[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 75 (Monday, May 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6233-S6234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  CUBA

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I first want to say a few words about 
our policy toward a neighboring country, Cuba.
  The United States objectives in Cuba are not in dispute. Our primary 
objective is to move Cuba to a more democratic form of government and 
to a government with a greater respect for human rights. Also, of 
course, we want to see the lives of the Cuban people improve 
economically, and we want to see our historically close ties with this 
island neighbor restored.
  First, let us review some of the facts that led us to the present 
circumstances we find ourselves in. Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba 
some 34 years ago, when I was still in high school and before several 
Members of this Congress were even born. He quickly established an 
authoritarian and anti-United States regime. He declared himself a 
Marxist-Leninist in December 1961. Early in 1961, the United States 
broke diplomatic relations with Cuba.
  A year later, in February 1962, we imposed a comprehensive trade 
embargo. The reasons cited for that were three.
  First, Castro's expropriation without compensation, much property 
owned by U.S. citizens, in excess of $1 billion.
  Second, the Castro regime's obvious efforts to export revolution to 
other parts of the world.
  And, third, the increasingly close ties that existed then between 
Castro's Government and the Soviet Union.
  That was 33 years ago. During the past 33 years, we have maintained 
the trade embargo in place. In April 1961, we tried unsuccessfully in 
the Bay of Pigs to have Castro overthrown militarily. We began in 1985 
to use Radio Marti to undermine Cuban support for Fidel Castro, and in 
the Bush administration just a few years ago we added TV Marti to the 
mix, as well.
  In 1992, we passed the Cuban Democracy Act in an effort to tighten 
our trade sanctions. This year, we are being urged by some in this body 
to pass a new and tough measure entitled [[Page S6234]] ``The Cuban 
Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act'' in order to give Castro what 
the supporters of that legislation refer to as the ``final push.''
  With all due respect to President Clinton and to many here in 
Congress, our policy toward Cuba today is still captive of the cold war 
mentality that created it in the first place. Simply put, the world has 
changed, and we continue to pretend otherwise.
  Mr. President, this is 1995. Our 34-year-old policy of trying to 
remove or alter the behavior of Fidel Castro by isolating him 
diplomatically, politically, and economically has failed. History has 
passed that policy by. And the cold war, which provided much of the 
rationale for our policy, is now over.
  We have normalized relations with China--Communist China, I point 
out. We have normalized relations with the countries of Eastern Europe 
and Russia, and with all the former States of the Soviet Union.
  This morning, President Clinton goes to Moscow to meet with Boris 
Yeltsin, not to find ways to isolate Moscow or to impose sanctions on 
Moscow for their human rights abuses in Chechnya or elsewhere; our 
President travels to Moscow to strengthen our relations with that 
important country.
  Mr. President, U.S. policy toward Cuba needs to adjust to this new 
reality, just as our policy toward those other nations has adjusted. 
For over three decades, we have tried to exclude Cuba from acceptance 
by other nations. But our policy of trying to isolate Cuba 
diplomatically has made the United States the odd man out in the world 
community rather than Cuba. Of the 35-member nations of the 
Organization of American States, all but 5 recognize the Cuban 
Government and have normal diplomatic relations with it.
  The Senator from North Carolina, who chairs the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee, argues that the way out of this absurd situation 
is to turn up the pressure on Castro. As he says, ``It is time to give 
Castro the final push.''
  Mr. President, the sanctions and the embargoes and the pressure that 
we put on Castro in the past 34 years have not undermined the support 
of the Cuban people for his Government as we have wished. In fact, a 
strong case can be made that the constant menacing by Uncle Sam has 
been used very effectively by Castro to divert the attention of the 
Cuban people from the shortcomings of his own Government and his own 
policies.
  Mr. President, this administration has been slow to face the need to 
change in our policy toward Cuba. But last week, we hopefully saw the 
beginning of a more rational policy toward that nation. Last week, the 
administration announced that in the future, illegal immigrants from 
Cuba will be treated as other illegal immigrants into this country, and 
I for one hope that more steps will follow.
  For example, as I stated here in the Senate several weeks ago, I 
believe the President should act to end the travel ban on Americans who 
wish to travel to Cuba. The President should also restore the right of 
Cuban-Americans to make small remittances to their families and to 
their relatives in Cuba. In my view, the time has also come when we 
should begin to normalize trade relations with that country.
  Mr. President, I realize that it is politically difficult to change a 
long-established policy. It is especially difficult given the political 
posturing that is preceding our upcoming Presidential election. But the 
time has come to acknowledge that our current policy toward Cuba has 
failed miserably. Newt Gingrich referred yesterday to Cuba as ``a relic 
of an age that is gone.'' I agree that Castro's Government is an 
anachronism. But it is no more so than our own misguided policy for 
dealing with that country.
  Most agree that President Nixon's greatest achievement was his 
decision to change United States foreign policy and move toward normal 
relations with Communist China. That was many years ago, when the cold 
war was still very much with us. Now the cold war is over, and a new 
and a reasonable policy for our relations with Cuba is long overdue.
  I for one believe that the responsible course for us to proceed with 
is to establish a new policy now.

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