[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 150 (Tuesday, October 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12681-S12683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UNITED STATES-CUBA RELATIONS
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have great concerns about our Nation's
policy towards Cuba. Castro remains, in the mind of this Senator and
the minds of most, as an individual who has brought great harm to that
nation, and it persists to this day. The human suffering there is
incalculable.
Some months ago, I joined with my distinguished friend and colleague,
the senior Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Dodd, who has had considerable
experience in this region of our hemisphere, in trying to seek
legislation to allow the sale of U.S. food, medicine and medical
equipment to Cuba.
Regrettably, that has not been done in its totality. There have been
some efforts, but nevertheless that continues to present itself as an
example of how I believe--and others share my belief--that the overall
policy between the United States of America and Cuba should be
thoroughly, pragmatically and objectively reviewed. With that purpose
in mind, I and other Senators--I think some 15 in number--have written
the President of the United States requesting that he, hopefully
jointly with the Congress, establish a commission to make such a study.
In short, we wrote President Clinton recommending ``the establishment
of a national bipartisan commission to review our current U.S.-Cuba
policy.''
My reason for making this recommendation is simple and
straightforward. The current United States-Cuba policy in effect for
nearly 40 years--that is astonishing, 40 years--has yet to achieve its
goal of a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. Of course, Castro
remains the single most formidable obstacle to achieving that goal.
Now the time has come, in our judgment, for a thoughtful, rational
and objective analysis of our current U.S. policy toward Cuba and its
overall effect on this hemisphere. I am not alone
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in putting forward this proposal. As I have previously stated, I was
joined in this recommendation to the President by a distinguished and
bipartisan group of Senate colleagues. In addition, a world-respected
group of former senior Government officials of our United States have
written to me--I asked for that letter and obtained it--in strong
support of the establishment of the commission.
That distinguished group includes Howard Baker, Jr., former Senate
majority leader; Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of Defense; Lawrence
Eagleburger, former Secretary State; Henry Kissinger, former Secretary
of State; William D. Rogers, former Under Secretary of State; Harry W.
Shalaudeman, former Assistant Secretary of State and Malcolm Wallop,
former U.S. Senator. Further, I am informed that former Secretary of
State George Shultz supports our efforts.
Mr. President, it is my hope that President Clinton will act to
implement our recommendation. Should he choose to do so, the analysis
and recommendations that are put forth will provide both the Congress
and the Administration with the means to shape and strengthen our
future relationship with Cuba.
The recommendation that we have for this commission is parallel to
one that was set up by a past President in response to the need to look
at the overall hemisphere. It was known as the Kissinger Commission. It
has, I think, the customary provisions in it whereby the President
makes certain appointments and the Congress will make certain
appointments. I think there will be a wealth of talent ready, able, and
willing to step forward at the call of the Executive branch and the
Legislative branch to take up the responsibility of a very serious
challenge, to establish a revised policy between our Nation and Cuba.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent my letter to President
Clinton, the letter sent to me by Lawrence Eagleburger, and an October
16, 1998, Washington Post editorial on this subject be printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, October 13, 1998.
Hon. William Jefferson Clinton,
President of the United States, The White House, Washington,
DC.
Dear Mr. President: We, the undersigned, recommend that you
authorize the establishment of a National Bipartisan
Commission to review our current U.S.-Cuba policy. This
Commission would follow the precedent and work program of the
National Bipartisan Commission on Central America, (the
``Kissinger Commission''), established by President Reagan in
1983, which made such a positive contribution to our foreign
policy in that troubled region over 15 years ago.
We recommend this action because there has not been a
comprehensive review of U.S.-Cuba policy, or a measurement of
its effectiveness in achieving its stated goals, in over 38
years since President Eisenhower first canceled the sugar
quota on July 6, 1960 and President Kennedy imposed the first
total embargo on Cuba on February 7, 1962. Most recently,
Congress passed the Cuban Democracy Act in 1992 and the
Helms-Burton Act in 1996. Since the passage of both of these
bills there have been significant changes in the world
situation that warrant a review of our U.S.-Cuba policy
including the termination, in 1991, of billions of dollars of
annual Soviet economic assistance to Cuba, and the historic
visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba in 1998.
In addition, during the past 24 months numerous delegations
from the United States have visited Cuba, including current
and former Members of Congress, representatives from the
American Association of World Health, and former U.S.
military leaders. These authoritative groups have analyzed
the conditions and capabilities on the island and have
presented their findings in the areas of health, the economy,
religious freedom, human rights, and military capacity. Also,
in May 1998, the Pentagon completed a study on the security
risk of Cuba to the United States.
However, the findings and reports of these delegations,
including the study by the Pentagon, and the call by Pope
John Paul II for the opening of Cuba by the world, have not
been broadly reviewed by all U.S. policy makers. As Members
of the U.S. Senate, we believe it is in the best interest of
the United States, our allies, and the Cuban people to review
these issues.
We therefore recommend that a ``National Bipartisan
Commission on Cuba'' be created to conduct a thoughtful,
rational, and objective analysis of our current U.S. policy
toward Cuba and its overall effect on this hemisphere. This
analysis would in turn help us shape and strengthen our
future relationship with Cuba.
We recommend that the members of this Commission be
selected, like the ``Kissinger Commission'', from a
bipartisan list of distinguished Americans who are
experienced in the field of international relations. These
individuals should include representatives from a cross
section of U.S. interests including public health, military,
religion, human rights, business, and the Cuban American
community. A bipartisan group of eight Members of Congress
would be appointed by the Congressional Leadership to serve
as counselors to the Commission.
The Commission's tasks should include the delineation of
the policy's specific achievements and the evaluation of (1)
what national security risk Cuba poses to the United States
and an assessment of any role the Cuban government may play
in international terrorism and illegal drugs, (2) the
indemnification of losses incurred by U.S.-certified
claimants with confiscated property in Cuba, and (3) the
domestic and international impacts of the 36-year-old U.S.-
Cuba economic, trade and travel embargo on: (a) U.S.
international relations with our foreign allies; (b) the
political strength of Cuba's leader; (c) the condition of
human rights, religious freedom, freedom of the press in
Cuba; (d) the health and welfare of the Cuban people; (e) the
Cuban economy; (f) the U.S. economy, business, and jobs.
More and more Americans from all sectors of our nation are
becoming concerned about the far-reaching effects of our
present U.S.-Cuba policy on United States interests and the
Cuban people. Your establishment of this National Bipartisan
Commission would demonstrate your leadership and
responsiveness to the American people.
We have enclosed a letter from former Secretary of State
Lawrence Eagleburger outlining his and other former top
officials support for the creation of such a commission.
Thank you in advance for your thoughtful consideration.
Sincerely,
John Warner, Chuck Hagel, Rod Grams, James M. Jeffords,
Michael B. Enzi, Bob Kerrey, Rick Santorum, Dirk
Kempthorne, Kit Bond, John Chafee, Craig Thomas, Dale
Bumpers, Chris Dodd, Pat Roberts.
____
Baker, Donelson, Bearman
& Caldwell,
Washington, DC, September 30, 1998.
Hon. John Warner,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Warner: As Americans who have been engaged in
the conduct of foreign relations in various positions over
the past three decades, we believe that it is timely to
conduct a review of United States policy toward Cuba. We
therefore encourage you and your colleagues to support the
establishment of a National Bipartisan Commission on Cuba.
I am privileged to be joined in this request by: Howard H.
Baker, Jr., Former Majority Leader, U.S. Senate; William D.
Rogers, Former Under Secretary of State; Frank Carlucci,
Former Secretary of Defense; Harry W. Shalaudeman, Former
Assistant Secretary of State; Henry A. Kissinger, Former
Secretary of State; and Malcolm Wallop, Former Member, U.S.
Senate.
We recommend that the President consider the president and
the procedures of the National Bipartisan Commission on
Central America chaired by former Secretary of State Henry A.
Kissinger, which President Reagan established in 1983. As you
know, the Kissinger Commission helped significantly to
clarify the difficult issues inherent in U.S. Policy in
Central America and to forge a new consensus on many of them.
We believe that such a Commission would serve the national
interest in this instance as well. It could provide the
Administration, the Congress, and the American people with
objective analysis and useful policy recommendations for
dealing with the complexities of our relationship with Cuba,
and in doing so advance the cause of freedom and democracy in
the Hemisphere.
Sincerely,
Lawrence S. Eagleburger.
____
A Good Idea on Cuba
By chance, a record 157 countries voted in the U.N. General
Assembly against the American embargo of Cuba just as a
proposal for a high-powered national bipartisan commission to
review the United States' whole Cuba policy was emerging from
the Senate. In the Assembly, only Israel supported Washington
in defense of an embargo that has been the centerpiece of
American policy for 36 years and that has not been soberly
reviewed since the Cold War ended. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.)
is author of the review proposal. He has gotten heavy-duty
legislators and former foreign policy officials to sign on.
So much has changed over the four decades of Cuban-American
collision. The Cold War is over, terminating Cuban security
threats to the United States. Cuba, by its own totalitarian
rule and economic mismanagement, and not just by the embargo,
has entirely lost luster as a model for modernizing states.
The embargo has punished the Cuban economy, though it is
slowly recovering, and also the Cuban people. The embargo has
embellished the nationalist credentials of Communist ruler
Fidel Castro. It has puzzled America's best friends, who do
not understand why the United States treats Cuba as though
the Cold War were still on.
The official answer is that the embargo is a lever to force
the democratization of Cuba
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and, by American law, the termination of Fidel Castro's rule.
But the limited changes in this regard are owed less to
official American isolation than to such regulated openings
as the permissions for calls, emigration, humanitarian gifts
and family trips and the historic visit of Pope John Paul II.
The American debate on Cuba has come to be an intense
unproductive contest between the Miami exile right and its
liberal critics. The Warner proposal promises to widen both
the terms of the debate and the constituencies participating
in it. A broad bipartisan review of Cuba policy is an idea
whose time has come.
____________________