    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [May 20, 2002]
    [Pages 822-825]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing the Initiative for a New Cuba
    May 20, 2002

        Bienvenidos. Welcome to the White House for the 100th anniversary of
    Cuban independence. Today we honor the ties of friendship and family and
    faith that unite the Cuban people and the people of the United States.
    We honor the contributions that Cuban Americans have made to all aspects
    of our national life. And today I am issuing a proposal and a challenge
    that can put Cuba on the path to liberty.
        I appreciate our Secretary of State
    being here. He and I take this issue very seriously. He loves freedom as
    much as I love freedom. I want to thank Mel Martinez, a graduate of Pedro Pan, for being here. Mr. Secretary,
    you're doing a great job. Welcome.
        I appreciate members of the diplomatic corps who are here. Thank you
    all for coming; I'm honored to have you here.
        I want to thank Senator George Allen from
    the Commonwealth of Virginia. I want to thank Congressman Dan
    Burton; Mr. Chairman. And of course, two great
    Members of the United States Congress, people who have got a lot to
    offer, a lot of sound advice: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. Thank you all for coming.
        Cuba's independence one century ago today was the inspiration of
    great thinkers such as Felix Varela. It was the result of determination
    and talent on the part of a great statesman such as Jose Marti and great
    soldiers such as Antonio Maceo and Maximo Gomez. Most of all, Cuba's
    independence was the product of the great courage and sacrifice of the
    Cuban people.
        Today, and every day for the past 43 years, that legacy of courage
    has been insulted by a tyrant who uses brutal methods to enforce a
    bankrupt vision. That legacy has been debased by a relic from another
    era who has turned a beautiful island into a prison.
        In a career of oppression, Mr. Castro has
    imported nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, and he has exported his
    military forces to encourage civil war abroad. He is a dictator who
    jails and tortures and exiles his political opponents. We know this. The
    Cuban people know this, and the world knows this. After all, just a
    month ago the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, in a resolution
    proposed by the nations of Latin America, called upon Cuba's Government
    to finally--to finally--begin respecting the human rights of its people.
        Through all their pains and deprivation, the Cuban people's
    aspirations for freedom are undiminished. We see this today in Havana,
    where more than 11,000 brave citizens have petitioned their Government
    for a referendum on basic freedoms. If that referendum is allowed, it
    can be a prelude, a beginning for real change in Cuba.
        The United States has no designs on Cuban sovereignty. It's not a
    part of our strategy or a part of our vision. In fact, the United States
    has been a strong and

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    consistent supporter of freedom for the Cuban people. And it is
    important for those who love freedom on that beautiful island to know
    that our support for them will never waver.
        Today I'm announcing an Initiative for a New Cuba that offers Cuba's
    Government a way forward towards democracy and hope and better relations
    with the United States.
        Cuba's scheduled to hold elections to its National Assembly in 2003.
    Let me read Article 71 of the Cuban Constitution. It says, ``The
    National Assembly is composed of deputies elected by free, direct, and
    secret vote.'' That's what the constitution says. Yet since 1959, no
    election in Cuba has come close to meeting these standards. In most
    elections, there has been one candidate, Castro's candidate. All
    elections in Castro's Cuba have been a fraud.
    The voices of the Cuban people have been suppressed, and their votes
    have been meaningless. That's the truth. Es la verdad.
        In the 2003 National Assembly elections in Cuba, Cuba has the
    opportunity to offer Cuban voters the substance of democracy, not its
    hollow, empty forms. Opposition parties should have the freedom to
    organize, assemble, and speak, with equal access to all airwaves. All
    political prisoners must be released and allowed to participate in the
    election process. Human rights organizations should be free to visit
    Cuba to ensure that the conditions for free elections are being created.
    And the 2003 elections should be monitored by objective outside
    observers. These are the minimum steps necessary to make sure that next
    year's elections are the true expression of the will of the Cuban
    people.
        I also challenge Cuba's Government to ease its stranglehold, to
    change its stranglehold on private economic activity. Political and
    economic freedoms go hand in hand, and if Cuba opens its political
    system, fundamental questions about its backward economic system will
    come into sharper focus.
        If the Cuban Government truly wants to advance the cause of workers,
    of Cuban workers, surely it will permit trade unions to exist outside of
    Government control. If Cuba wants to create more good-paying jobs,
    private employers have to be able to negotiate with and pay workers of
    their own choosing, without the Government telling who they can hire and
    who they must fire.
        If Cuba wants to attract badly needed investment from abroad,
    property rights must be respected. If the Government wants to improve
    the daily lives of its people, goods and services produced in Cuba
    should be made available to all Cuban citizens. Workers employed by
    foreign companies should be paid directly by their employers, instead of
    having the Government seize their hard-currency wages and pass on a
    pittance in the form of pesos. And the signs at hotels reading
    ``Solamente Turistas'' should finally be taken down.
        Without major steps by Cuba to open up its political system and its
    economic system, trade with Cuba will not help the Cuban people. It's
    important for Americans to understand: Without political reform, without
    economic reform, trade with Cuba will merely enrich Fidel Castro and his cronies. Well-intentioned ideas about trade
    will merely prop up this dictator, enrich his cronies, and enhance the
    totalitarian regime. It will not help the Cuban people. With real
    political and economic reform, trade can benefit the Cuban people and
    allow them to share in the progress of our times.
        If Cuba's Government takes all the necessary steps to ensure that
    the 2003 elections are certifiably free and fair--certifiably free and
    fair--and if Cuba also begins to adopt meaningful market-based reforms,
    then and only then I will work with the United States Congress to ease
    the ban on trade and travel between our two countries.
        Meaningful reform on Cuba's part will be answered with a meaningful
    American response. The goal of the United States

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    policy toward Cuba is not a permanent embargo on Cuba's economy. The
    goal is freedom for Cuba's people.
        Today's initiative invites the Cuban Government to trust and respect
    Cuban citizens. And I urge other democracies, in this hemisphere and
    beyond, to use their influence on Cuba's Government to allow free and
    fair National Assembly elections and to push for real and meaningful and
    verifiable reform.
        Full normalization of relations with Cuba--diplomatic recognition,
    open trade, and a robust aid program--will only be possible when Cuba
    has a new government that is fully democratic, when the rule of law is
    respected, and when the human rights of all Cubans are fully protected.
        Yet, under the Initiative for a New Cuba, the United States
    recognizes that freedom sometimes grows step by step, and we'll
    encourage those steps. The current of history runs strongly toward
    freedom. Our plan is to accelerate freedom's progress in Cuba in every
    way possible, just as the United States and our democratic friends and
    allies did successfully in places like Poland or in South Africa. Even
    as we seek to end tyranny, we will work to make life better for people
    living under and resisting Castro's rule.
        Today I'm announcing a series of actions that will directly benefit
    the Cuban people and give them greater control of their economic and
    political destiny. My administration will ease restrictions on
    humanitarian assistance by legitimate U.S. religious and other
    nongovernmental organizations that directly serve the needs of the Cuban
    people and will help build Cuban civil society. And the United States
    will provide such groups with direct assistance that can be used for
    humanitarian and entrepreneurial activities. Our Government will offer
    scholarships in the United States for Cuban students and professionals
    who try to build independent civil institutions in Cuba and scholarships
    for family members of political prisoners. We are willing to negotiate
    direct mail service between the United States and Cuba. My
    administration will also continue to look for ways to modernize Radio
    and TV Marti, because even the strongest walls of oppression cannot
    stand when the floodgates of information and knowledge are opened.
        And in the months ahead, my administration will continue to work
    with leaders all around our country, leaders who love freedom for Cuba,
    to implement new ways to empower individuals to enhance the chance for
    freedom.
        The United States will continue to enforce economic sanctions on
    Cuba and the ban on travel to Cuba until Cuba's Government proves that
    it is committed to real reform. We will continue to prohibit U.S.
    financing for Cuban purchases of U.S. agricultural goods, because this
    would just be a foreign aid program in disguise, which would benefit the
    current regime.
        Today's initiative offers Cuba's Government a different path leading
    to a different future, a future of greater democracy and prosperity and
    respect. With real reform in Cuba, our countries can begin chipping away
    at four decades of distrust and division. And the choice rests with Mr.
    Castro.
        Today, there is only one nation in our hemisphere that is not a
    democracy--only one. There is only one national leader whose position of
    power owes more to bullets than ballots. Fidel Castro has a chance to
    escape this lonely and stagnant isolation. If he accepts our offer, he
    can bring help to his people and hope to our relations. If Mr. Castro
    refuses our offer, he will be protecting his cronies at the expense of
    his people. And eventually, despite all his tools of oppression, Fidel
    Castro will need to answer to his people.
        Jose Marti said, ``Barriers of ideas are stronger than barricades of
    stone.'' For the benefit of Cuba's people, it is time for Mr.
    Castro to cast aside old and failed ideas and
    to start to think differently about the future. Today could mark a new
    dawn in

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    a long friendship between our people, but only if the Castro regime sees
    the light.
        Cuba's independence was achieved a century ago. It was hijacked
    nearly half a century ago. Yet, the independent spirit of the Cuban
    people has never faltered, and it has never been stronger than it is
    today. The United States is proud to stand with all Cubans and all Cuban
    Americans who love freedom. And we will continue to stand with you until
    liberty returns to the land you love so well.
        Viva Cuba Libre.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Fidel Castro of Cuba. He
    also referred to Operation Pedro Pan, a 1960s immigration program in
    which thousands of Cuban children were sent to the United States by
    their parents. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of these remarks.