[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1783]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             NO EMBARGO ON FOOD AND MEDICINE GOING TO CUBA

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, a portion of the infrastructure of 
Fidel Castro in the United States is here in Washington today to 
promote the lives and propaganda of the regime. They will speak of a 
political embargo on the sending of food and medicine from the U.S. to 
Cuba while never mentioning an unkind word about the regime.
  But, once again, Mr. Speaker, let us set the facts straight. There is 
no embargo on food and medicine going to Cuba. The United States is, in 
fact, the largest humanitarian aid donor to Cuba, sending more aid to 
the island than all of the other nations in the world combined.
  If there are no medicines in Cuba, why do foreign tourists with hard 
currency receive top-quality health care on the island? If there is a 
shortage of food in Cuba, why do luxury hotels pamper tourists with 
world-class meals? If there are no medicines in Cuba, why has Castro 
exported $300 million in medicines over the past 2 years?
  Do not believe the propaganda. The only embargo that has to be lifted 
is the embargo on freedom, human rights, and democracy that the Cuban 
dictator has imposed on the people of Cuba.

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