[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7914-7915]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 FREEDOM TO TRAVEL TO CUBA ACT OF 2005

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, on Monday, April 25, I introduced a bill, S. 
894, with Senator Dorgan that will make a small change in Cuba policy. 
It deals only with travel provisions to Cuba.
  I have been watching Cuba since the 1960s. I went to college at 
George Washington University and was there at the

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time of the Cuban missile crisis. I have had the opportunity to watch 
what has happened with Cuba through the years and I am reminded of 
something my dad used to say: If you keep on doing what you have always 
been doing, you are going to wind up getting what you already got.
  That is kind of been the situation with Cuba. We have been trying the 
same thing for 40 years--over 40 years--and it has not worked. So I am 
suggesting a change to get a few more people in there to increase 
conversation for people that understand the way the United States works 
and the way Cuba works and how they ought to drift more rapidly towards 
where we are.
  Castro's cruelty to his own people has tempted us to tighten the 
already strong restrictions on the relations between our two countries, 
and we did. We need to be successful in bringing about a better way of 
life for the Cuban people.
  When we stop Cuban-Americans from bringing financial assistance to 
their families in Cuba, and end the people to people exchanges, and 
stop the sale of agricultural and medicinal products to Cuba, we are 
not hurting the Cuban Government, we are hurting the Cuban people. We 
are diminishing their faith and trust in the United States and reducing 
the strength of the ties that bind the people of our two countries.
  If we allow more and freer travel to Cuba, if we increase trade and 
dialogue, we take away Castro's ability to blame the hardships of the 
Cuban people on the United States. In a very real sense, the better we 
try to make things for the Cuban people, the more we will reduce the 
level and the tone of the rhetoric used against us by Fidel Castro.
  As I mentioned before, it seems foolish to do the same thing over and 
over again and expect different results. That is what we are doing in 
Cuba. We are continuing to exert pressure from our side and, as we do, 
we are giving Castro a scapegoat to blame for the poor living 
conditions in his country in the process. It is time for a different 
policy, one that goes further than embargoes and replaces a restrictive 
and confusing travel policy with a new one that will more effectively 
help us to achieve our goals in that country.
  The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act is very straightforward. It states 
that the President shall not prohibit, either directly or indirectly, 
travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or transactions 
incident to such travel.
  In 1958 the Supreme Court affirmed our constitutional right to 
travel, but the U.S. Government then prohibited Americans from spending 
money in Cuba. We simply said, OK, you have a right to travel, but try 
traveling without spending a dime.
  One of the reasons I became involved in this issue is because a 
Cuban-American from Jackson, WY, had been in Cuba visiting his family, 
doing his one visit a year. As he left and was on the plane coming back 
to Wyoming, one of his parents died. He could not go back there for a 
year. Under the recent changes, he now would be unable to go back for 3 
years. This is not a good situation for any family.
  I must ask my colleagues why we are continuing to support a policy 
that was basically implemented 40 years ago. Why are we supporting a 
policy that has had little effect on the government we oppose? Why 
don't we improve our policy so that it will improve conditions for the 
Cuban people and their image of the United States?
  The bill we are introducing makes real change in our policy toward 
Cuba that will lead to real change for the people of Cuba. What better 
way to let the Cuban people know of our concern for their plight than 
for them to hear it from their friends, and extended family from the 
United States. Or let them hear it from the American people who will go 
there. The people of this country are our best ambassadors and we 
should let them show the people of Cuba what we as a Nation are all 
about. One thing we should not do is to play into Castro's hands by 
continuing to enact stricter and more stringent regulations and create 
a situation where the United States is easy to blame for the problems 
in Cuba.
  Unilateral sanctions will not improve human rights for Cuban 
citizens. The rest of the world isn't doing what we are doing. They are 
being supplied by the rest of the world for everything that they need. 
Open dialogue and exchange of ideas and commerce can move a country 
toward democracy.
  What better way to share the rewards of democracy than through people 
to people exchanges. Unilateral sanctions stop not just the flow of 
goods, but the flow of ideas. Ideas of freedom and democracy are the 
keys to positive change in any nation.
  Some may ask why we want to increase dialogue right now, why open the 
door to Cuba when Castro behaves so poorly. No one is denying that the 
actions of Castro and his government are deplorable, as is his refusal 
to provide basic human rights to his people. But if you truly believe 
that Castro is dictator with no good intentions, how can you say we 
should wait for him to behave before we engage. He controls all the 
media in Cuba. The entire message that is coming out unless we have 
people interacting is his message. Keeping the door closed and 
hollering at Castro on the other side does nothing. Let's do something, 
let's open the door and talk to the Cuban people.
  I encourage all of my colleagues to take a look at S. 894 and join me 
in this effort.

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