[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 30 (Wednesday, February 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2678-S2679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            AN ENLIGHTENED UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD CUBA

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, last month I spoke in this Chamber about the 
need for a serious reexamination of United States policy toward Cuba. 
In the weeks since quite the opposite has occurred. Instead, we seem to 
be rushing toward an intensification of the current policy.
  That policy, consisting of a rigidly enforced embargo and an aversion 
to any significant dialog with Cuba, has, as best I understand them, 
three goals: to promote a peaceful transition to democracy; to support 
economic liberalization; and to foster greater respect for human rights 
while controlling immigration from Cuba.
  These three goals have guided our national policy toward Cuba for the 
more than 30 years I have been in this body, Mr. President, yet there 
has been scant progress toward achieving any of them. There is still a 
government in Cuba which is not freely elected, which is only just 
beginning tentative steps toward a market economy, and which continues 
to fall short of international standards in the area of respect for 
human rights.
  Therefore, I can only conclude that this policy is not only outdated 
and ineffective, but, far worse, it is counterproductive. It seems to 
me that the time has come to admit the obvious. The policy is a failure 
and will never achieve its stated objectives.
  [[Page S2679]] I believe that, rather than tightening the embargo and 
further isolating Cuba, the United States should expand contact with 
the Cuban people and enter into negotiations on all issues of mutual 
concern to our two countries, including the lifting of the economic 
embargo.
  I say this not because of any regard for the Government in Havana, a 
one-party state with a record of intolerance toward dissident voices 
within the society. Rather, I say this because, if our country and Cuba 
are to break the impasse that has existed in our relations for more 
than three decades, someone must take the first step in that direction. 
I believe it is in the U.S. national interest to take that first step--
to agree to sit down at a negotiating table, where all issues can be 
discussed.
  In the meantime, there should be greater contact between our own 
citizens and the Cuban people. Such contact will serve to plant the 
seeds of change and advance the cause of democracy on that island. Just 
as greater exchange with the West helped hasten the fall of communism 
in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, so, too, it can achieve 
the same results much closer to our shores.
  Liberal Democrats are not alone in holding this view. Former 
President Richard Nixon wrote shortly before his death last year, ``we 
should drop the economic embargo and open the way to trade, investment, 
and economic interaction.'' Learned people across the political 
spectrum have made similar comments and observations about the policy.
  Why? Because they have all observed across the globe that policies 
which foster greater commerce
 and communication between countries work and those which engender 
isolation and enforced misery don't work. It has been impossible for 
those who would seek to defend the status quo to cite an instance in 
modern history where a policy of forced isolation has successfully 
transformed a totalitarian state into a democracy.

  United States travel restrictions to and from Cuba are among the most 
prohibitive in the world--this to an island that is only 90 miles from 
our shores. At this point, only United States Government officials and 
journalists have unrestricted access to Cuba and only a small 
percentage of Cubans who apply are allowed to travel to the United 
States each year. Legislation recently introduced in the Senate would 
restrict binational contacts even further.
  Mr. President, do we as a nation not have enough faith in the power 
of our democratic system to let contact between our citizens and other 
peoples flourish? In my view, the strongest advocate for democracy and 
a free-market economy would be a Cuban student or family member who had 
recently visited the United States and seen the sharp contrast between 
our way of life and that in Cuba.
  Current policy not only denies the United States the opportunity to 
promote positive change in Cuba, but it increases the likehihood of 
widespread political violence and another mass exodus of refugees to 
Florida. The Cuban Government, which is vigorously pursuing expanding 
political and economic ties with the rest of the world, is unlikely to 
give into unilateral United States demands. Nor is there much 
indication that a viable opposition currently exists within Cuba to 
wrest power from existing authorities.
  We have made it very easy for Cuban authorities to justify the lack 
of political freedom in Havana. They simply point to the external 
threat posed by a hostile U.S. policy. That justification would lose 
all credibility were we to adopt a more reasoned U.S. policy. Cuban 
authorities would then be hard pressed to justify the denial of 
political rights and economic opportunities that the Cuban people 
readily observe elsewhere.
  Mr. President, it will be an incredible legacy of whatever 
administration succeeds in achieving what all the United States 
administrations of the past 30 years have failed to do--to bring about 
the peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. At last all the peoples 
of the hemisphere would truly be one family, united by common 
principles and values.
  It will require political courage to abandon this antiquated and 
ineffective policy. Old hatreds and vested interests have, heretofore, 
held us captive. However, I believe the rewards of a new policy of 
engagement will be so great that embarking on it will outweigh the 
political risks.
  Mr. President, I urge the administration to take the first step 
toward a new and enlightened policy--a policy that can once again unite 
Americans and Cubans. I extend my support and effort in that endeavor. 
I urge my colleagues to join me as well.


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