[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 10 (Thursday, January 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H877-H878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         STATEMENT ON CUBA TRIP

  (Mr. MOAKLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, my recent visit to Cuba has been the 
subject of some controversy. Some of my colleagues, who have 
surprisingly never even talked to me about the trip, have cynically 
tried to characterize my views and the trip as insensitive to human 
rights and pro-Castro.
  Mr. Speaker, that is a blatant distortion of the truth.
  My position on Cuba is the same as that put forth by the conference 
of Catholic Bishops. My position is also the same as Cuba's Catholic 
Cardinal, Cardinal Jaime Ortega.
  I might add, as well, that my position is the same as many of Cuba's 
leading dissidents--including Elizardo Sanchez, Martha Beatriz Roque, 
Vladimiro Roca, and Rene Gomez Manzano, just to name a few.
  Are these people, some of whom have spent time in Cuban jails, 
insensitive to human rights? Are these people pro-Castro?
  Their position, and my position, it that we can best encourage human 
rights reforms and begin a transition to a more democratic Cuba through 
increased relations and not by more isolation. They, like me, oppose 
the so-called Helms-Burton bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I realize my public position on Cuba makes me the target 
of a very well-financed lobby here in the United States. But, let me 
say clearly and sincerely, I believe in my heart that I am advocating 
what is best for the courageous people who live on that island and who 
yearn for a day when human rights and freedoms are truly respected.

                     Moakley Statement on Cuba Trip

       Washington.--Congressman Joe Moakley released the following 
     statement from his office today on his recent trip to Cuba:
       ``I traveled to Cuba for two basic reasons--first, to try 
     to create an atmosphere in which relations between the U.S. 
     and Cuba could be improved; and, second, to find ways to 
     support ordinary Cuban people.
       My trip was hosted by the ABC Forum on Cuba, a non-profit 
     organization dedicated to educating U.S. citizens on issues 
     related to Cuba and to supporting the activities of NGO's 
     promoting human rights and helping the Cuban people.
       Our delegation consisted of 23 participants ranging from 
     business leaders to NGO's like the Boston-based Oxfam 
     America.
       I met with a variety of people while in Cuba--including top 
     Cuban government officials, church leaders, dissidents, 
     NGO's, foreign diplomats, U.S. officials.
       I even had the chance to visit a small group of farmers who 
     are working with Oxfam on a project to increase agriculture 
     production for sale on the open market. These farmers and all 
     the ordinary people I had the chance to meet, were excited to 
     talk with our delegation and candid about their hopes for 
     closer ties with people in the United States.
       In addition, my aide Jim McGovern and I had a 2 hour 
     private meeting with Cuban President Fidel Castro. After 
     which, the Cuban leader met with our entire group for another 
     2 hour session. I told President Castro that we are at a 
     crossroads in terms of U.S.-Cuba relations. the United States 
     Congress is nearing final action on the so-called Helms-
     Burton Bill which, if signed into law, will strengthen the 
     current economic embargo and end any possibility for 
     improved relations anytime in the near future. 
     
[[Page H878]]

       I told President Castro that there must be more movement in 
     Cuba with regard to human rights and economic reforms--and 
     urge him to act now. He seemed responsive and pledged to give 
     my request very serious and immediate consideration.
       We also had an excellent meeting with Jamie Cardinal 
     Ortega--the Roman Catholic Cardinal in Cuba. His Eminence 
     told us that the official position of the Catholic Bishops 
     was against the US embargo for humanitarian reasons. He also 
     was very clear about his continued concerns regarding human 
     rights abuses that currently exist in Cuba.
       On a related matter, I raised with the Cuban leadership my 
     hope that they would invite Pope John Paul II to visit Cuba 
     during his visit to the Caribbean later this year.
       My trip began and ended with important meetings with Cuban 
     dissident groups. While these people suggested that the 
     difficulties in Cuba run much deeper than the economic 
     hardships, a majority of those we meet expressed opposition 
     to the Helms-Burton legislation.
       One of the things that stunned me the most about my trip is 
     the explosion of independent entrepreneurship. There are 
     roughly 208,000 independent family businesses operating in 
     Cuba. This entrepreneurship is allowing people greater 
     personal freedom from government controls. When people are no 
     longer dependent on the government for their jobs, they are 
     freer from economic coercion. I got the sense that the Cuban 
     government recognizes that these small businesses are 
     necessary for the country's economic viability and are 
     accepting the political space that they create.
       In fact, Caritas (a Catholic charitable organization in 
     Havana) described its plans to establish training programs to 
     help these fledgling businesses succeed. Michael Ryan, 
     President of ABC Forum on Cuba, which organized the trip 
     said: ``It was great to see our group get excited about 
     helping support the Cuban people, particularly in their 
     efforts to form small businesses and independent NGOs. A 
     number of our participants expressed a real desire to support 
     these efforts after we concluded our trip.''
       The European Union is about to hold talks with the Cubans 
     on closer economic ties--and is using this opportunity to 
     urge the Cuban government to improve its human rights record. 
     The United States could have ten times more leverage with 
     Cuba than the Europeans if we got serious about improving 
     relations. Right now the embargo leaves us completely out of 
     the picture. I'm afraid if we let Helms-Burton become law, we 
     will lose an important opportunity to improve the situation 
     in Cuba. Of all the meetings I had, there was consensus on 
     one thing--that the future of Cuba will be decided by Cubans 
     on the island. The degree to which we can encourage positive 
     change will depend on whether or not we defeat Helms-Burton.
                                                                    ____


                 [From the Boston Globe, Jan. 23, 1996]

                           Our Ban in Havana

                          (By H.D.S. Greenway)

       Havana.--``Socialismo O Muerte''--Socialism or Death--say 
     the graffiti scrawled on the walls of this once grand, now 
     crumbly Caribbean capital. But as communists the world over 
     have found, their ``socialism'' means a death of sorts: 
     stagnation and decline, a slow demise of ambition and 
     incentive and the equality of shared poverty.
       There are only five countries left that call themselves 
     communist: China and its three abutters in Asia--North Korea, 
     Vietnam and Laos--and then Cuba. In all, to varying degrees, 
     the communist leaders recognize the inadequacy of their 
     economic system, but all want to cling to political power. 
     With some justification they can point to the death of their 
     great progenitor, the Soviet Union, as an example of what can 
     happen when the reins of political power are suddenly 
     dropped. In short, they want to eat the cake of capitalism 
     without ingesting political freedoms.
       All the ambiguities of this approach are evident in Fidel 
     Castro, the last of the founding fathers of postwar 
     communism. All the others--Mao Zedong, Kim Il Sung, Ho Chi 
     Minh--are dead, but Fidel remains. To some, America's most 
     enduring bete noire is a Latin David to our gringo Goliath; 
     to others he is an irredeemable tyrant.
       Nine US presidents have tried to do him in--by invasion, 
     assassination, economic embargo--but he lives on ``to remind 
     us of our failures,'' as US Rep. J. Joseph Moakley put it.
       For 30 years Castro had a free ride, strutting the world's 
     stage as a symbol of independence to a world emerging from 
     colonialism but in fact a kept man, his bills paid by the 
     Soviet Union. After the demise of his patron, Castro and his 
     economy went into a free fall, bottoming out in 1993.
       In desperation, Castro and his lieutenants have planted the 
     first, few seeds of a free-market economy here. The Yankee 
     dollar is now a legal currency in Cuba alongside the peso. 
     Joint ventures with foreigners are beginning to bear fruit, 
     especially in the tourist industry. Some 208,000 Cubans are 
     permitted to work in the private sector, but the state still 
     remains supreme, and a gulf is widening between those who 
     work in the dollar economy and those left behind in a land of 
     unconvertible pesos.
       Small, private restaurants called ``paladares'' are 
     springing up in people's homes, but the law allows no more 
     than a dozen tables, and all the cooks and waiters must be 
     family members because it is still illegal for one Cuban to 
     hire another. Thus is entrepreneurship on the one hand 
     encouraged while the other hand suppresses it.
       Last week Moakley led a delegation of inquiry here of which 
     I was a member. We talked to Castro, aging now but still in 
     command. He is trying to probe for weak spots in the mortar 
     of the embargo that the United States has imposed. 
     Moakley, in turn, was trying to squeeze human rights 
     concessions from Castro, concessions that Moakley could 
     use back in Washington to defeat the Helms-Burton bill, 
     sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina and U.S. 
     Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, which would put even more 
     restrictions on doing business with Cuba.
       It seemed evident in conversations with Castro and his 
     ministers that Cuba isn't going back on the meager reforms 
     they have instigated. Castro said the changes are 
     irreversible. But Cuba's leaders are afraid of moving forward 
     too fast. Castro and his lieutenants appear to have no clear 
     vision but are making policy up as they go along.
       Listening to Castro--his famous beard now gone gray--I was 
     struck by how much the world had changed and how much Fidel 
     has been bypassed since the heady revolutionary days of 30 
     years ago. Fidel Castro no longer presents the United States 
     with the mortal threat of Russian missiles 90 miles offshore. 
     His expeditionary forces no longer rampage through Africa, 
     spreading socialismo and death. Nor are his agents stirring 
     up trouble in the hemisphere. Che Guevara and the revolution 
     he represented lie in an unmarked Bolivian grave.
       In an era when the United States is helping North Korea 
     with nuclear power, scrambling for investment in China and no 
     longer involved with embargoing Vietnam, the present 
     restrictions on trade with Cuba seem somewhat anachronistic. 
     Castro may have suffered from the U.S. embargo, but he has 
     also benefited enormously by having someone other than 
     himself to blame for Cuba's economic inadequacies, able to 
     wrap himself in the nationalist flag against the big bully of 
     the North.
       In the long run, communism in Cuba is doomed. Both the 
     United States and Cuba have a convergence of interest in 
     seeing that the transition is smooth and the landing is soft. 
     A breakdown of order on the island would bring another vast 
     armada of Cubans fleeing to our shores, and that would be 
     destabilizing to both countries.
       The best way to ensure a soft landing is to defeat 
     counterproductive legislation such as the Helms-Burton 
     ``Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act,'' which would 
     threaten our allies that do business in Cuba and tie even 
     more restrictions on the present embargo. The bill will not 
     help Cuba's transition to a market economy and could only 
     retard the very forces of freedom and openness the United 
     States wishes to encourage. The embargo is strict enough 
     without additional baggage and should be used as a bargaining 
     chip to nudge Cuba into the democratic and human rights 
     reforms that will one day set its people free.
                                                                    ____

       Havana, January 19.--Cuban dissidents have met a visiting 
     U.S. congressman in public, the first time in years such a 
     meeting has taken without interference from the authorities, 
     one of dissidents said on Friday.
       Elizardo Sanchez told Reuters he and other dissidents met 
     visiting Democratic Representative Joe Moakley of 
     Massachusetts for several hours in the state-owned Hotel 
     Nacional.
       Sanchez, leader of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights and 
     National Reconciliation, said he was surprised the dissidents 
     had been able to hold a meeting in public without problems. 
     Meetings with members of Cuba's small and illegal opposition 
     groups generally take place in dissidents' homes or foreign 
     embassies.
       We are not bothered (by officials) either entering or 
     leaving (the hotel),'' Sanchez said, adding that the group 
     discussed issues such as proposals in Congress to toughen the 
     longstanding U.S. embargo against communist-ruled Cuba.
       Moakley, who also met the dissidents on Tuesday at the 
     house of the senior U.S. diplomat in Cuba Joseph Sullivan, is 
     on a fact-finding mission that included talks with President 
     Fidel Castro on Wednesday night.
       Moakley said on Thursday he found Castro flexible on the 
     congressman's suggestion that if there were some change on 
     the island it might help defeat moves to toughen the embargo.

                          ____________________