[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 2 (Thursday, January 7, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E41-E42]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE LIBERTAD ENFORCEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BILL McCOLLUM

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 6, 1999

  Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the LIBERTAD 
Enforcement Act and to reflect on the actions of the Clinton 
Administration toward Cuba.
  Just yesterday, January 5th, the President announced several new 
measures to ``assist and support the Cuban people without strengthening 
the regime.'' While I understand that the regulations regarding these 
measures have not been developed, I am concerned about the proposal 
that would allow sales of food and agricultural inputs. Not only is it 
unclear whether President Clinton has the authority to make this 
change, but it is unlikely at this point that these sales would have 
much effect on the Cuban people, who it is designed to help. Without a 
private sector and very few non-governmental organizations, it will be 
difficult to get food to the people and keep it from Castro and his 
regime.
  Cuba has been a dictatorship under Fidel Castro for some 40 years. 
During that time I think the world is fully aware of the many human 
rights violations this dictator has committed and his regime has 
committed. I think the world is probably also fully aware that Cuba and 
Fidel Castro remain only one of two Communist dictatorships left after 
the fall of the Soviet Union and changes around the world and 
tendencies towards more democracies, as we have seen in the last decade 
or so.
  We have tried numerous times in small, incremental ways, to either 
oust Fidel Castro or to change his policies. It should be abundantly 
clear to anyone who has observed this man over the years that he is not 
about to change his stripes. He is not about to give up his ruthless 
power. And if he does, it will not be voluntarily.

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  For those who wish democracy in Cuba, I can only say I hope so too. 
However, it is wishful thinking if you think it is going to come about 
as long as Fidel Castro is in power. The only way to see democracy in 
Cuba and to see our hemisphere democratic and to have normal relations 
again with that small Nation state to the south is for Fidel Castro to 
leave office and for those who supported him for all these years to end 
that support.
  Castro may make modest changes in how he does business, which have no 
bearing in reality upon ever becoming truly democratic or allowing a 
true market system to work, and he is given a reward to do this by the 
continued open door policies of these allies who pour these dollars in 
through the businesses that operate there.
  In Title III of the law that is known as Helms-Burton that was passed 
in 1996, there was a provision very important to stopping this 
continued support of the Castro regime. That provision allows U.S. 
nationals to sue in U.S. Federal court those persons that traffic in 
property confiscated in Cuba. Unfortunately, the President is allowed 
to grant waivers of up to six months for implementation of this 
provision. Since Helms-Burton was enacted, President Clinton has 
routinely waived this section.
  There can be no lawsuits, no litigation in American courts against 
foreign corporations, foreign business interests that invest in 
previously owned American property in Cuba or American interests in 
Cuba. That is a horrible decision by the President. It is outrageous 
what he did. It is something that kowtows to the big business interests 
of our allies and is detrimental to everything that we believe in and 
to the best interests of our national security and our interests in 
this hemisphere.
  Our interest is in having democracy in Cuba and that can only happen 
when the noose is tied tightly enough around Castro and the current 
Cuban regime that he is ousted and that a new government comes into 
place. The economy of that country is dependent upon these investments 
and anything we can do to stop the money from flowing and the support 
from flowing into this government and into its economy is essential and 
important and critical, not only to the freedom-loving people who want 
to be free in Cuba, Cuban Americans and Cubans everywhere, but also to 
America, the United States' national security interest.
  There is no real progress being made. Castro's playing us for a 
sucker and this administration is blind to that fact. You cannot have 
your cake and eat it, too, Mr. President. You must understand that if 
we are to end this tyrannical dictatorship south of the United States, 
only 90 miles off our coast, a true embargo has to be enforced, a true 
economic embargo. And this provision, Title III of the Helms-Burton law 
allowing Americans to sue in court companies abroad that are doing 
business and investing in American interests, formerly American 
interests in Cuba, has to be allowed to go forward. And if it does, 
then and only then do we have a chance of ousting Castro in some more 
peaceable manner other than short of some invading force, which none of 
us is predicting or expecting or advocating.
  I hope and pray that my colleagues will join with me in the next few 
months as we go back and revisit this issue legislatively. If the 
President is not willing to enforce title III of Helms-Burton and is 
going to continue to waive it, then I would suggest it is within our 
power and this Congress should pass a law that says that title III is 
no longer eligible for waiver, that it indeed is the law of this land, 
that Americans who formerly had an interest in Cuba can sue foreign 
companies investing in those property interests in Cuba.
  I would urge my colleagues to examine it. It is a very important 
ingredient in our foreign policy. We should never have allowed a 
dictatorship to exist for 40 years of such a vile nature as we have in 
Castro south of here, just 90 miles off our coast. And there is no 
reason, no reason to allow our allies and their business interests to 
continue to prop up that dictatorship with its human rights violations 
any longer. The time has long since passed to do something about it. 
Let us act in this Congress to force the hand of this President and to 
allow American citizens to sue, at the very least to try to bring some 
pressure that can be legitimately brought on the Cuban regime in 
addition to enforcing the embargo and whatever else we can do within 
our powers.

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