[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 119 (Saturday, August 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
     ADMINISTRATION BEGINS POSITIVE APPROACH IN DEALING WITH CASTRO

  (Mr. TORRICELLI asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. Speaker, there are still those who see Fidel 
Castro as they would have him rather than as he really is. This week 
those who had hoped for the best got their message. Fidel Castro began 
taking the money sent from relatives in America and selling rafts and 
small boats so that helpless people could go into the Florida Straits 
and lose their lives but serve his political purpose in putting 
political pressure on the United States.
  Regrettably, yesterday, the administration reached the judgment that 
we would no longer accept these desperately poor Cuban refugees into 
the United States. While I disagree with the decision, I want to 
commend the administration for a series of announcements they will make 
on this day. Not turning a blind eye to Castro's outrages, the 
administration will begin restricting the wiring of funds into Cuba, 
knowing that they will be misused by the Castro government to send 
people to their deaths in the straits, and begin restricting travel by 
aircraft into Cuba. The administration is acting, not turning a blind 
eye to the fact that Castro by the hundreds is arresting people in the 
streets of Havana who would stand up for their own rights.
  Mr. Speaker, we are reaching a decisive moment in the struggle for 
freedom in Cuba. On this day I commend the administration for leading 
that fight.

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