Posted on 07/17/2004 5:38:58 PM PDT by wagglebee
TAMPA, Fla. -- President Bush on Friday accused Fidel Castro of exploiting Cuba's children by encouraging a sex-tourism industry designed to draw cash to the impoverished nation, comments certain to resonate with Cuban-American voters in the swing state of Florida.
"The regime in Havana, already one of the worst violators of human rights in the world, is adding to its crimes. The dictator welcomes sex tourism," Bush said at a conference on "human trafficking" - forced labor, sex and military service.
Bush's rival, John Kerry, agreed with the president and the Democratic campaign said human trafficking demands a coordinated international response. The Kerry campaign did take issue with the pace of Bush's response, arguing that the president had waited too long - until February of this year - to submit an international pact against trafficking to the Senate.
By combining the human-trafficking issue with his hard-line rhetoric against Castro, Bush hopes to bolster his standing with Cuban-Americans in the state that decided the 2000 election. Friday's trip was Bush's 23rd as president to Florida, and recent polls show the race tied.
Last year, the Bush administration imposed sanctions on Cuba, Burma and North Korea for failing to take steps to stop such practices. In a report last month, the State Department listed Cuba among 10 nations that engage in human trafficking.
The president said Castro had "bragged about" Cuba's sex industry and he quoted Castro as saying: "Cuba has the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world."
That apparently was a quote from a 1992 speech in which Castro said prostitution in his country was illegal, but nevertheless present. White House officials said Castro had made the statement in the early 1990s, but could not be more precise.
"There is no cleaner, purer tourism than Cuba's tourism, because there is really no drug trafficking, no gambling houses," Castro told a session of the National Assembly of the People's Government 12 years ago.
"There are no women forced to sell themselves to a man, to a foreigner, to a tourist," Castro said. "Those who do so do it on their own, voluntarily and without any need for it. We can say that they are highly educated hookers and quite healthy, because we are the country with the lowest number of AIDS cases."
But Bush said Castro has turned Cuba into a major destination for sex tourism, which is "a vital source of hard currency to keep his corrupt government afloat."
"My administration is working toward a comprehensive solution to this problem: the rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba," Bush said.
The president said an "influx of American and Canadian tourists contributed to a sharp increase in child prostitution in Cuba," a claim he attributed to a report from the Protection Project, a legal human-rights research institute based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Bush said the institute had found this was the case. In fact, the institute had cited "general news reports" suggesting that but had not independently concluded it.
Human traffickers bring as many as 17,500 people into the United States every year, trapping them in slavery-like conditions for forced sex, sweatshop labor and domestic servitude, the administration says. As many as 800,000 people were forcibly moved across borders worldwide in the last year, 80 percent of them women.
Bush did not announce any new initiatives Friday, but said his administration is combatting the problem at home and abroad by:
-Spending more than $295 million since the start of his term to support anti-trafficking programs in more than 120 countries.
-Bringing charges against 110 ringleaders.
-Helping foreign victims in America by treating them as refugees instead of illegal immigrants.
-Arresting more than 3,200 people who pay for sex slaves and other forced laborers.
Bush's campaign rally in Beckley, West Virginia, another battleground, was his 10th visit to the state as president. Kerry visited a day earlier.
At least Gorbachev had the integrity to "throw in the towel" when he realized the gig was up. Castro is one of the most evil men to ever inhabit the planet.
The President's speech and stand against the sex tourism industry got a lot of attention in the Miami press. In another dimension.
I'm shocked- Ry Cooder
I know Canadians who have gone to Cuba. Sex is part of the tour package. One british gent, over five years ago said he had rented two women for four days.
But the law professor junkets to Havana never return telling thoooooose stories.
I wonder if BJ Clinton has called his travel agent yet, unless of course the Heinz-Kerrys are loaning him their jet.
A few years ago, during a period when I was living in Spain, I read about a scandal that erupted in Germany over the habit of some German companies of paying their top producers with sex tours to Cuba. This was evidently not an uncommon practice, because in the ensuing newspaper articles, many Spaniards also mentioned being offered "las mulatas" as an incentive,with it being made clear that the mulatas in question were very, very young. (Mulatas means mulatto women, which in Spain means dark-skinnned Cuban women - and it was emphasized that they were young women, because it is believed in Europe that this lessens the man's chance of contracting AIDS.)
I read in Spain that many lower income Cuban girls start work as prostitutes at about the age of 13, and do it for a few years to help out their families until they can find other employment.
I'm sure in a few years Cuba will admit to a major AIDS crisis and Castro's American apologists will blame it on the United States not allowing trade with Cuba.
This "sex tourism" sure keeps the Germans and other Europeans coming in - and bringing their euros. The sale of sugar on the world market is not all that good, and Castro may be losing the support of Chavez in Venezuela, not because of any disagreement between the two, but because of some national reform going on in Caracas.
Kerry's "I agree but disagree", "I was for it before I was against it" leads one to believe that he is for Bush's policies and agrees with Bush and his policies, however his campaign rhetoric, is necessary for political reasons.
Yep, he'll win in November alright....
As we used to say in the Navy: "Poverty makes good liberty."
(N.B. In the Navy, "liberty" refers to party time ashore.)
"'Cuba has the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world.'"
I thought the Congressional Democrats had that title.
Don't think every Cuban female is for sale, because the fact of the matter is one can "rent" as many women for as many days as they want, in any country on earth.
Italian and Spanish tourists come to Cuba and think every Cuban woman is for sale, and treat them like trash.
I agree, but how many country's dictator for life brags about it?
No need to rent them in the United States...
Might not be any need, but, people still do it.
meanwhile in Bosnian and Kosovo where thousands of US troops are stationed alongside NATO troops - white sex slavery goes on like gangbusters. What are you waiting for President Bush? Cuba we can do little about - we have troops on the ground in the Balkans.
actually the issue has already been attacked.
He has put many contries on notice for facilitating white slavery. (selling of women for prostitute slaves)
It is not just for cuba.
This issue has been pretty much ignored during the 1990's when sex tourism really took off.
I know Bush wants to stop it but America does not have the resources - but in the Balkans we have some resources.
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