[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 3 (Thursday, January 29, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

            CUBAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF ACT

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to be an original 
cosponsor of Senator Dodd's legislation, the ``Cuban Women and Children 
Humanitarian Relief Act.''
  This bill, which is long overdue, authorizes the President to permit 
the sale of food, medicine, and medical equipment to the Cuban people. 
One would think that this would not be necessary. The United States has 
a long history of providing humanitarian assistance to needy people 
even when we differ with their government. North Korea is an example. 
Yet, because of our obsessive antipathy toward Fidel Castro, we have 
applied a different standard to Cuba. Unfortunately, it is the Cuban 
people who have suffered as a result, not their government. In fact, it 
has given Fidel Castro a convenient excuse to blame the United States 
for whatever goes wrong there.
  The American Association for World Health reports that malnutrition, 
deterioration of water quality, and serious deficiencies in medicines, 
equipment and medical information have resulted from American 
restrictions severely limit the sale of medicines they actually 
prohibit the sale of food. Not even the sanctions against Libya, Iran, 
and Iraq contain such extreme measures. This outright ban on food has 
been especially harmful to women and children, contributing to 
nutritional deficits among pregnant women and low birth-weight babies, 
as well as a high incidence of neurological disease.
  I have long believed that the way to encourage democratic reforms and 
respect for human rights in Cuba is not through isolation of this tiny 
island nation, but through the normalization of our relationship by 
relaxing the embargo. One would think that after thirty-seven years, 
with Castro still in power, we would try another approach. Many 
Americans share this view. Over $60 million in medicine and medical 
supplies have been donated by U.S. citizens over the past five years. 
Unfortunately, this great display of generosity represents only a tiny 
portion of the over $400 million in medicines and food that Cuba 
imported from the United States prior to the passage of the restrictive 
1992 Cuban Democracy Act.
  I urge all Members of Congress to reconsider the reasons behind our 
embargo against Cuba. The Cold War ended years ago. Easing the 
restrictions on the sale and donation of medicines and food to Cuba 
will not, in any way, compromise our nation's security. While Pope John 
Paul's visit may not signal a political change in Cuba, it does 
illustrate a new opening by the Castro regime for religious expression 
that the United States should encourage. Passage of the Cuban Women and 
Children Humanitarian Relief Act would not only ease the suffering of 
the Cuban population, it would reaffirm to the world that the United 
States is the humanitarian nation we hold ourselves out to be.

                          ____________________