[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 158 (Thursday, October 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15094-S15095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY [LIBERTAD] ACT OF 1995

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the substitute 
Cuban 

[[Page S 15095]]
Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of which I was privileged to be 
an original cosponsor, and intend, if I am not, to be a cosponsor of 
the substitute.
  Mr. President, for decades we in America faced down Fidel Castro's 
threats to our security, and his efforts to spread communism in our 
hemisphere. The worldwide struggle against communism is over, and 
democracy and market economies have won. It may be too easy in that 
global context to simply take Castro and his continued power in Cuba as 
a curiosity--a harmless relic of a bygone age. But it is much more than 
that.
  His continued governance of Cuba represents the continuation of 
dictatorship and denial of human rights to the people of Cuba. The 
valiant struggle of the Cuban people to liberate themselves from the 
yoke of Castro's Communist regime goes on. We in our turn owe it to 
them, and to our principles, to remain steadfast in support of their 
struggle. The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, of which I was a cosponsor, 
established a policy, now carried out by the Clinton administration, 
which is to maintain pressure on the Castro regime for peaceful 
democratic and market reform.
  Mr. President, it is pleasing to note that we are seeing progress as 
a result of that policy. Without Soviet aid, the Cuban economy 
continues to deteriorate. With freedom and democracy growing throughout 
the Western Hemisphere, Castro cannot long silence the voices of the 
Cuban people in an era marked by a growing wave of self-determination 
and democracy. The Cuban people will not long be stifled in their 
desire to realize for themselves the better life that millions and 
millions more people around the world have achieved within the last 
decade. So by any reasonable calculus, by any rational predictor of the 
course of history, the days of the Castro regime are numbered.
  The question that the substitute before us poses is should we now 
relent and allow the Cuban economy to expand? Should we give Castro 
thereby a new lease on life? Should we leave the Cuban people to suffer 
longer under what remains as an oppressive regime? Or instead, should 
we increase our economic pressure on Cuba which is working? Should we 
renew our commitment to a peaceful transition to democracy and 
political and economic freedom?
  That is the choice we now face. And my answer to the question is to 
choose the latter course; to increase the economic pressure, and to 
strongly renew our commitment to a peaceful transition for the Cuban 
people to economic opportunity and political freedom.
  The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act builds on the Cuban 
Democracy Act of 1992. It is a continuation and a strengthening of a 
policy that is working. This bill extends the economic sanctions to 
keep economic pressure on the regime in Cuba. At the same time, it 
extends a message of hope to the Cuban people by establishing a basis 
for United States assistance to the democratic Cuba of the future.
  Mr. President, the triumph of freedom over communism--the worldwide 
triumph of freedom over communism--cannot be considered complete while 
the people of Cuba, our neighbors, remain oppressed by a dictator on 
their island in our hemisphere.
  So I urge my colleagues to vote for this substitute. Changes have 
been made which I think improve the measure from the original 
introduced, and which I hope will broaden the base of those in both 
parties who can support this proposal.
  Tonight, if that is when the vote on cloture occurs, I intend to vote 
for cloture. And I urge my colleagues of both parties to do likewise.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, what is the parliamentary situation?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The issue before the Senate is the second-
degree amendment of the Senator from Missouri [Mr. Ashcroft] to a 
first-degree amendment to the Cuba bill.
  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment be 
temporarily laid aside that I be allowed up to 10 minutes to speak as 
if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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