Posted on 05/20/2002 8:16:13 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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.
To win his approval of easing restrictions, Bush said Cuba must:
_Allow opposition parties to speak freely and organize.
_Allow independent trade unions.
_Free all political prisoners.
_Allow human rights organizations to visit Cuba to ensure that the conditions for free elections are being created.
_Allow outside observers to monitor 2003 elections.
_End discriminatory practices against Cuban workers.
"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."
Politics loomed large over Bush's events Monday.
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.
Now maybe once and for all he can concentrate on coloring books and making really big decisions like which yellow crayon from the 64-pack of crayolas to use to color Big Bird's fur.
In one speech, our Stealth President has pinned Tio Fidel against the wall for the world to see what a dangerous thug he is. Then GW has proven to the world how dangerous Carter is re Carter's lust for communists and the enemies of America.
How long will it be, before Al Hunt has one of his hate opeds in the WSJ condemning GW for this speech and praising Carter/Fidel and feeling so sorry for the Cubans hurt by GW?
I would guess the next polling question will be about Cuba and sanctions, or Iraq and sanctions/war. We will have to see what the DNC talking points are this week, and then we can safely predict the poll.
President Bush leaves for Russia this week, where he will have lots of positive news. They are desperate to stop this evidence that GW knows what he's doing. The Rats are going to cause some sort of trouble, IMHO. I am looking forward to seeing President Bush and President Putin in St. Petersburg. Lots of good news from that quarter, I think.
The only "bullying" going on is in Cuba, by Castro on the Cuban people. Stop and think.
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? Because: (1) there is no economic downside to an embargo; (2) it can be used to whip the neo-cons into a pep rally; and (3) protect the Republican base in a swing state.
It has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with expediency. When it was Batista slitting throats and enriching his cronies, we didn't have a problem with it.
Was this the same Bush who signed into law the Incumbent Protection Act, which would jail Americans for so much as broadcasting a voting record immediately before an election? Hypocrite.
There's no reason America needs to cave in to Latin American countries suffereing from the effects of their own corruption.
I happen to like the Bill of Rights, Miss Marple.
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