[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 98 (Thursday, July 18, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DO NOT EASE TRADE EMBARGO ON CUBA

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned about a proposal that 
we may have on the floor today to terminate some of the trade embargo 
between the United States and Cuba.
  Mr. Speaker, Cuba is not exactly your stereotypical, friendly next-
door neighbor, and there are certain reasons why this island nation has 
the honor, a very dubious honor, I want to say, of being one of the 
seven terrorist-supporting nations in the world by the State 
Department.
  In fact, let me quote what our intelligence community says. ``The 
U.S. believes that Cuba has at least a limited, developmentally 
offensive biological warfare research and development effort. Cuba has 
provided dual use technology to rogue states. We are concerned that 
such technology could support biological warfare programs in these 
states.''
  Now, easing this trade embargo would merely provide Castro the 
financial capital he needs to fund his reign of terrorism and abuse. It 
would be tragic if the legislative actions of this Congress helped 
finance any attack on its own citizens or any of the citizens around 
the world.
  Now is not the time for us to succumb to the wishes of a maniacal 
ruler and give in on our trade embargo. We have to keep the bar very, 
very high, because with the terrorist threat around the world, this is 
one neighbor we have to be mindful of.

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