[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4907-S4909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. Lott, Mr. Mack, Mr. Graham, Mr. 
        Torricelli, Mr. Coverdell, Mr. D'Amato, Mr. Reid, Mr. 
        Lieberman, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Roth, Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Nickles, Mr. 
        Grassley, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Faircloth, Mr. 
        Inhofe, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Hollings, Mr. DeWine, 
        and Mr. Thompson):
  S. 2080. A bill to provide for the President to increase support to 
the democratic opposition in Cuba, to authorize support under the Cuban 
Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 for the 
provision and transport of increased humanitarian assistance directly 
to the oppressed people of Cuba to help them regain their freedom, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.


             THE CUBAN SOLIDARITY ACT OF 1998 (SOLIDARIDAD)

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, immediately upon his return from Cuba, Pope 
John Paul II gave an audience at the Vatican where he discussed his 
historic Cuban pilgrimage. While Fidel Castro and others were working 
hard to distort the purpose of his visit, the Pope was unambiguous 
about the aims and purposes of his visit in Cuba.
  His Holiness said: ``I wish for our brothers and sisters on that 
beautiful island that the fruits of this pilgrimage will be similar to 
the fruits of that pilgrimage in Poland,'' referring to his June 1979 
visit to his native Poland--a visit which is widely credited with 
inspiring the Polish people to throw off the shackles of their 
oppression, and embrace their God-given spiritual and political 
freedom.
  That visit marked the beginning of the end for Poland's communist 
dictatorship--just as, I believe, the Pope's historic visit to Cuba has 
marked the beginning of the end of Fidel Castro's despotic rule.
  With his Cuban pilgrimage, John Paul II has sown the seeds of 
spiritual and political liberation in the Cuban mind. The United States 
must now help the Cuban people to cultivate those seeds of liberation 
which His Holiness had planted in Cuba--just as the United States 
worked with him in helping the Polish people in their struggle against 
communist oppression nearly two decades ago.
  That is why today--along with more than 20 of my Senate colleagues--I 
am introducing legislation that will bring new energy and focus to the 
U.S. Cuba policy--``The Cuban Solidarity Act of 1998'' or 
``SOLIDARIDAD'' Act.
  The buttons we are all wearing may look familiar to many watching 
today. Our buttons bear the logo of the Polish Solidarity movement--but 
with a Cuban twist. You see, we are calling this legislation the 
``Cuban Solidarity Act'' for a reason. Our goal is to do today for the 
people of Cuba, what the United States did for the Solidarity

[[Page S4908]]

movement in Poland during the 1980s: Give the Cuban people the 
resources they need to build a free, functioning civil society within 
the empty shell of Castro's bankrupt communist ``revolution.''
  The Cuban Solidarity Act proposes to authorize $100 million over four 
years in U.S. government humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people--
donations of food and medicine, to be delivered through the Catholic 
Church and truly independent relief organizations in Cuba like Caritas.
  The legislation we are introducing today will authorize direct 
humanitarian flights to deliver both private and U.S. government 
donations to Cuba. And it will mandate a proactive U.S. policy to 
support the internal opposition in Cuba, just as the U.S. supported the 
Solidarity movement in Poland during the 1980s.
  This legislation is not about the Cuban embargo. It does not tighten 
the embargo; it does not loosen the embargo. What it does is add a new 
dimension to the U.S. policy regarding Cuba: With the enactment of this 
legislation, U.S. policy will no longer be simply to isolate the Castro 
regime, but to actively support those working to bring about change 
inside Cuba.
  As Secretary of State Madeline Albright recently put it, there are 
two embargoes in Cuba today: The U.S. embargo on the Castro regime, and 
Castro's embargo on his own people. We must, Secretary Albright said, 
maintain the first, while breaking the second.
  This legislation is designed to break Fidel Castro's brutal embargo 
on the Cuban people. The Cuban Solidarity Act has four central 
objectives:
  First, this bill will provide free food and medicine to Cubans most 
in need--those who cannot possibly afford to buy the necessities of 
life because they have no access to U.S. dollars.
  Second, it will strengthen those institutions delivering this aid by 
giving them the resources they need to expand their space in Cuba and 
nurture a nascent civil society on the island.
  Third, this bill will undermine the Castro regime's ability to stifle 
dissent through the denial of work and basic necessities. In Cuba 
today, anyone who dares to speak out against Castro's despotic rule can 
lose his or her job (or be thrown in jail) and thus lose their ability 
to feed their families. This bill will help undermine Castro's ability 
to maintain social control through deprivation, by helping build 
alternative sources of food and medicine in Cuba.
  And finally, this bill will take away Fidel Castro's excuses, by 
neutralizing Castro's propaganda which falsely blames the U.S. embargo 
for the hardships suffered by the Cuban people.
  This legislation puts Castro in a no-win situation. There is no way 
for him to be on the right side of denying the Cuban people access to 
free food and medicine from the United States.
  If Castro allows this food and medicine into Cuba, it will bring 
relief to millions of Cubans who cannot afford to buy basic 
necessities; it will remove his ability to use deprivation as a tool of 
oppression; and it will help independent institutions create space for 
themselves in Cuba society.
  But if he does not allow the food and medicine in, them 11 million 
Cubans will know exactly who is responsible for their daily suffering. 
They will know that the American people wanted to send them $100 
million in food and medicine, but that Castro said ``No''.
  In addition to this humanitarian relief, the Cuban Solidarity Act 
also instructs the President to take a series of steps intended to 
hasten the liberation of the Cuban people. Among other provisions:
  The bill instructs the President to increase all forms of U.S. 
government support for ``democratic opposition groups in Cuba,'' who 
risk life and limb each day to challenge the regime.
  The bill also urges the President to seek a U.N. Security Council 
resolution calling on Fidel Castro to ``immediately respect all human 
rights, free all political prisoners, legalize independent political 
parties, allow independent trade unions, and conduct freely contested 
elections.''
  The Cuban Solidarity Act also calls for creative measures to overcome 
Castro's blockade on information coming into Cuba instructing the 
President to commence ``freedom broadcasting'' through Radio and TV 
Marti from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, and other suitable sites 
around Cuba.
  The bill also requires the Administration to produce a series of 
reports on the plight of average Cubans, including conditions of human 
rights, workers' rights, and the apparent policy of coercing abortions 
among poor, less-educated Cuban women.
  And the bill will authorize increased personnel in the Treasury and 
Commerce Departments to facilitate licenses for American medical sales 
to Cuba--which have been fully legal since 1992--taking away Castro's 
excuses for his failure to provide American medicine and medical 
equipment for his people.
  The Cuban Solidarity Act is a bill that could and should be supported 
by all U.S. Senators, those for the Cuban embargo, and those opposed.
  All of us should unite behind a policy of providing free food and 
medicine to those trapped in Castro's Orwellian economy. I cannot 
imagine that anyone would disagree with the notion that the United 
States should bring the same intense commitment to its Cuba policy that 
made the difference in Poland's struggle with communist tyranny.
  Now some have suggested that we should not give the Cuban people free 
food and medicine--rather, we should sell it to them. My question is 
this: What exactly will they use to buy this American food and 
medicine? Soviet rubles?
  The Cuban people can't afford to buy American food and medicine! 
Today, in Cuba, food and medicine is available everywhere. In Havana, 
there are bakeries overflowing with fresh bread, pharmacies stocked 
with Western medicines, grocery stores brimming with foods. But these 
products are completely out of reach to most Cubans.
  Why? Castro allows them to be sold only for dollars, which the vast 
majority of Cubans don't have. Castro pays them in worthless Cuban 
pesos. The only Cubans who can afford to shop in these exclusive stores 
are cronies of the Castro regime, and those few lucky Cubans who get 
dollars from abroad--or those poor Cuban women and girls who are forced 
to prostitute themselves to foreign tourists from Canada and Europe in 
order to survive.
  Instead of trading with the Castro regime (and thus subsidizing the 
brutal state security apparatus which keeps him in power), our call 
today is: Let us unite to circumvent this monstrous system Castro has 
built; Let's give food and medicine directly to the Cuban people.
  The Cuban Solidarity Act will also encourage and facilitate increased 
private donations to Cuba. There are many in the private sector who 
have been enormously generous in their humanitarian efforts for the 
Cuban people, and we will be encouraging them to redouble their 
efforts.
  But we will also be issuing a challenge to all of our big-hearted 
friends in the corporate community who have been lobbying to lift the 
Cuban embargo. Since they claim to have so much concern for the Cuban 
people, we will be asking them: What are you willing to donate to help 
suffering Cubans who cannot afford to buy food and medicine for 
themselves? We'll see if the floodgates of generosity open up, showing 
corporate America's concern for Cuba's suffering people.
  Fidel Castro will never change his stripes. The Cuban Solidarity Act 
is based on the belief that we must do more than wait for Fidel Castro 
to die or ``get religion.'' We must do what was done for Lech Walesa 
and his courageous Polish brothers; that is, we must undertake a 
proactive policy under which the United States will lend decisive 
support to the cause of freedom in Cuba.
  The Pope's visit planted the seeds of liberation in Cuba. The Cuban 
Solidarity Act is the American people's way of cultivating those seeds 
for the benefit of Cubans and freedom-loving people everywhere.
  Let's get about it.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I am proud to join Senators Helms, Lott, 
Mack, and nearly twenty other Senators in introducing the Cuban 
Solidarity Act. This bill will capitalize on the historic opportunity 
provided by Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba this past January. It 
provides for $100 million in humanitarian assistance directly to the 
Cuban people over four years, and does so in a way that will strengthen

[[Page S4909]]

the Catholic Church and other independent organizations in Cuba. We 
must seize this opportunity to help our Cuban brothers and sisters who 
have suffered under Castro's brutal rule for far too long.
  Communism has collapsed around the world, and the only countries that 
maintain this economic sytsem--Cuba and North Korea--are crumbling 
under their own weight. This failed system has created shortages of 
food and medicine, and Castro has denied the basic freedoms that we 
take for granted to millions of ordinary Cubans.
  In addition to providing humanitarian assistance to Cuba, this bill 
also directs the administration to expedite the licensing of sales of 
medicine and medical supplies to Cuba. Since 1992, the embargo has been 
lifted on the sale of medicines, medical equipment, and medical 
supplies to Cuba. While Castro continues to claim that the United 
States is responsible for Cubans' lack of access to much needed 
medicines, the truth is that we are doing everything we can to ensure 
that the Cuban people can get the medical supplies denied them by the 
Castro government.
  Pope John Paul II called the world's attention to the suffering of 
the Cuban people during his visit to Cuba in January. I feel the time 
is right to make assistance to oppressed Cubans more easily available 
through organizations such as the Catholic Church and other independent 
groups. Targeting additional aid in this matter will have three 
important effects. First, it will provide humanitarian assistance 
directly to the Cuban people who have suffered under communism. Second, 
it will strengthen the position of the Catholic Church as a more 
independent, viable institution in Cuba. Finally, it will help to 
undermine Castro's policy of denying food and medicine as a means of 
political control.
  Pope John Paul II asked the world to open up to Cuba, and asked Cuba 
to open itself to the world. This bill will begin that process by 
providing humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people. We hope that 
Castro will respond by opening Cuba to the world.
  Just yesterday, Cuban Cardinal Ortega expressed concern that the 
Castro regime was not making an effort to open Cuba to the world--
specifically regarding the political prisoners that continue to fill 
Cuban jails. Four of these political prisoners are in particularly 
desperate condition--Marta Beatriz Roque, Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne, 
and Rene Gomez Manzano--and Castro has refused appeals by the Pope and 
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien to release them on humanitarian 
grounds. In fact, Marta Beatriz Roque is very ill with breast cancer 
and is being denied medical attention in jail. I hope that these 
political prisoners, as well as thousands of others, live to see a time 
when expressing one's political ideas does not mean a death sentence.
  This legislation will provide an upwelling of support for the 
advocates of freedom and human rights in Cuba. A number of periodic 
reports on exploitative labor conditions and the plight of political 
prisoners in Cuba will help bring the world's attention to the reality 
of Castro's oppression. Democracy efforts in Cuba will be bolstered 
through pro-active U.S. support for the Cuban opposition. Direct mail 
delivery from the U.S. to Cuba and additional Radio and TV Marti 
broadcasts will allow the Cuban people to receive uncensored news from 
the outside world, breaking Catro's monopoly on the dissemination of 
information.
  Let us not forget that U.S. support for the democracy movements of 
Eastern Europe helped millions of people there win the freedom to 
express their ideas, live without fear, and create better lives for 
their children. We should not turn our backs on the Cuban people now, 
when they need our help more than ever. The Castro government does not 
need food and medicine: the Cuban people do. We must ensure that our 
aid does not go to those who torture and kill. The Cuban Solidarity Act 
works to give food and medicine to those who are forgotten by Castro's 
regime--the poor mothers who need prenatal care, the children who need 
bread and milk, the elderly who die of easily curable diseases.
  Mr. President, the 11 million Cubans imprisoned by Castro's reign of 
terror are counting on us to enact this vital and historic piece of 
legislation. I hope that all of my colleagues will join Senators Helms, 
Lott, Mack, myself, and nearly twenty others in supporting this effort 
to provide a lifeline to the Cuban people.
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I rise as an original cosponsor of the 
Cuban Assistance and Solidarity (SOLIDARIDAD) Act that my distinguished 
friend and Chairman of the foreign Relations Committee, Senator Helms, 
is introducing today. I commend the Chairman for his leadership on this 
issue and strongly support him in this endeavor.
  The intent of this legislation is very simple * * * to actively 
assist the repressed Cuban people and those dedicated to ending the 
regime of Fidel Castro.
  This Act will authorize $100 million in humanitarian assistance over 
four years for food, medicine, and medical supplies, donated by the 
U.S. government. In addition, direct flights to deliver this 
humanitarian aid will be authorized and monitored to ensure that all 
aid is directly delivered to the Cubans who need it most, those who are 
unable to afford to make purchases in the Castro controlled dollar-only 
stores.
  Mr. President, this is an important piece of legislation. This bill 
will eliminate Castro's claims that the U.S. embargo is the cause of 
the hardships suffered by the Cuban people. It effectively creates a 
Catch-22 for him. If he allows the aid, he loses his control by 
deprivation. If he prohibits the aid, he will no longer be able to 
prevent the people from receiving food and medicine without the 
knowledge that he is responsible for their pain and suffering, not the 
United States.
  Further, this bill requires the President to take several timely and 
appropriate pro-democracy steps regarding Cuba, such as strengthening 
support for democratic opposition within Cuba; seeking a U.N. Security 
Council resolution on free elections; beginning ``freedom 
broadcasting'' through Radio and TV Marti; producing a series of 
reports on the plight of average Cubans; authorizing increased 
personnel to expedite American medical sales licenses; and obtaining 
the International Court of Justice indictment in the downing of two 
unarmed planes and the murder of four people in 1996.
  Mr. President, I urge all of my colleagues to take a proactive stand 
for the people of Cuba and support the SOLIDARIDAD Act.
                                 ______