Posted on 10/10/2003 10:06:34 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
11:03 A.M. EDT - The Rose Garden
THE PRESIDENT: Hola. Sientese. Thank you for coming. Welcome to the Rose Garden. It's my honor to host you for an important policy announcement.
I'm proud to be joined by our great Secretary of State Colin Powell and a son of Cuba, a graduate of the Pedro Pan program -- (applause) -- Mel Martinez. (Applause.) I'm also pleased to be joined with other members who will be -- of my administration who will be charged with implementing policy. From the Department of Homeland Security, Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson is with us today. (Applause.) From the Treasury Department, Rick Newcomb, Director of the Office of Foreign Asset Control, is with us today. Rick, thank you for coming. (Applause.) Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, Roger Noriega is with us today. (Applause.) Y, por fin, from my staff, Envoy Otto Reich. (Applause.)
As well, we're honored to have distinguished members of the Congress with us, starting with the very capable and able Senator from the state of Virginia, George Allen. (Applause.) Bienvenidos, Jorge. (Laughter.) From the state of Florida, Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. (Applause.) Y su hermano, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. (Applause.) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. (Applause.) And Porter Goss. Thank you for coming. I'm honored you all are here. (Applause.)
The Secretary mentioned to me that Bob Dole is with us. Bob Dole is not with us.
One hundred and thirty-five years ago today, the struggle for Cuban freedom began at a sugar mill near Manzanillo. Carlos Manuel de Cespedas -- known as the Father of the Homeland -- led an uprising against colonial rule. Today, the struggle for freedom continues -- it hasn't ended -- in cities and towns of that beautiful island, in Castro's prisons, and in the heart of every Cuban patriot. It is carried on by brave dissidents like Oscar Elias Biscet, Marta Beatriz Roque, Leonardo Bruzon Avila.
Last year in Miami, I offered Cuba's government a way forward -- a way forward toward democracy and hope and better relations with the United States. I pledged to work with our Congress to ease bans on trade and travel between our two countries if -- and only if -- the Cuban government held free and fair elections, allowed the Cuban people to organize, assemble and to speak freely, and ease the stranglehold on private enterprise.
Since I made that offer, we have seen how the Castro regime answers diplomatic initiatives. The dictator has responded with defiance and contempt and a new round of brutal oppression that outraged the world's conscience.
In April, 75 peaceful members of Cuban opposition were given harsh prison sentences, some as long a 20 years. Their crimes were to publish newspapers, to organize petition drives, to meet to discuss the future of their country. Cuba's political prisoners subjected to beatings and solitary confinement and the denial of medical treatment. Elections in Cuba are still a sham. Opposition groups still organize and meet at their own peril. Private economic activity is still strangled. Non-government trade unions are still oppressed and suppressed. Property rights are still ignored. And most goods and services produced in Cuba are still reserved for the political elites.
Clearly, the Castro regime will not change by its own choice. But Cuba must change. So today I'm announcing several new initiatives intended to hasten the arrival of a new, free, democratic Cuba. (Applause.)
First, we are strengthening re-enforcement of those travel restrictions to Cuba that are already in place. (Applause.) U.S. law forbids Americans to travel to Cuba for pleasure. That law is on the books and it must be enforced. We allow travel for limited reasons, including visit to a family, to bring humanitarian aid, or to conduct research. Those exceptions are too often used as cover for illegal business travel and tourism, or to skirt the restrictions on carrying cash into Cuba. We're cracking down on this deception.
I've instructed the Department of Homeland Security to increase inspections of travelers and shipments to and from Cuba. We will enforce the law. (Applause.) We will also target those who travel to Cuba illegally through third countries, and those who sail to Cuba on private vessels in violation of the embargo.
You see, our country must understand the consequences of illegal travel. All Americans need to know that foreign-owned resorts in Cuba must pay wages -- must pay the wages of their Cuban workers to the government. A good soul in America who wants to be a tourist goes to a foreign-owned resort, pays the hotel bill -- that money goes to the government. The government, in turn, pays the workers a pittance in worthless pesos and keeps the hard currency to prop up the dictator and his cronies. Illegal tourism perpetuates the misery of the Cuban people. And that is why I've charged the Department of Homeland Security to stop that kind of illegal trafficking of money. (Applause.)
By cracking down on the illegal travel, we will also serve another important goal. A rapidly growing part of Cuba's tourism industry is the illicit sex trade, a modern form of slavery which is encouraged by the Cuban government. This cruel exploitation of innocent women and children must be exposed and must be ended. (Applause.)
Second, we are working to ensure that Cubans fleeing the dictatorship do not risk their lives at sea. My administration is improving the method through which we identify refugees, and redoubling our efforts to process Cubans who seek to leave. We will better inform Cubans of the many routes to safe and legal entry into the United States through a public outreach campaign in southern Florida and inside Cuba itself. We will increase the number of new Cuban immigrants we welcome every year. (Applause.) We are free to do so, and we will, for the good of those who seek freedom. Our goal is to help more Cubans safely complete their journey to a free land.
Third, our government will establish a Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba, to plan for the happy day when Castro's regime is no more and democracy comes to the island. This commission will be co-chaired by the Secretary of State, Colin Powell; and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Mel Martinez. They will draw upon experts within our government to plan for Cuba's transition from Stalinist rule to a free and open society, to identify ways to hasten the arrival of that day. (Applause.)
The transition to freedom will present many challenges to the Cuban people and to America, and we will be prepared. America is not alone in calling for freedom inside of Cuba. Countries around the globe and the United Nations Human Rights Commission increasingly recognize the oppressive nature of the Castro regime, and have denounced its recent crackdowns. We will continue to build a strong international coalition to advance the cause of freedom inside of Cuba.
In addition to the measures I've announced today, we continue to break the information embargo that the Cuban government has imposed on its people for a half a century. Repressive governments fear the truth, and so we're increasing the amount and expanding the distribution of printed material to Cuba, of Internet-based information inside of Cuba, and of AM-FM and shortwave radios for Cubans.
Radio and TV Marti are bringing the message of freedom to the Cuban people. This administration fully recognizes the need to enhance the effectiveness of Radio and TV Marti. Earlier this year, we launched a new satellite service to expand our reach to Cuba. On May 20th, we staged the historic flight of Commando Solo, an airborne transmission system that broke through Castro's jamming efforts. Tyrants hate the truth; they jam messages. And on that day, I had the honor of speaking to the Cuban people in the native language.
It's only the beginning of a more robust effort to break through to the Cuban people. This country loves freedom and we know that the enemy of every tyrant is the truth. We're determined to bring the truth to the people who suffer under Fidel Castro. (Applause.)
Cuba has a proud history of fighting for freedom, and that fight goes on. In all that lies ahead, the Cuban people have a constant friend in the United States of America. No tyrant can stand forever against the power of liberty, because the hope of freedom is found in every heart. So today we are confident that no matter what the dictator intends or plans, Cuba sera pronto libre. (Applause.)
De nuevo, Cuba libre. Thank you all. (Applause.)
END 11:17 A.M. EDT
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As an aside, I notice that the President broadcast in Spanish to the Cuban people. I had not ever heard that story.
US law also forbids illegal aliens from entering and remaining in our country. Those laws are on the books. How come they don't have to be enforced?
That's the standard "I Love Castro, I hate the U.S." line.
I was flipping around to find the speech. I guess Brigitte Quinn doesn't feel Cuba rates covering Bush's speech.
Not that I want to visit Cuba, but I don't appreciate the Government dictating where I can or can not go. If that is legitimate, so are Castro's laws preventing Cubans from leaving their country. It's simply a matter of degree.
Well I did. I was at a cookout when the discussion of politics came up. One guest works as a radio reporter for ABC news in the D.C. area. A couple of people were beating up on Bush and saying how deceptive and dumb his is (It always amazes me how LIBERALS never have any trouble shooting off their mouths and think everyone around them thinks the same thing.). So this reporter starts laughing and saying how they sit around the news room listening to Bush and laugh at how stupid he is. Then she went on to talk about how rich people can get their kids into any school and that they pay their secretaries to write their kid's papers.
I had had it. I looked at her and asked her if she had proof Bush had been helped through school. She appeared SHOCKED that I would interrupt and question her. She paused, said no and mumbled something about it was just so obvious.....and then the conversation dwindled off on to something else.
Don't Forget the Victims In Castro's Gulag***All this is classic Castro "justice." His crimes against humanity have been reported by hundreds of former prisoners. They are heartbreaking to anyone with a heart. Yet there is also something enormously empowering about these heroes. Roberto De Miranda's wife put it well when she said, "I felt such great pride when I saw him and when I saw him I felt more courage to continue struggling even more than I do now."
Dr. Biscet has written: "I say to my brothers in exile, the international community and the Cuban people that I feel kidnapped only for defending the right to life and the right of all Cubans to live in freedom. What inspires me is alive: God and the great teachers of non-violence present today more than ever. As Martin Luther King said: 'If a nation is capable of finding amongst its ranks of people 5% willing to go voluntarily to prison for a cause they consider just, then no obstacle will stand in their way.'"
That is precisely what Castro fears. The Free World has a moral obligation to pay attention to the victims in his gulag. ***
TRADE WITH PLANTATION CUBA?***The matter of Cuba's benighted revolution continues to grip the interest of Americans-or so one might conclude from the fact that a recent panel discussion on the U.S. embargo against Cuba drew a lunchtime crowd of some 400 persons to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco.
The large audience had mostly come to show support for relaxing the current laws against commerce with Cuba. The embargo, its opponents aver, has not brought positive changes to Cuban society. An American economic presence in Cuba, they say, can only be more beneficial than its absence has been.
An abundant irony is that many people who make this argument are those who still sentimentalize Castro. At the San Francisco meeting, the loudest applause went to a speaker who restated the very litanies the regime has employed for nearly fifty years to justify itself. And in the face of conventional wisdom, one must clarify that the embargo law was never meant to cause reform in Cuba. Its purpose was to turn away from a regime that-under the guise of "socialization" -had just stolen about one billion dollars in U.S. properties.
The heart of the current anti-embargo stand is a plea for "constructive engagement." Its advocates posit that when American citizens come face to face with Cuban citizens, mutual understanding will flower and democratic tendencies will spread. Actually, some of that did happen when Castro's regime opened the door to family visits by Cuban exiles; but business-to-business relations are much more doubtful, because independent enterprise does not exist in Cuba. American companies would be dealing not with Cuban counterparts but directly-and whether they know it or not-with Castro's security forces; a prospect that offers no hope of amelioration to ordinary Cubans.
Unlike U.S. companies, Cuba's enterprises are completely dominated by government officials and informants. Any sign of disloyalty can bring the gravest consequence. Workers have no right to collective bargaining; any attempt to organize among workers is met with ostracism, demotion, dismissal, or with arrest and lengthy imprisonment. Foreign businesses that employ Cuban workers do not pay those workers directly. Payments are made to the state, which keeps nearly all the money and doles out a pittance to workers who receive, on average, about fifteen dollars a month. The fact that even so small an amount is paid in dollars makes the deal attractive to Cubans, who gladly accept jobs in foreign companies.
This setup is a potential boon to offshore investors who can acquire the services of skilled workers without labor troubles, and without concerns about how workers are treated. A further irony-given the extensive support Castro's regime has enjoyed in the West-is that such arrangements, far from fostering a general welfare, have led to the kind of hyper-exploitation that once occurred in pre-capitalist, feudal societies.
Even if our Western countries have no current experience in this regard, we do have words for a condition in which people must do as they are told, say and think as they are told, work as they are told, consume as they are told, live where they are told-with one's only chance for a self-determined life residing in escape. One of those words is serfdom; another is slavery. ***
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Yankee Doodle Castro***Once we had Fidel the heroic champion of Third World peoples against the capitalist exploiters. Now it's Fidel the capitalist exploiters' King Pimp ... "Psssst, Meester Canadian? Pssst, Herr German? Psssst, Signorino Italiano? … You wan' my seester? ... first time for you, meester ... here's photo ... only 12 years old ... Nice, hunh?"
Havana recently topped Bangkok as "child-sex capital of the world." Consider the human tragedy, the desperation of poor people driven to such things in such numbers, and after 43 years of "liberation" and "national dignity."
18,000 riddled by firing squads. Half a million incarcerated. 50,000 drowned or ripped apart by sharks in the Florida Straits. Thousands more slaughtered in Africa for Moscow. Two million exiled. And we wind up with a nation that in 1959 had a higher living standard than Belgium or Italy, had a lower infant mortality rate than France, had net immigration, as child prostitution capital of the world.
Friends, are you beginning to understand why we get a trifle "emotional" or "unreasonable" when we hear some imbecile professor or boneheaded politician yapping about "the good things" Castro has done for Cuba?***
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