment change from within the country.

"If Mr. Castro refuses our offer he will be protecting his cronies at the expense of his people and eventually, despite all his tools of oppression, Fidel Castro will need to answer to his people," Bush said.

"Well-intentioned ideas about trade will merely prop up this dictator, enrich his cronies and enhance the totalitarian regime. It will not help the Cuban people," he said.

_Allow human rights organizations to visit Cuba to ensure that the conditions for free elections are being created.

"Full normalization of relations with Cuba, diplomatic recognition, open trade and a robust aid program will only be possible when Cuba has a new government that is fully democratic, when the rule of law is respected and when the human rights of all Cubans are fully protected," Bush said.

"Meaningful reform on Cuba's part will be answered with a meaningful United States response," he said. "The choice rests with Mr. Castro."

He voiced support for a referendum in Cuba asking voters whether they favor civil liberties, including freedom of speech and assembly, and amnesty for political prisoners.

Pledging to help the Cuban people weather the nation's economic crisis, Bush called for the resumption of mail service and promised assistance to nongovernmental organizations that aid Cubans. He also pledged to create scholarships in the United States for Cuban students, family members of political prisoners and professionals trying to build civil institutions in the communist regime.

Money still needs to be found for the scholarship program, White House officials said. They said the initiatives can be carried out without congressional approval

Last week, a 40-member, bipartisan group in Congress announced support for easing the embargo. The private Human Rights Watch called for the same, saying the embargo "imposes indiscriminate hardship on the Cuban people and impedes democratic change."

Cuban-American voters helped carry him to a narrow victory in Florida, the state that decided the 2000 election, and they favor the kind of hard line he was espousing. The tough talk also could appeal to the broader Hispanic vote throughout the United States.

Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, faces re-election this year and is depending on Cuban-Americans, who vote heavily Republican.

The president was to headline a fund-raiser Monday evening for the Florida Republican Party, which will use the money to boost Jeb Bush's re-election campaign. It will be the third fund-raiser for his brother the president has attended this year.

Fomenting Freedom - Circumventing Castro to reach the Cuban people***Engaging Cuba, in fact, has the unavoidable consequence of propping up the Communist dictatorship. European money that flooded in starting in the early 1990's after the fall of the Soviet Union was vital to the survival of the regime, and it gave Castro a financial shot in the arm.

European cash almost solely lines Castro's pockets because of the way the dictator has fashioned the terms of engagement. Foreign companies must establish joint ventures with the Cuban government, with a cut of the profits going to Castro. But the despot nets more cash from the labor arrangement: Workers are not employed by foreign companies; they are rented.

Companies pay Castro's machine approximately $1,000 per month per worker, in hard cash. The regime, in turn, shells out less than $20 - per month - to each worker, in pesos. In other words, 98 percent of all wages paid by foreign companies in Cuba are funneled straight to Castro.

Because Castro has been denied American cash from such joint ventures and for several other reasons, the embargo has worked, even if it hasn't dethroned him. The embargo has put Castro in a box, and has robbed him of resources to fund his extracurricular activities. As a senior administration official noted, "If Castro has to spend $40 million on food, that's $40 million he's not spending to develop biological weapons."

Despite the morally despicable conditions for joint ventures, a large number of Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are pressing for engagement with Castro. In fairness, many simply don't understand that the communist dictatorship relies on foreign cash for its very existence, but ignorance should not be an excuse for ignorant policy.

Bush's speech may pave the way for expunging Congress's blissful ignorance, and likely will be cheered on Capitol Hill in the long run.***

You're exactly right!!!

Here's a report on the speech with the usual media bias

Front Page Editorializing: "Bush holds line on Cuba" *** MIAMI -- Playing to a constituency that was crucial to his White House win and may be key to his brother's re-election, President Bush vowed Monday to block efforts to ease restrictions on Cuba until its longtime leader Fidel Castro institutes major economic and political changes.

….. But Bush never mentioned Carter's outreach in a speech that was intended to reassure a vocal element of the Republican base in this politically important state. At the rally, Bush was introduced by his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is depending on the strong support of Cuban-Americans in his re-election campaign this November. After the rally the president attended a $25,000 a couple fund-raiser sponsored by the state Republican Party that will primarily benefit Jeb Bush's campaign.

The event, which was expected to raise $2 million, was held at the home of Armando Codina, a former business partner of the governor. A number of Democrats are vying to face Jeb Bush, the most prominent being Janet Reno, President Clinton's attorney general.

President Bush also is indebted to Cuban-Americans for their support in his narrow victory in Florida that enabled him to claim the White House. About 82 percent of the state's estimated 400,000 Cuban-American voters went for Bush over Democrat Al Gore in the 2000 race.

And since his election Bush has rewarded this constituency by appointing Cuban-Americans to influential posts. He picked Mel Martinez as secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Otto Reich, an anti-Castro hard-liner, as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemispheric Affairs. ***

Great article; thanks for pointing it out.

I'm amazed at those joint venture terms. I wouldn't have believed how starkly bad they were, but I've read the same thing from more than one source.

Tell me, do the Cuban workers hit up the European employers for more money when they're "rented"? I can't see how anyone could survive on $20 a month, even in Cuba with a minimalist cost of living.

Tell me, do the Cuban workers hit up the European employers for more money when they're "rented"? I can't see how anyone could survive on $20 a month, even in Cuba with a minimalist cost of living.

I think that's the going rental rate. The money goes through Castro before it gets to the workers. $20 is bad. It's even worse because it's paid to them in pesos. Some people run small low profile enterprises on the side to add to their income and I imagine a lot of bartering goes on. Then there is the meager care package Castro hands out every month with rice, beans, tooth paste and soap.

You stop and think. Saudi Arabia, China, and Pakistan are all as dictatorial as Castro yet because we need their oil, cheap labor, or some other commodity, we trade freely with them. Why not with Cuba?

Could it be that its because Cuba is right off the coast of Florida? With a dictator like Castro, he can basically deal with whomever he wants (like Al Queda) to facilitate a WMD launch with absolutely no time to defend. China has to worry about Russia, Pakistan has to worry about India and Saudi, well they're idiots because they have let things get to the point where their own people are more of a threat than Saddam.

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