[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3408-S3409]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CANADA, BACKED BY MEXICO, PROTESTS TO UNITED STATES ON CUBA SANCTIONS

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I cast 1 of the 22 votes against the 
Cuban sanction bill that passed the Senate and has been signed by the 
President.
  I read the story in the New York Times, by Richard Stevenson, titled 
``Canada, Backed by Mexico Protests to United States on Cuba 
Sanctions,'' which I ask to be printed in the Congressional Record 
after my remarks.
  Canada is right, Mexico is right, and the Senate, House, and the 
President are wrong on this one.
  We are capitulating to emotion, and we will have done not one thing 
to discourage Castro.

[[Page S3409]]

  Our policy to remove Castro has failed for decades, in fact it has 
had the opposite affect. We simply are compounding the problem.
  We are like an accident victim who has suffered a gash, and we think 
we can stop the bleeding by cutting ourselves some more.
  The column follows:

                [From the New York Times, Mar. 14, 1996]

 Canada, Backed by Mexico, Protests to United States on Cuba Sanctions

                       (By Richard W. Stevenson)

       Washington, March 13.--In a sign of the growing tensions 
     between the United States and its trading partners over 
     stepped-up American sanctions against Cuba, Canada said today 
     that it had lodged a trade protest with the Clinton 
     Administration, and Mexico immediately asked to join 
     Canadian-American discussions on the issue.
       Responding to a new American law that seeks to tighten the 
     economic vise on Cuba by putting pressure on other countries 
     not to do business with Fidel Castro's Government, Canada 
     said it asked for consultations with the United States under 
     the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
       Canada has extensive trade with Cuba, and has vigorously 
     protested what it sees as unfair efforts by the United States 
     to penalize Canadian companies and business executives who 
     operate there.
       Canadian officials said the law, sponsored by Senator Jesse 
     Helms of North Carolina and Representative Dan Burton of 
     Indiana, both Republicans, and signed on Tuesday by President 
     Clinton, could violate the free trade agreement in several 
     ways.
       In Ottawa, Canada's Trade Minister, Arthur Eggleton, said 
     his government would ``seek clarification of U.S. 
     intentions'' in introducing the bill.
       ``Canada finds objectionable the Helms-Burton bill, which 
     could interfere with companies engaged in legitimate business 
     and which attempts to extend U.S. law to other 
     jurisdictions,'' Mr. Eggleton said.
       Mexican officials, expressing similar misgivings, said they 
     supported the Canadian action, and wanted to take part in the 
     consultations to get a clearer idea how the United States 
     would carry out the legislation's most contentious measures.
       A request for consultations is the first step in resolving 
     trade disputes under Nafta, and could lead to a formal ruling 
     on whether the American legislation violates the pact.
       The legislation was passed by Congress and signed by 
     President Clinton after the drowning of two small civilian 
     aircraft by Cuban fighters last month. Among other things, it 
     allows American citizens to sue foreigners and foreign 
     companies that ``act to manage, lease, possess, use or hold 
     an interest in'' property confiscated by the Cuban Government 
     from people who are now American citizens.
       It also permits the United States to bar entry to foreign 
     corporate officers and controlling shareholders who take part 
     in using such property and foreign executives whose companies 
     do business in Cuba.
       The United States Trade Representative, Mickey Kantor, said 
     the American position ``is entirely consistent'' with both 
     the rules of Nafta and the world trade talks.
       In an interview, Mr. Kantor said that under the trade 
     agreement the United States reserved the right to protect its 
     security interests and to bar from entry people who have 
     committed crimes of moral turpitude under United States laws.
       ``The combination of those two, or either standing alone 
     depending on the situation, would support our position,'' Mr. 
     Kantor said.
       Federico Salas, the minister for political affairs at the 
     Mexican Embassy in Washington, said ``The Canadians have 
     taken the initiative and we have requested to participate in 
     these consultations.'' The European Union said last week that 
     the law would ``represent the extraterritorial application of 
     U.S. jurisdiction and would restrict E.U. trade in goods and 
     services with Cuba.''
       Russia also objected to provisions in the law linking 
     American foreign aid to Russia to Moscow's cutting its 
     military and economic ties to Mr. Castro.

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