[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 161 (Wednesday, October 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15284-S15287]
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.


                Amendment No. 2934 to Amendment No. 2936

  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, my staff is on the way with an amendment. 
Let me describe the amendment and tell you what it is and say why I 
think it is important we pass the amendment.
  It is an amendment that in terms of philosophy I think my friend and 
colleague from North Carolina--and he is my friend--I think that in 
terms of philosophy he would agree to whether or not he agrees with 
this particular amendment.
  I believe American citizens ought to have the freedom to travel 
wherever they want with no barrier from our Government unless an 
American citizen is at risk. That is a different situation than we face 
right now.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Santorum). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SIMON. 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the quorum call be rescinded.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. SIMON. Mr. President, I call up amendment numbered 2934.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Illinois [Mr. Simon] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 2934 to amendment No. 2936.

  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The text of the amendment is located in the October 17, 1995, Record 
under ``Amendments Submitted.'')


                    Amendment No. 2934, as Modified

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator wish to modify his amendment?
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to modify the 
amendment with the modification I have at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment, as modified, is as follows:

       At the appropriate place insert:

     SEC.   . TRAVEL TO CUBA.

       (1) Freedom To Travel to Cuba for United States Citizens 
     and Legal Residents.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, the President shall not restrict travel to Cuba by 
     United States citizens or legal residents, except in the 
     event that armed hostilities between Cuba and the United 
     States are in progress, or where such travel presents an 
     imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety 
     of United States travelers.
       (2) Amendments to Trading With the Enemy Act.--Section 5(b) 
     of the Trading With the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. App. 5(b)) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
       ``(5) The authority granted by the President in this 
     section does not include the authority to regulate or 
     prohibit, directly or indirectly, any of the following 
     transactions incident to travel to or from Cuba by 
     individuals who are citizens or residents of the United 
     States:
       ``(A) Any transactions ordinarily incident to travel to or 
     from Cuba, including the importation into Cuba or the United 
     States of accompanied baggage for personal use only.
       ``(B) Any transactions ordinarily incident to travel to or 
     maintenance within Cuba, including the payment of living 
     expenses and the acquisition of goods and services for 
     personal use.
       ``(C) Any transactions ordinarily incident to the 
     arrangement, promotion, or facilitation of travel to or 
     within Cuba.
       ``(D) Any transactions ordinarily incident to non-scheduled 
     air, sea, or land voyages, except that this subparagraph does 
     not authorize the carriage of articles into Cuba except 
     accompanied baggage.
       ``(E) Normal banking transactions incident to the 
     foregoing, including the issuance, clearing, processing, or 
     payment of checks, drafts, travelers checks, credit or debit 
     card instruments, negotiable instruments, or similar 
     instruments.

     This paragraph does not authorize the importation into the 
     United States of any goods for personal consumption acquired 
     in Cuba other than those items described in paragraph (4).''
       ``(6) The authority granted to the President in this 
     subsection does not include the authority to regulate or 
     prohibit, directly or indirectly, travel to Cuba incident to
       ``(A) activities of scholars;
       ``(B) other educational or academic activities;
       ``(C) exchanges in furtherance of any such activities;
       ``(D) cultural activities and exchanges; or
       ``(E) public exhibitions or performances by the nationals 
     of one country in another country,

     to the extent that any such activities, exchanges, 
     exhibitions, or performances are not otherwise controlled for 
     export under section 5 of the Export Administration Act of 
     1979 and to the extent that, with respect to such activities, 
     exchanges, exhibitions, or performances, no acts are 
     prohibited by chapter 37 of title 18, U.S. Code.'' 

[[Page S 15285]]

       (3) Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.--Section 620(a) of the 
     Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2370(a)) is amended 
     by adding at the end thereof the following:
       ``(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the authority granted 
     to the President in such paragraph does not include the 
     authority to regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly, 
     any activities or transactions which may not be regulated or 
     prohibited under paragraph (5) or (6) of section 5(b) of the 
     Trading With the Enemy Act.''
       (4) Applicability.--The authorities conferred upon the 
     President by section 5(b) of the Trading With the Enemy Act, 
     which were being exercised with respect to a country on July 
     1, 1977, as a result of a national emergency declared by the 
     President before such date, and are being exercised on the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, do not include the 
     authority to regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly, 
     any activity which under section 5(b) (5) or (6) of the 
     Trading With the Enemy Act (as added by this Act) may not be 
     regulated or prohibited.

  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, as I indicated, I think part of free speech 
is that we do not just get the Government line on anything. I do not 
care what it is--popular, unpopular. That means that we ought to have 
the freedom to travel where there is no risk.
  That includes unpopular countries. That includes China. I happen to 
be one of those, along with the Senator from North Carolina who is very 
critical of the human rights record of the Chinese Government, but I 
defend the right of American citizens to travel.
  I defend the right of American citizens if there is no risk to travel 
to Iran or Iraq. It does not mean I approve of any of those 
governments. The same for Cuba.
  The leader of Cuba has probably the worst human rights record of any 
leader in this hemisphere. There is no question about that.
  There are two questions. One, do you change policy by restricting 
travel, or do you change policy by permitting travel? That is one 
question. The second question is, is this a first amendment right or is 
it in the spirit of the first amendment?
  On the first question, whether it can change and modify the 
government there, I recognize that people who are sincere can disagree. 
We faced this same debate with the Soviet Union. There were those who 
for a time said Americans should not travel to the Soviet Union because 
you simply encourage that Government by giving them hard currency. 
Others said--and it turned out to be right--we ought to travel there so 
we can expose more people to our point of view.
  Virtually every other government in the world--the British, the 
French, the Canadians--in fact, when I say ``virtually,'' I think we 
are alone and the Senator from North Carolina can correct me, I think 
we are alone among the nations of the world in not permitting travel to 
Cuba.
  Israel was the only nation that voted with us in the United Nations 
but Israel is putting in investment in Cuba.
  I just think our isolation here just does not make sense. The reality 
is, American citizens do travel to Cuba today. Now, they go by way of 
Canada or Mexico, but not one American citizen has been arrested for 
it. Not one American citizen has been fined. Not one American citizen 
to my knowledge has had his or her passport taken away.
  I think our policy just does not make sense. Americans ought to have 
the liberty, the freedom, to travel to Cuba unless there is a physical 
risk.
  Now, if there is a danger that someone is going to be taken as a 
captive there, or something like that, that is different. The southern 
part of Lebanon, for example, would not be safe for Americans. I 
understand that. But I think we ought to be free to travel there, and 
that goes for any dictatorship anywhere. I think it is a way of 
promoting freedom. I think it is also a basic freedom that American 
citizens ought to have.
  That is basically my argument. In terms of philosophy, my guess is 
the Senator from North Carolina would agree with me. In terms of its 
specific application to Cuba, he may not.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, before I make comments about the amendment 
of the Senator, let me ask if he is aware of the effort by the majority 
and minority leader to achieve a time for the Finance Committee to 
meet? There is an objection to the committee meeting while the Senate 
is in session.
  Mr. SIMON. I am not trying to prolong that. I am willing to recess at 
this point. I was told by my staff what the majority leader preferred.
  Mr. HELMS. I wanted to be sure that the Senator knew that. I do not 
want to interrupt the Senator's delivery or his argument at all.
  Will the Senator be willing to enter into a time agreement for this 
afternoon, provided both sides have 10 minutes each in the morning?
  Mr. SIMON. That will be perfectly acceptable to me.
  Mr. HELMS. Very well, how much more time this afternoon?
  Mr. SIMON. I, frankly, have presented the cause. It is not 
complicated. So I am willing to yield to my colleague. I probably would 
like 2 minutes to respond to whatever he might have to say, and then we 
could recess and each have 10 minutes tomorrow morning.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Illinois, my 
friend and my neighbor in the Dirksen Building, is always cooperative. 
If I say anything to excite him about his amendment, he will be 
entitled to take as much time as he needs to reply to me.
  I do not agree with the amendment, and I hope it will not be 
accepted. But let me say this, Mr. President, I never have any question 
about the good intent of the Senator from Illinois on any issue, 
including this one. He sincerely believes the flow of American citizens 
to Cuba will promote positive change in Cuban society. But, in the 
context of Fidel Castro's regime, in my judgment, the belief that 
tourism will change Castro's tyranny cannot be supported by the facts. 
Here is why.
  I say, with all friendliness, the loudest advocate of the Senator's 
amendment would be Fidel Castro, because he is trying to lure tourists 
into Cuba so they will bring hard cash which he could use to buy a 
little bit more time for his regime.
  As a matter of fact, for years Mr. Castro has lured Europeans, 
Canadians, Mexicans, and others to Cuba. But from the beginning, Castro 
typically set up a structure to isolate foreign tourists and tourist 
facilities from the larger Cuban population. As a matter of fact, some 
of the major newspapers in this country and elsewhere refer to this 
system of Mr. Castro's as ``tourist apartheid.''
  What has been Mr. Castro's purpose in promoting tourism? It has not 
been to improve the lives or freedoms of the Cuban people. Tourists 
visiting Cuba have access to food, shelter, and recreation not 
available to the poor Cuban people themselves. But this does not bother 
Fidel Castro and his cronies. Mr. Castro tolerates the tourist trade 
because he needs, as I said earlier, the hard cash--the hard currency 
generated by tourism to subsidize his corrupt regime.
  Even the employment generated by tourism supports the regime. Here is 
how that works. The Cuban Government, that is to say Castro's 
officials, decide who will work in the tourist resorts. Nobody else 
need apply. With the Cuban State economic sector collapsing, jobs are 
becoming more and more scarce in Cuba and working in a tourist area 
becomes leverage that Castro uses as people struggle to find work in 
order to feed and care for their families.
  There is another tragic phenomenon that has emerged from Castro's 
efforts to attract foreign tourists. It is called sex tourism. More and 
more, Cuban women, some little girls as young as 14 years of age, are 
prostituting themselves because they cannot find any other way to feed 
themselves and their families. An Italian travel magazine recently 
identified Cuba as the ``paradise of sexual tourism,'' ranking it above 
Thailand and Brazil as the place to go for what the magazine called 
``erotic tourism.'' This is just one of the perverted legacies of the 
Castro revolution.
  The free flow of American citizens to Cuba would be no more effective 
in reforming Castro's regime than has been the flow of Canadian, 
European, and Latin American tourists up to now. And lifting the travel 
restrictions, I say to my friend with all due respect, will not--will 
not--expedite Castro's departure. Rather, it will help keep Castro in 
power by giving him badly need hard currency.
  The Treasury Department rules now allow for travel by journalists and 
by 

[[Page S 15286]]
people engaged in educational or religious activities, as well as 
travel for humanitarian reasons, including permission to travel for 
those accompanying humanitarian donations to the Cuban people and 
individuals traveling in connection with recognized human rights 
organizations.
  Restrictions on the right to travel are within the bounds of the 
Constitution. Twice the United States Supreme Court has heard 
challenges to the rules governing travel to Cuba. Every time, the Court 
has upheld the regulations, holding that the right to international 
travel is not without limitations when the restrictions are connected 
with the national security interests of the United States. In the case 
of Cuba, it is in our national interest to deny Fidel Castro the hard 
currency that would be brought in by tourism.
  If the amendment of my friend is approved, the result would be to 
limit the President's ability to restrict travel. There are, in my 
judgment--and I say this with respect to my friend--there are valid 
national security reasons why travel to Cuba should be regulated. 
Approval of this amendment will serve to give hope to Castro, and that 
is why I must oppose it.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that two articles from the 
Miami Herald, one on April 24, 1995, and one on February 28, 1995, be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Miami Herald, Feb. 28, 1995]

            Italian Magazine Ranks Cuba as a Sexual Paradise

       The Italian travel magazine Viaggiare has named Cuba the 
     ``paradise of sexual tourism'' after an informal survey of 
     journalists, travelers and tour operators.
       Cuba obtained 23 points out of a possible 30, higher than 
     Thailand and Brazil, each of which scored 21 points, and the 
     Dominican Republic, which had 20 points, the magazine said in 
     a special section in its March edition devoted to ``erotic 
     tourism'' worldwide.
       ``We suggest staying in the cottages of the Hotel Comodoro 
     . . . where it will be much easier to retire in sweet 
     company,'' the magazine says. It also suggests that readers 
     walk along Fifth Street in Varadero beach, ``where you can 
     easily find jineteras, the local prostitutes.''
       Cuba, which has said tourism will soon surpass sugar 
     exports as its largest source of hard currency, has its 
     largest European clientele in Italy.
                                                                    ____


          Need for Tourists' Dollars Fueling Cuba Prostitution

                          (By Lizette Alvarez)

       The young woman takes a drag on her cigarette and slides 
     off her slippers. The rickety wooden chair she sits on 
     wobbles. A bare light bulb dangles above.
       ``Some I like, some I don't like,'' she said, a touch of 
     regret frosting her words, ``But I'm not with them for love. 
     I'm with them out of necessity.''
       In Cuba, prostitution has become a tourist trade like any 
     other, only it pays better. Young women cluster outside the 
     Riviera Hotel, home to a trendy salsa club. They sit in 
     fashionable restaurants. They amble down the Malecon, 
     flagging down tourist cars, advertising their availability 
     with tight ultra-short skirts.
       The Italian magazine Viaggiare recently raved about Cuba as 
     a sexual playground for tourists. The island--which closely 
     controls the spread of AIDS--ranked first in the magazine's 
     sex-destination survey, surpassing even brothel hot spots 
     like Thailand and Brazil.
       For a country that took great pride in stomping out 
     prostitution after the 1959 revolution, it's a distinction 
     the government could do without.
       Vilma Espin, head of the Cuban Federation of Women and 
     estranged wife of Raul Castro, recently railed against 
     prostitutes in Cuba, calling them a ``great embarrassment'' 
     to the country. She blames a shortage of morals, not money, 
     for the booming sex trade, as does her brother-in-law, 
     President Fidel Castro.
       Her speech, widely publicized in Cuba, did not sit well 
     with the island's women, who skewered Espin for sidestepping 
     reality. One Havana woman argued that prostitution in Cuba 
     today is much more disturbing than it was prior to 1959 
     because it is more blatant.
       ``This prostitution did not exist before,'' said the Havana 
     woman. ``You didn't have professionals--engineers, 
     architects--prostituting themselves . . . The revolution has 
     created this. And now Vilma Espin stands on the stage with 
     her Christian Dior dress.''
       A few days after the speech, the young hooker seated in 
     this two-room apartment smirks at Espin's words. Nobody 
     believes that a morality breakdown is driving Cuba's 
     flourishing prostitution trade, she said.
       Among most people here there is no rousing condemnation, 
     only an implicit understanding. You do what you must.
       ``There are other ways to survive in this country,'' she 
     admitted. ``But they are too difficult. And I have my son and 
     my mother to think about.''
       Prostitutes, who generally work for themselves, are 
     routinely fined by police for ``sexual contact'' and are 
     detained for a spell. But in reality, prostitution is a game, 
     a nod, and a wink and a handshake--between client, hooker, 
     and government workers.
       Finding a hooker is not difficult. Hookers linger outside 
     hotels and inside expensive restaurants. The clients wine and 
     dine them and the women stay with them during the length of 
     the trip, a week or so. When the men go home, they leave 
     behind $50 or $100.
       ``Usually you don't ask for money up front,'' the young 
     woman said. ``It's up to them. Sometimes they don't leave you 
     anything.''
       The whole arrangement is based on a series of bribes. To 
     get a jinetera, as they are dubbed, up to a hotel room, a 
     tourist slips $20 to the guard on duty and another few 
     dollars to the elevator operator, the two people who see 
     everyone's comings and goings.
       Some prostitutes fear their newfound international 
     notoriety could trigger a crackdown. That is not likely to 
     happen as long as the economic crisis shaking the country 
     persists. Even tourism officials say there is not a lot that 
     can be done.
       ``We have to find a way so that Cuban women can find other 
     ways to live,'' said Orlando Rangel, a tourism official.
       But for women along the Malecon that's wistful thinking.
       ``This isn't ever going to change,'' the prostitute said. 
     ``Since I was 14 I was told it was going to change, but every 
     day the only thing I see more of is need.''

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I will be very brief in response to my 
friend.
  I could buy his arguments on assisting with hard cash if there was 
any consistency to our policy. We do not follow that in China. The 
Senator from North Carolina and I agree, we do not like the government 
that is in charge in China. We do not follow that in North Korea. We 
are in agreement, we do not like the Government of North Korea. You can 
list a number of nations and, in terms of security, frankly, Cuba is 
less of a long-term threat than China is, for example, in terms of 
security. So I think that argument simply is not valid.
  The second basic thrust is, somehow we can isolate Castro. That has 
been our policy for the last few decades and, obviously, it has not 
worked.
  I think it makes much more sense to try to open up Cuba and to also 
keep in mind that, if tomorrow Fidel Castro should die of a heart 
attack or something happen to him, we ought to be preparing the ground 
so the successor government is a free government, is a democracy. That 
is in our interest. That is in the interest of the people of Cuba.

  Under the present law, theoretically--I say theoretically because any 
American who wants to get around this can do it very easily by giving 
some money to a Mexican airline or a Canadian airline, and a great many 
other countries. But you cannot travel directly from the United States 
to there, and people who have relatives cannot visit the relatives. And 
human rights organizations, like Amnesty International, which would go 
there and be critical of the Castro record on human rights--which is 
not a good record--are not permitted to do so.
  I think we would be much better off if we said to Americans that--
unless you have a physical threat--Americans can travel wherever they 
want so that we do not have to follow some Government line in terms of 
how we get information. I think it is a basic freedom that we ought to 
have as Americans.
  I hope the amendment can be adopted. I do not want to prolong this. I 
know the Finance Committee wants to meet. I yield to my friend from 
North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, again, every time I get into a debate with 
Paul Simon it is like a fraternity meeting. We are such close personal 
friends even though we frequently disagree.
  I say to the Senator that the policy against Cuba is working. Castro 
is on the ropes. And he wants the hard currency that tourism brings in 
because that will give him a few more days, and a few more weeks, or 
whatever. As far as a heart attack that he may have, I will not say 
that I want anybody to have a heart attack. But I want him to get off 
the backs of the Cuban people as quickly as possible, and I know the 
Senator from Illinois does, too.
  The infusion of hard currency is the only thing that is going to save 
Castro 

[[Page S 15287]]
now. He needs that money, and that is the reason he is selling off real 
estate which does not belong to Castro's government any more than that 
table does. But he is selling this property off nevertheless. He is 
frantic to get hard currency. That is the reason he wants very much to 
have the tourism.
  And the proximity of Cuba--how many times have we said this Communist 
country is 90 miles off our shore? That is precisely the point. You 
cannot make a case about China and North Korea because they are so far 
away that the number of United States tourists are relatively minimal 
because many Americans cannot afford to travel there.
  I say to the Senator with all due respect that I just cannot agree 
with the amendment. That is my last word.
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, believe it or not, I will take just 1 more 
minute. When you say Castro is on his last ropes, I heard that 5 years 
ago. I heard that 10 years ago. I heard that 15 years ago. I heard it 
20 years ago, and so forth.
  Mr. HELMS. If the Senator will yield.
  Mr. SIMON. I yield.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Senator. I have already violated my last word 
stipulation. But back then they had an infusion of cash from the Soviet 
Union which no longer exists.
  Mr. SIMON. That is true. But today they have an infusion of British, 
French, and other investments that they did not have then.
  Let me just say--because the Senator mentioned North Korea--that the 
place in the world today where you have more troops facing each other 
across a border where there is no contact with the other side is Korea. 
I do not remember the number, but I think we have about 140,000 troops 
in South Korea; American troops. I think you could use the argument we 
should not be propping this Government that might be a threat to 
American troops. But we do not, and we believe--and I think this is 
correct--maybe we can have an influence on that Government of North 
Korea which, believe it or not, is even harsher than the government of 
Castro.
  But I respect my colleague from North Carolina. This is an area where 
we simply have a disagreement.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Senator.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that prior to the vote on the 
Simon amendment tomorrow there be 20 minutes equally divided between 
the two sides.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, I say that the Senate will recess shortly--within 5 
minutes.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________