[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 34 (Monday, August 29, 1994)]
[Pages 1696-1697]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Cuba

August 20, 1994

    Over the past 2 weeks, the Government of Cuba has taken actions to 
provoke a mass exodus to the United States. These actions have placed 
thousands of Cuban citizens at risk in small boats and rafts and have 
had a direct impact on our national interest.
    I want to thank the Cuban-American community for their courageous 
restraint in not taking their own boats to Cuba to fuel the exodus and 
thank the officials of Florida, Governor Chiles, the congressional 
delegation, the people from Dade County, and others, who have worked so 
closely with us.
    Yesterday I announced steps to counter Castro's efforts to export 
his problems by provoking an exodus. Today I'm announcing additional 
actions consistent with the Cuban Democracy Act to limit the ability of 
the Cuban Government to accumulate foreign

[[Page 1697]]

exchange and to enable us to expand the flow of information to the Cuban 
people.
    Specifically, cash remittances to Cuba will no longer be permitted. 
Family gift packages will be limited to medicine, food, and strictly 
humanitarian items and transfer of funds for humanitarian purposes will 
require specific authorization of the Treasury Department. Second, the 
only charter flights permitted between Miami and Havana will be those 
clearly designed to accommodate legal immigrants and travel consistent 
with the purposes of the Cuban Democracy Act. Third, the United States 
will use all appropriate means to increase and amplify its international 
broadcasts to Cuba.
    The solution to Cuba's many problems is not an uncontrolled exodus; 
it is freedom and democracy for Cuba.
    The United States will continue to bring before the United Nations 
and other international organizations evidence of human rights abuses, 
such as the sinking of the tugboat 13th of March. Meanwhile we will 
pursue this course with vigor and determination.