[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3602-S3603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               EASING UNITED STATES SANCTIONS TOWARD CUBA

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, as you know, I have spoken at length in this 
Chamber about the need to review United States policy toward Cuba. 
Therefore, I was very pleased to see reported in the Washington Post 
this morning that President Clinton is considering taking some modest 
steps toward altering the existing sanctions policy, in favor of more 
communication and contact between the Cuban and American people.
  As I understand it, what is under consideration is the rolling back 
of last August's sanctions that were imposed during the Cuban migrant 
crisis--sanctions that have prohibited Cuban-Americans from sending 
money to family members in Cuba or visiting them, except in cases of 
dire emergency.
  I believe that the President will find that there is a great deal of 
support for taking these steps within the Cuban-American community--
many of whom have been forced to sit back and do nothing to cushion the 
severe economic hardships they see their loved ones on the island 
enduring. I would urge the President to move forward with these 
measures, if for no other reason than on humanitarian grounds.
  In addition to rolling back the August sanctions, the President 
appears to be considering whether to set forth a list of steps that the 
Cuban Government might take to elicit the calibrated easing of United 
States sanctions policy. This technique was contemplated a number of 
years ago when relations with Castro had temporarily thawed, but was 
overtaken by events before it was ever implemented. It is clearly worth 
exploring.
  After more than 30 years of mistrust, confidence building measures on 
both sides will be needed in order to lay the groundwork for productive 
negotiations on issues of mutual concern to both countries. Someone 
must make the first gesture. I believe that if President Clinton acts 
affirmatively on the policy changes currently before him, he will be 
taking that very important first step. I would urge that he do so.
  I would ask unanimous consent that an article entitled ``Clinton May 
Ease Sanctions on Cuba'' that appeared in the Washington Post on March 
7, 1995 be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [The Washington Post, Tuesday, March 7, 1995]

                   Clinton May Ease Sanctions on Cuba

                  (By Daniel Williams and Ann Devroy)

       President Clinton's foreign policy advisers are 
     recommending he take steps toward easing relations with Cuba 
     by revoking some economic sanctions adopted against the 
     nation in August, administration officials said yesterday.
       The proposal, which has not yet been accepted by Clinton, 
     would lift the ban that blocks Cuban exiles from sending cash 
     to relatives on the island and would ease severe limits on 
     travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens.
       In addition, the advisers recommend issuing a list of steps 
     that Cuban President Fidel Castro could take to qualify for a 
     ``calibrated response'' by the United States. That could lead 
     to talks on issues that have separated the two countries for 
     more than 30 years, the officials said.
       Any easing of restrictions would put Clinton into a 
     confrontation with Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), chairman of the 
     Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has drawn up 
     legislation designed to tighten economic sanctions on Cuba.
       Helms, other conservative Republicans, some anti-Castro 
     Democratic legislators and the Cuban exile communities in 
     Florida and New Jersey have long favored tougher treatment of 
     Castro.
       Senior foreign policy advisers have prepared a memo for 
     Clinton to make the case that the August sanctions, which 
     formed part of the U.S. effort to persuade Castro to stop the 
     flow of Cuban boat people to America, succeeded and should 
     now be removed.
       During the summer, a relaxing of coastal surveillance by 
     Castro ignited a massive exodus of raft people, 30,000 of 
     whom took to the seas for Florida.
       The outpouring caused Clinton to reverse longstanding U.S. 
     policy and bar their landing on U.S. soil.
       Since 1963, Cubans who arrived on U.S. shores had been all 
     but guaranteed automatic political asylum.
       But Clinton feared an immigration crisis at a time of a 
     nationwide political backlash against newcomers.
       So most of the Cubans were sent to the U.S. Naval Base at 
     Guantanamo Bay on Cuba's southeastern tip.
       The decision not to admit the Cubans angered many in the 
     Cuban-American community.
       So, to mollify them as well as punish Castro, Clinton 
     agreed to tighten the three-decade-old ban on trade with 
     Cuba. The new sanctions included a bar on the sending of cash 
     to relatives by Cuban Americans.
       In addition, travel to this island was sharply restricted, 
     as visits by relatives were curtailed and a Treasury 
     Department permit was required for trips by educational 
     researchers and other groups.
       [[Page S3603]] At the time, the Clinton administration 
     estimated that the ban on cash remittances and reduced travel 
     would cost the Cuban economy an estimated $150 million per 
     year. The new actions under consideration would not affect 
     the rest of the trade ban.
       Soon after imposing the tougher sanctions, the United 
     States entered talks with Cuba aimed at easing the 
     immigration crisis. The two sides reached a deal in which 
     Cuba, in return for again blocking the outflow of raft 
     people, received a guarantee of 20,000 visas a year for its 
     citizens to go to the United States. The administration 
     rejected a bid by Cuba to revoke the new sanctions as part of 
     the immigration deal.
       The time has come, some U.S. officials believe, to test 
     whether Castro is willing to make deep economic and political 
     reforms, a senior administration official said. The 
     administration has engaged in a low-level debate over most of 
     the past two years on whether to try to encourage political 
     liberalization in Cuba by engaging Castro and loosening the 
     overall trade embargo against the island nation.
       Some mid-level State Department officials and others had 
     proposed for months that Washington engage Castro either to 
     help avert chaos surrounding a future succession or, in case 
     of chaos, to establish a relationship that could avoid more 
     refugee waves.
       But the White House saw no political gain for easing 
     relations. Last fall, Secretary of State Warren Christopher 
     said Castro would have to make political reforms before the 
     United States could engage on such issues as the embargo, 
     eased travel relations and diplomatic relations.
       The administration, before making a ``calibrated 
     response,'' will be looking for wider economic reforms to 
     establish a free market on the island as well as political 
     reforms, including the stationing of human rights monitors on 
     the island, the senior official said.
     

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