[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

[[Page S12682]]

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

[[Page S12683]]

     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.

                          ____________________