[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 140-141]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     PROS AND CONS OF CUBAN EMBARGO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to discuss my recent visit 
to Cuba. I just returned last evening from a 6-day trip to Cuba where I 
had the opportunity to meet with the various ministries. I met not only 
with the minister of health but I went into the neighborhoods, into the 
neighborhood clinics. I talked with the doctors there, I talked with 
the patients there, and I got a good understanding of the kind of 
health care that Cubans are involved with based on health care being 
one of the national priorities.
  I also went to the University of Medicine, where they are training 
young doctors throughout the region, and I was absolutely amazed at the 
fact that they have 5,000 young people who are there from all over the 
Caribbean who are being trained as doctors. It amazes me, because here 
in the United States it is just so difficult to get young people of 
color into the universities so

[[Page 141]]

that they can be trained as doctors. But they are showing that it can 
be done there. Over 60,000 doctors have been produced in Cuba.
  Having said that, my real reason for being there was to follow up on 
a commitment that I made 11 months ago when I visited Cuba.

                              {time}  1315

  When I visited Cuba 11 months ago to basically try and get a handle 
on the pros and cons of the embargo, I discovered that we have a waiver 
on medical supplies and equipment. However, not one aspirin had been 
sold in Cuba. I talked with people to try and understand why this was 
true.
  We finally came back and we got together with representatives from 
the Treasury Department, from Commerce and from the State Department to 
try and understand the rules and the laws as it related to the waiver. 
We finally all got on one track and we got with those individuals who 
have been trying for years to get a medical trade show going in Cuba, 
and we finally got it on track and that trade show did open. I was 
there to help cut the ribbon, along with the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) and many of our representatives of our business 
community.
  I was very pleased that we had almost 300 representatives there from 
various businesses in the United States representing over 90 of our 
largest businesses who were delighted to be there to show their medical 
supplies and equipment. We had companies like ADM. We had companies 
like Eli Lilly, Procter Gamble, Pfizer, many of the huge companies of 
America with goods and products that they want to share, that they want 
to sell.
  I think it is foolhardy for the American business community to allow 
China and Germany and Canada and all of these countries to be in Cuba 
selling their goods, selling their supplies, and we are just 90 miles 
from Cuba.
  They have many, many needs. They want to do business with us, 
particularly with medical supplies and equipment. They have trained the 
professionals. They have trained the doctors. They have children who 
desperately need the supplies, the state-of-the-art equipment. I think 
that our American firms should continue to seek these opportunities and 
to be there.
  Now, having said all of that, none of this happens in a vacuum. As 
you know, the center of debate in Cuba and it appears in the United 
States is Elian Gonzalez, this young child who is in Miami, who one 
side is saying he should be kept there, he should be given citizenship, 
he should not be allowed to return to Cuba to his father.
  Well, I met with his father while I was there, Juan Gonzalez. There 
is no logical argument, none that anybody can make, that should take 
this child from his father. This child lost his mother on the sea. This 
child should not be deprived of his father. This child should be 
returned to Cuba immediately.
  This political spectacle that is being created in Miami is 
unconscionable. There is no reason a little child should be a political 
pawn. This is not about whether or not we like Castro. This is not 
whether or not we agree with the revolution, that we are one of the 
Batista people, that we do not believe in what is going on there. This 
is about parental rights. This is about the right of a father to have 
their child and to raise their child.
  By all accounts, this man is a good father; he had a great 
relationship with his child. Let us stop the political madness. Let us 
allow little Elian to go home.

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