[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 35 (Thursday, March 14, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E371-E372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY ACT

                                 ______


                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 14, 1996

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I wish to insert into the Record 
a number of items pertaining to our Cuban Liberty and Democratic 
Solidarity Act, which was signed into law by the President on Thursday. 
We are convinced that this legislation will contribute to the struggle 
for freedom in Cuba, and we are gratified that it is now the law of the 
land.
  I wish to include my official statement from last week's floor debate 
as well as a number of news stories regarding the effects of our bill 
and an op-ed from a Canadian newspaper.

              Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act

       Mr. Speaker, it is with a great sense of history and 
     responsibility that I rise in support of H.R. 927, the Cuban 
     Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. This legislation has 
     travelled a very long way and many colleagues on both sides 
     of the aisle have worked very hard to get us to this point.
       What we have before us today is nothing less than a strong, 
     bipartisan message from the American people for Fidel Castro. 
     That message is a very clear one: to paraphrase what Moses 
     said to pharaoh, like Castro, the major tyrant of his day: 
     Let your people go! Stop oppressing the people of Cuba who 
     have suffered for 37 years under your corrupt, vicious, cruel 
     dictatorship.
       You have run the Cuban economy into the ground, you have 
     murdered hundreds, tortured and imprisoned thousands, and you 
     have denied freedom to the people of Cuba for far too long. 
     You are the last dictator in this hemisphere, and one of the 
     very last communist thugs left in the World.
       Get lost!
       The libertad bill, Mr. Speaker, will help to deny hard 
     currency to the Castro regime--the very hard currency that 
     cruel dictatorship needs to survive.
       It tightens the embargo, and through codification, ensures 
     that the embargo will remain in force until there is a 
     democratic transition in Cuba.
       It sets up a plan to assist such a democratic transition 
     government in the future. And it protects the rights of 
     American citizens by allowing them to sue those foreigners 
     who traffic in their stolen property. It also denies visas to 
     those traffickers.
       Mr. Speaker, we have been working on this bill for over a 
     year. I want to thank my colleagues, Congressman Gilman, 
     Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman Diaz-Balart, 
     Congressman Menendez, Congressman Torricelli, Senator Helms, 
     Senator Coverdell, and Senator Dole. I also want to thank the 
     committee staff and legislative counsel who worked so long 
     and hard on this bill.
       Finally, to our friends, in the Cuban-American community, 
     to Jorge Mas-Canosa and the Cuban American National 
     Foundation, to the Valladares Foundation, to Unidad Cubana 
     and other friends--thanks a million.
       I also want to particularly thank Ambassador Otto Reich, 
     Robin Freer, Tom Cox and the U.S.-Cuba Business Council for 
     their indispensable help over the past months in support of 
     our bill. We are very appreciative and we are certain that 
     the council will continue to play a constructive role on 
     these issues.
       The four Cuban-American martyrs who gave their lives last 
     week, Armando Alejandre, Jr., Pablo Morales, Mario de la 
     Pena, Carlos Costa, made this possible. We dedicate this bill 
     to their blessed memory. We will see to it that they did not 
     die in vain.
                                                                    ____


                      [From Reuters, Mar. 9, 1996]

            Cuba Says New U.S. Legislation Has Already Hurt

       Havana.--Cuba's foreign minister, Roberto Robaina, says 
     pending U.S. legislation to tighten Washington's embargo 
     against the island has already hurt because potential 
     investors have been worried that it is in the pipeline.
       Given this, business people would have to be ``daring'' to 
     invest now in Cuba, Robaina told Cuban state television late 
     on Friday, reiterating his stance that the legislation was a 
     ``law against humanity.''
       He did not give any details of foreign companies that have 
     been scared away by the prospect of the Helms-Burton bill, 
     named after its Republican sponsors.
       The legislation, approved this week in Congress and now 
     awaiting President Clinton's signature, includes provisions 
     to punish third country firms doing business in Cuba. These 
     have been criticized by European Union countries, Canada and 
     Mexico, which do business with the communist-ruled island.
       The legislation had been in the U.S. Congress for a year 
     but was given added momentum after Cuba downed two small 
     exile-operated planes on February 24. The United States has 
     led international condemnation of the incident.
       Cuba argues it acted in legitimate defense of its airspace, 
     after issuing warnings and tolerating repeated violations of 
     its airspace over the past 20 months.
       Cuban authorities are presenting Havana as a victim of 
     unfair legislation while at the same time trying to reassure 
     current and potential investors and traders by saying the law 
     will have no effect.
       Cuba and the United States have had no diplomatic relations 
     and have been at odds since the 1959 revolution that brought 
     Castro to power.
       Robaina reiterated Cuba's willingness to talk with the 
     United States on any issue as long as it was on a basis of 
     mutual respect.
       ``What this cannot be is a relationship of subordination,'' 
     he said.
                                                                    ____


                 [From the Toronto Sun, Feb. 28, 1996]

                       Ottawa Still Loves Tyrant

       Once more, Canada continues to support Cuban communist 
     dictator Fidel Castro--despite his shooting down of two 
     unarmed U.S. civilian planes in international air space.
       The best that Jean Chretien's foreign affairs minister, 
     Lloyd Axworthy, could do was describe as ``deplorable'' the 
     shooting down of the planes by Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter 
     jets and the killing of the four Cuban exiles.
       Instead of ripping at Castro who ordered the planes shot 
     down without even issuing any warnings first, Axworthy 
     yesterday warned the U.S. Congress not to pass legislation 
     that would penalize companies--including foreign ones--that 
     do business with Cuba.
       ``That would be contravening international law,'' whined 
     Axworthy.
       Of course, it would be a real surprise if Axworthy and his 
     boss Chretien did the right thing and really condemned Castro 
     with some meaningful tough action. After all,

[[Page E372]]

     they were both cabinet ministers for Pierre Trudeau, the 
     strongly leftist Canadian prime minister who was a close 
     buddy and supporter of Castro throughout the Cold War.
       It was no accident that Trudeau shouted ``Long live 
     Commander President Fidel Castro!'' to a huge, cheering crowd 
     in Havana back in the 1970s. And it was no accident that the 
     Trudeau regime encouraged Canadian trade to help prop up Cuba 
     against a U.S. trade embargo. And it was certainly no 
     accident that he encouraged Canadians to vacation in Cuba so 
     that Castro could pick up their badly needed western dollars.
       I remember reporting on some of those early Canadian 
     tourists who were sucked into visiting there and had to put 
     up with an endless supply of greasy chicken and bad plumbing.
       Throughout that period, another big booster of Castro was 
     the Soviet Union, which turned the island nation into an 
     armed fortress and jump-off base for spreading communist 
     revolution in the Western Hemisphere.
       However, after the Soviet Union collapsed, Castro and his 
     police state were left to flounder as a totally inefficient 
     economic basket case.
       Except for the continuing, never-ending support of Canada 
     and much of the European Community. For instance, Canada has 
     an $84-million annual trade deficit with Cuba. Our exports to 
     it are $215 million and imports are $299 million.
       For 33 years, the U.S. backed strongly by a large community 
     of Cuban exiles, has tried to force the overthrow of Castro 
     to give the people freedom and democracy. And with the Soviet 
     collapse, the opportunity was at hand.
       But nations such as Canada keep propping up Castro, 
     allowing him to survive and keep the Cuban people under his 
     heel.
       Also, Castro has long been the master of creating an 
     outside threat in order to declare an emergency and put his 
     still formidable armed forces on alert. When his critics are 
     becoming a bit bold, such actions help pressure the Cuban 
     people to back him against foreign threats--one more time.
       In the U.S., President Bill Clinton had been suckered into 
     a policy of trying to appease Castro by improving trade 
     links.
       But now, with the shooting down of the two unarmed planes, 
     he toughened the U.S. trade embargo, calling the attack ``an 
     appalling reminder of the Cuban regime: repressive, violent, 
     scornful of international law.''
       Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, co-sponsor of a Congressional 
     bill to punish those who have bought confiscated U.S. 
     property in Cuba, declared:
       ``This act of terror is a searing indictment of European 
     and Canadian policies of engagement with Fidel Castro's 
     brutal regime.''
       ``What we are trying to do is send a very strong signal to 
     business communities throughout the world that we don't want 
     them buying property of Americans taken away from them by 
     Fidel Castro so he can get hard currency to survive as the 
     last communist dictator,'' contended co-sponsor Congressman 
     Dan Burton.
       Will the Chretien government support the Americans? Of 
     course not. Canada still backs Castro.
                                                                    ____


               [From the Washington Post, Mar. 10, 1996]

                            Castro's Blunder

                       (By Ernesto F. Betancourt)

       On Feb. 24 the Cuban situation took a turn for the worse 
     for Fidel Castro. There is a mythical notion that Castro 
     always ends up on top. But this time it's evident he has made 
     a mistake that will aggravate the long-run disaster he has 
     brought upon the Cuban people and undermine the goals he was 
     pursuing. Why did he do it?
       Last year Castro launched a public relations offensive 
     whose external objectives were to (1) prevent passage of the 
     Helms-Burton legislation, (2) promote the image of Cuba as a 
     safe and worthy investment location and (3) get access to the 
     International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Inter-American 
     Development Bank, over U.S. objections. But the most 
     important objective was internal: to ensure consolidation of 
     his Stalinist hold on power.
       The offensive went well from the public relations point of 
     view but was unable to bring about a solution of his economic 
     predicament. And the meager economic and political opening 
     wave he was forced to accept to win support from groups such 
     as the European Community and the Inter-American Dialogue, 
     not to mention pro-Castro advocates in the United States, was 
     creating a threat to his political control.
       In October 1995, dissident groups within Cuba agreed to 
     come together in a loose association called Concilio Cubano, 
     with a minimal program aimed at peacefully getting the 
     government to grant citizens the rights guaranteed not only 
     by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but by the Cuban 
     Constitution.
       The Castro regime's response was the usual: unleashing 
     against Concilio bands of police-protected hoodlums, planting 
     false information to justify arresting the promoters and 
     infiltrating people to generate internal conflicts within the 
     groups.
       But it wasn't working. The vision of an end to the 
     nightmare of Castro's rule seems to have given strength to an 
     increasing number of courageous Cubans to endure the beatings 
     and hardships of prison and deprivation that the regime uses 
     to discourage them. Moreover, Castro's making his appeal for 
     support against the United States an international one is 
     causing even more decent people worldwide to come forward to 
     demand that, in exchange for their support, the regime make 
     concessions to democratize Cuba and respect human rights.
       The surge in internal opposition in Cuba was made 
     financially possible by the privatization of certain service 
     and agricultural production activities, emigrant remittances 
     and tourism. In other words, the modest economic reforms have 
     had a most threatening impact on Castro's rule while at the 
     same time failing to generate enough economic improvement to 
     allow him to tighten his hold.
       For contrary to the image of being conveyed by Castro and 
     his propagandists, the Cuban economy is not growing. The 2.5 
     percent growth in GDP claimed for 1995 is highly questionable 
     in the presence of a meager 3.3 million-ton sugar crop. The 
     sugar crop for 1996 is in serious trouble and may not 
     increase significantly despite the borrowing of $300 million 
     to buy fertilizer, spare parts, etc.
       Meanwhile, dollarization, another basic Castro political 
     mistake made in 1993, continues to destroy the previous 
     egalitarian basis of Cuban society. The ``winners,'' the 10 
     to 15 percent with access to dollars, are sucking food and 
     other consumer items for the rationing markets, on which 85 
     to 90 percent of the population, the ``losers,'' depend for 
     survival. To appear to be siding with the losers, Castro 
     lashes out at capitalists, particularly of the local variety, 
     and takes measures against them such as the confiscatory 
     taxes profits and private income enacted this January.
       As to foreign investment, the picture is equally cloudy. 
     The sacking in December of Ernesto Melendez, the minister in 
     charge of foreign investment, and the imprisonment without 
     trial of Robert Vesco reflect Castro's displeasure with the 
     situation. The flagship of the deals, the $1.3 billion 
     Mexican Domos Group investment in the Cuban telephone system, 
     has turned out to be a mirage.
       Faced with Concilio's rapidly escalating internal political 
     challenge, Castro needed an external crisis to justify the 
     measures he intended to take. For that, he selected his 
     favorite enemies: American imperialism and the Cuban exile 
     community. As in the past, he expected to paint himself as 
     the victim of their aggression. As to the embargo, it was to 
     be tightened anyway with the likely approval of the Helms-
     Burton law. But Castro probably thought he could extort from 
     President Clinton the concession of entry to the IMF, World 
     Bank and the IDB by threatening a wave of immigration during 
     the presidential campaign.
       The crisis resulting from Castro's action has backfired on 
     him. The story the Cuban government tried to convey was not 
     credible. You just don't down civilian airplanes, period. The 
     infiltrated defector's premature return to Cuba provided 
     proof of the premeditation behind Castor's actions. The truth 
     has prevailed, and Brothers to the Rescue is clearly 
     perceived as the humanitarian organization it is one that 
     helped save the lives of more than 7,000 rafters and is now 
     supporting the peaceful efforts of Concilio Cubano. The Cuban 
     foreign minister was not able to get any significant support 
     at the United Nations.
       Castro misread President Clinton, who did not cave in to 
     Cuban hints about massive migration, and instead announced a 
     set of moderate but adequate measures. Among the most 
     important; a stronger Helms-Burton has become law. It not 
     only will dry up the speculative hopes that were feeding the 
     investment frenzy promoted by Castro's friends and agents but 
     will make mandatory Cuba's exclusion from international 
     financial institutions. Radio Marti broadcasts will be able 
     to reach more Cubans. The hopes of an economic assistance 
     agreement with the European Community have been dashed. 
     Castro has been disinvited to joint he Rio Group of Latin 
     American presidents as an observer.
       There are two additional measures to be expected. At a 
     later date, once the International Civil Aviation 
     Organization investigation is completed, aviation sanctions 
     may be applied to Cuba and the MiG pilots may be named as war 
     criminals. As for Concilio Cubano, its predicament is likely 
     to be brought to the attention of the U.N. Human Rights 
     Commission meeting in Geneva later this month by our 
     delegation. Those being persecuted by Castro for trying to 
     exert their legitimate rights to speak, associate and meet 
     will get the encouragement that comes from knowing that the 
     world has not forgotten them.
       Finally, it is to be hoped that the Justice Department will 
     revise its policies toward the Cuban American community. 
     These are Americans who should be protected from the 
     activities of Cuban intelligence. Instead, present policies 
     have led to the embarrassing situation of the FBI paying a 
     Castro agent, Maj. Juan Roque, to spy on a peaceful and 
     humanitarian American organization, Brothers to the Rescue.