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EDITORIALS / OPINIONS
Divider Title:
Cuba policy misses the boat
wysiwyg://17/http://www.phillynews.irer/99/Jan/13/opinon/SMlTno.nn
Don't just sit there.
philadelphia online
The Inquirer SMTWTFS
Front page
Sports
Metro
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Suburban
National
PLAIN TEXT
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for printing
Opinion
Cuba policy misses the boat
Business
LifeStyle
A bipartisan call for change essentially gave Clinton impunity. Instead, we get
Entertainment
baseball games. Maybe.
Obituaries
Food: Wed I Sun
By Wayne S. Smith
Books
Those who had hoped for something new in Cuba policy were deeply
Travel
disappointed by the measures the Clinton administration announced last
tech life
week.
Weekend
Real Estate
Needed was a thorough review of policy that would lead to sweeping
Home & Design
changes. What we got instead was a series of unimportant small steps, some
Health & Science
impractical, others a timid augmentation of what we are already doing.
Arts & Entertainment
Sunday Review
Thirty-nine years after the U.S. embargo was first imposed, Fidel Castro is
Sunday Magazine
still in power. The embargo has accomplished nothing. While regarding our
NEWS
refusal to trade with Cuba as eccentric, other countries also saw it as none of
their business.
But with the Cuban Democracy Act in 1992, Washington began telling
Let's talk
companies incorporated in other countries that they could not trade with
The Inquirer
Cuba. In the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, Washington threatened to haul
Editorial Board
foreign companies into U.S. federal courts if they "trafficked" in expropriated
now has its own
property in Cuba. It warned foreign banks not to provide credit to Cuba.
home page.
Helms-Burton has caused serious problems with our closest friends and
trading partners and spurred a widespread rejection of U.S. policy toward
Hunger in our
Cuba.
midst
A chance for
Against this background, last October, a distinguished group called on the
children
President to appoint a bipartisan commission to conduct a thorough policy
review. Coming as it did from Sen. John W. Warner (R., Va.) and 24 other
Tony
senators and from former Cabinet members of GOP administrations,
AUTH
including former Secretaries of State Henry A. Kissinger, Lawrence S.
Eagleburger and George P. Shultz, the call for a bipartisan commission
Editorial
would have given the President effective political cover.
cartoon
collection
At first, the administration seemed amenable. But some members of
Congress, led by Sen. Robert G. Torricelli (D., N.J.), and Cuban exiles in
Miami and New Jersey voiced strong opposition.
The administration caved. It announced that there would be no commission
and no policy review. There was no need for one, it asserted, because there
was a strong consensus in favor of the existing policy. But if that was true,
1 of 2
1/13/99 9:42 AM
Cuba policy misses the boat
wysiwyg://17/http://www.phillynews.irer/99/Jan/tb/opnon/SMlTH13.ntm.
why did respected people from both sides of the aisle insist that a review was
needed?
As a sop to those who had hoped for more, on Jan. 5 Clinton announced
measures he says will expand contact with the Cuban people and show
support for them yet also keep the pressure on the Cuban government:
The number of charter flights carrying Cuban Americans to visit family in
Cuba will be increased and routed from other cities besides Miami and
Havana; the processing of visas and licenses will be streamlined; and there
will be more cultural, academic and sports exchanges, including exhibition
baseball games between a Cuban team and the Baltimore Orioles.
The latter is the only thing that could be termed a breakthrough: More than
20 years ago, Castro suggested a baseball game.
The other measures, however -- increases in the amount of money U.S.
citizens can send Cuban citizens; the sale of food to private institutions and
of farm implements to private farmers and cooperatives; the start of
direct-mail service between the United States and Cuba -- are not likely to
increase appreciably the flow of people between the countries. And if we're
trying to improve relations with Cuba, why the increased funds for Radio and
TV Marti?
So an opportunity has been lost. More meaningful steps are needed. Clinton
might have indicated, for example, the administration's support for legislation
to lift the embargo on the sale of food and medicine, removed all travel
controls, or announced the closure of TV Marti and the transfer of Radio
Marti back to Washington. where it could be brought under the effective
control of the Voice of America.
The Jan. 5 announcement might have been couched in different terms, terms
designed to indicate our readiness to enter into a more constructive
relationship with the Cuban government.
People-to-people contact is useful, to be sure, but it is an illusion to think we
can deal only with private entities and citizens in Cuba. Sooner or later, if we
want to encourage the government to move ahead with reforms, we must deal
with that government.
But that is a message that has not yet registered with the Clinton
administration.
Wayne S. Smith, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, served
as the chief of the U.S.-interests section in Havana from 1979 to 1982. He
wrote this piece for the Los Angeles Times.
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Jan. 12, 1999
Hurting Cubans
Clinton eases a bit
FINALLY, President Clinton has taken some small steps to relax America's
stranglehold on the bankrupt island of Cuba. He would ease the four-decade
blockade by:
(1) Letting any American send up to $1,200 a year in humanitarian aid, (2)
allowing sale of food and agricultural supplies to Cuban groups, (3) improving
mail service between the mainland and the island, (4) expanding charter flights
to Cuba, (5) letting the Baltimore Orioles and Cuba's national team play
exhibition games.
This is a welcome change - but it isn't
enough. America should end all of its cruel
America should end all of its
measures designed to starve the Cuban
cruel measures designed to
people into abandoning communism.
starve the Cuban people into
abandoning communism.
After Fidel Castro's small band of rebels ousted a Mafia-connected dictator and
instituted Marxism, rich Cubans fled to Florida and began political war against
their homeland. They didn't care if they hurt their relatives and countrymen, as
long as it drove Castro from power.
Conservatives in Congress backed their effort to damage Cuba as much as
possible.
But Castro wasn't driven from power. The only effect of the embargo was to
inflict suffering on Cuba's people. Most of the world sees America as a
malicious neighbor.
Clinton's small step should be followed by wide-open acceptance of Cuba.
Friendly trade and tourism with capitalist America would soon wipe out Cuba's
communism - something four decades of strangulation couldn't do.
Write a letter to the editor.
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1/12/99 9:45 AM
Page 56
2ND STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Charleston Newspapers
The Charleston Gazette
January 12, 1999, Tuesday
SECTION: Editorial; Pg. P4A
LENGTH: 243 words
HEADLINE: Hurting Cubans Clinton eases a bit
BYLINE: Gzedit
BODY:
FINALLY, President Clinton has taken some small steps to relax
America's stranglehold on the bankrupt island of Cuba. He would ease
the four-decade blockade by:
(1) Letting any American send up to $ 1,200 a year in humanitarian aid,
(2) allowing sale of food and agricultural supplies to Cuban groups,
(3) improving mail service between the mainland and the island, (4)
expanding charter flights to Cuba, (5) letting the Baltimore Orioles
and Cuba's national team play exhibition games.
This is a welcome change - but it isn't enough. America should end all
of its cruel measures designed to starve the Cuban people into
abandoning communism.
After Fidel Castro's small band of rebels ousted a Mafia-connected
dictator and instituted Marxism, rich Cubans fled to Florida and began
political war against their homeland. They didn't care if they hurt
their relatives and countrymen, as long as it drove Castro from power.
Conservatives in Congress backed their effort to damage Cuba as much
as possible
But Castro wasn't driven from power. The only effect of the embargo
was to inflict suffering on Cuba's people. Most of the world sees
Page 57
The Charleston Gazette, January 12, 1999
America as a malicious neighbor.
Clinton's small step should be followed by wide-open acceptance of
Cuba. Friendly trade and tourism with capitalist America would soon
wipe out Cuba's communism - something four decades of strangulation
couldn't do.
LOAD-DATE: January 12, 1999
PAGE
2
3RD STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Chicago Sun-Times
January 12, 1999, TUESDAY, Late Sports Final Edition
SECTION: EDT; LETTERS; Pg. 24
LENGTH: 1339 words
HEADLINE: U.S. trade with Cuba a boon to democracy
BODY:
I read with great interest your news story (Jan. 5) about the White House
measures easing trade restrictions with Cuba, and your fine editorial ("Cuba
deserves better, Jan. 6). I agree: Cuba does deserve better, especially the
Cuban people suffering from the unfair, obsolete U.S. trade embargo. By the way,
the U.S. business community deserves to have better economic opportunities in
Cuba, as it does in the former Soviet Union, Vietnam and China -- countries
favored by the White House with the easing of economic sanctions.
I have been to Cuba 10 times recently, and judging by the economic
investments, trade and tourism from Canada, Latin America and European nations,
the United States is hurting itself by losing good business opportunities while
denying U.S. companies the opportunity to profit through trade with Cuba.
The American dollar has practically become the standard currency in Cuba,
with few transactions made with the Cuban peso, which now is worth 1/20th of the
dollar, or 5 cents. Isn't the legal circulation and dominating influence of the
American Cuba? dollar a most visible evidence of American capitalistic penetration of
There are so many other signs of American-style practices in Cuba: the
tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, consumption of American products and
the Cuban people's preferences for American movies, music, television and other
forms of artistic and cultural expression.
Cubans' acceptance of the American way of life should be enough incentive for
our government to completely lift the economic embargo that unjustly punishes
Cuba, or at least continue improving business, cultural, communications and
sports relations with Cuba.
From a more pragmatic point of view, if 37 years of economic embargo has done
nothing to politically hurt the government of Fidel Castro, why does America
insist on an obsolete measure that never will bring about the results of the
strategy proposed in the early '60s?
I have known Castro since our school days at Havana University from 1947-52
I think the Cuban president is willing to negotiate, and the United States
should call a summit meeting with him to discuss lifting the embargo and more
democratization of Cuba. A full introduction of the American way of life in
Cuba would in time contribute to the universal desire for a more democratic
political system in Cuba.
PAGE
3
Chicago Sun-Times, January 12, 1999
Fernando J. Fernandez, Berwyn
Image is everything
The Sun-Times was right (editorial, Dec. 31) to point out the irony of the
Illinois State Bar Association's lawsuit protesting a new law that moves toward
restoring public confidence in Illinois' court system by banning gifts between
lawyers and judges.
The lawsuit claims that the Legislature has violated the separation-of-powers
doctrine in passing this law to regulate the judiciary. The bar association also
points out that the Judicial Inquiry Board, the Courts Commission and the
Judicial Canon of Ethics were created to guard against improper behavior by
judges and that the Judicial Ethics Commission required by the new law is
redundant.
Perhaps the Legislature, like the public, doesn't feel assured by the
existing safeguards. Certainly the track records of these boards and codes
doesn't inspire confidence. From 1975 to 1997, the Judicial Inquiry Board
received nearly 4,000 complaints of injudicious conduct. Only 55 complaints were
passed on to the Courts Commission. Of those, the majority were either dismissed
or handled with reprimands. Why? The Inquiry Board has an inadequate budget for
staff and investigations; until recently, the courts commissioners were all
fellow judges, and investigations and plea bargains are kept confidential.
A more positive direction for the bar association and the legal profession
would be to strengthen judicial ethics enforcement to erase any appearance of
undue influence over judges by attorneys.
The public deserves judges who are beyond reproach, and lawyers should be in
the forefront of creating an effective judicial ethics enforcement system. While
an independent judiciary is fundamental to our democracy, this lawsuit sends a
signal that the bar association is not concerned about gift-giving between
lawyers and judges.
Laura Sullivan,
Citizen Advocacy Center,
Elmhurst
Cynthia Canary,
Illinois Campaign for
Political Reform
Ethical redundancy
The Sun-Times has placed itself in the strange position of saying it doesn't
care whether a new state law -- the Gift Ban Act -- is unconstitutional.
The Illinois State Bar Association fully supports stringent regulation of
gifts to judges, but we believe it should be achieved in a constitutional
manner. Our state Constitution mandates an ethics system for judges the
PAGE
4
Chicago Sun-Times, January 12, 1999
Judicial Inquiry Board and the Illinois Courts Commission. The Constitution also
requires the Supreme Court to exercise sole responsibility for overseeing the
court system.
The Gift Ban Act's creation of an additional ethics commission conflicts with
the system mandated in the Constitution. The last thing we need is competing
commissions telling judges what they can and cannot do.
We believe it is important to object when such an unconstitutional act is
made part of state law. While that position may be unpopular, it defends the
decision made by the voters in adopting the Constitution and in amending the
provision on the Courts Commission in the last election.
Timothy L. Bertschy,
president,
Illinois State Bar Association,
Peoria
Get your own limo
I could only shake my head as I lined up behind a sea of freezing commuters
to cram myself onto an L the Monday morning after the snowstorm - - the chickens
are surely coming home to roost.
For years, Mayor Daley has been pouring city funds into potted plants, bike
racks and fat, no-bid contracts for his pals, while city funding for the CTA
remains at 1963 levels: $ 3 million, the minimum permitted by federal law.
Now, in a week when all Chicagoans -- rich as well as poor - - needed public
transit, we realized that we'd been badly shortchanged by Daley's lack of
vision. Maybe if Hizzoner had to stand out in the cold to wait for a bus like
the rest of us, things would be different.
Joe Winston, Near North Side
City that won't work
True, the cold is intense here. But it also is cold in Milwaukee, New York
and Boston. Their transit systems seem to be working fine. Their schools aren't
closed.
When the mayor fired former CTA President Robert Belcaster, he made the
mistake he's now paying for. Belcaster's fault was having an independent,
outsider's view of how the CTA should be managed. He had no political baggage.
The mayor continues to support people who can't do what needs to be done. So
congratulations, Bobby Rush. Your paper tiger may have a few teeth after all.
Thaddeus J. Kochanny,
Ingleside
PAGE
5
Chicago Sun-Times, January 12, 1999
We'll drink to that
In response to John Doyle, a representative from the American Beverage
Institute (Letters, Jan. 5), I am upset that your paper continues to print
outright lies by individuals who work for the liquor industry. Time and again, I
have read that a 0.08 standard for determining alcohol intoxication for
motorists will turn responsible social drinkers into criminals.
Doyle said that an individual who consumed two 6-ounce glasses of wine over a
two-hour period would be considered "drunk." That is false.
When the Legislature was debating the 0.08 issue, state representatives
tested these assertions by the liquor industry. After sharing a bottle of wine
with dinner, two representatives were both well under the 0.08 limit. They
discovered that an individual has to consume approximately an entire bottle of
wine within an hour to be considered intoxicated.
The truth is, you can go out to dinner, share a bottle of wine and even have
a port or brandy afterward and still remain within the law.
I am happy that most Illinois legislators were able to resist the money
thrown to them by the alcohol industry and made 0.08 the standard for this
state.
Henry T. Sadowski, Addison
LANGUAGE: English
LOAD-DATE: January 12, 1999
Page 58
3RD STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Sentinel Communications Co.
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
January 12, 1999 Tuesday, METRO
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A8
LENGTH: 589 words
HEADLINE: NO ONE BUT CASTRO WILL BENEFIT FROM EASING OF TRADE SANCTIONS
BYLINE: By Charley Reese of The Sentinel Staff
BODY:
You would think that, just as a matter of chance or accident, Bill Clinton
would do at least one thing right occasionally. Apparently he can't. His easing
of trade sanctions against Cuba is a big mistake.
He says that allowing Americans to send more dollars to Cubans won't help
Fidel Castro, but he's lying. The only place Cubans can spend dollars is in
government stores. The extra dollars will end up in Castro's bank account.
In order to wade through the muck of propaganda, let's clear up the
difference between the trade sanctions against Cuba and the trade embargo
against Iraq. The sanctions in regard to Cuba apply only to Americans and
American businesses.
Castro is free to trade with every other country in the world. Cuba can
export or import anything it wishes from any country except the United States.
Therefore, Cuba's poverty cannot be laid at the feet of Americans.
The sanctions against Iraq, however, are a true embargo. There is a
military-enforced prohibition against Iraq exporting or importing anything
without express permission of the United Nations. Therefore, the poverty in Iraq
is a result of the embargo and, of course, the bombing of Iraq's infrastructure.
In Cuban waters, however, there are no American ships stopping anyone from
other countries from visiting or investing or doing business with the bearded,
blowhard dictator. He blames poverty on us, but he's a Clinton-class liar.
The poverty of the Cuban people is deliberately imposed by Castro who, like
all communists, confiscated both the land and the people's labor. He exploits
both to fill the communist coffers. As in all communist countries, the top Reds
live well at the expense of the people.
A few weeks ago a friend of mine made his first visit to Cuba, spending
nearly two weeks there and driving from one end of the island to the other. He
said the country is astoundingly beautiful, the land is fertile, and there are
crops and cattle everywhere.
Yet, he said, the people are bordering on malnutrition, and even the stores
that take dollars have bare shelves. Obviously, Castro is reserving the island's
Page 59
Orlando Sentinel Tribune, January 12, 1999
bounty for his cadre and for export to earn money to support his police state.
Enforced poverty is a standard communist technique of control. People living
on the subsistence level and at the mercy of the Communist Party for even that
stay too busy just trying to survive to have any energy left for overthrowing
the government.
Communism truly is a blight on the human race. Communists have more than once
used enforced starvation as a means of mass murder. Stalin killed nearly 12
million Ukrainians by forced starvation, and the deposed Communist boss of
Ethiopia used it against his enemies.
Because of all the communists and leftists in America, Castro's image is
blurred, but he is a murderous psychopath. Years ago, I had a long conversation
with Huber Matos, one of the revolution's most successful guerrillas. He finally
broke with Castro and spent years in prison. He said Castro is very much like
Adolf Hitler - a megalomaniac and a ruthless psychopath.
More recently, Cuban defectors who held high positions in Castro's government
have written that he has a pathological hatred of the United States. One even
wrote that Castro would order a military attack on the United States rather than
give up power. He said the dictator's ego would prefer destruction by the United
States than to have to admit that he is a failed leader.
Clinton and Castro both need to go and sooner rather than later.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: January 12, 1999
Page 50
3RD STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Southeastern Newspapers Corporation
The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
January 11, 1999, Monday, ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. A5
LENGTH: 365 words
HEADLINE: EDITORIAL ROUNDUP
BODY:
One small step
You'll never convince Jesse Helms or the hard-line Cuban exiles in Miami, but
the fastest way to subvert Fidel Castro is to end the embargo and drench him in
Levis and Walkmans, Yankees T-shirts and Taco Bells. The aging dictator keeps
insisting, in his infamous, self-indulgent harangues, that the only choice for
Cuba is socialism or death. Let a few more dollars into the country, and the
Cuban people will quickly figure out some better options.
That's certainly what President Clinton has in mind with his proposal to
allow more U.S. money to flow to families and non-governmental organizations in
Cuba. The president also intends to allow direct mail service between the two
countries, more charter flights and the sale of food and agricultural supplies
to religious groups and independent farmers.
It's a small step, but one that inches the United States closer to a rational
policy toward Cuba. The embargo was supposed to help topple Castro; 36 years
after it was imposed, he's as entrenched and annoying as ever. It's time to see
what a change in tactics might do. There's nothing more fatal to dictatorship,
after all, than an open contrast of its scarcity, fear, rigidity and dullness
with the abundance, confidence and choice possible under a free system.
Until Congress relents and relaxes the commercial embargo, though, the Cuban
people will be denied a while longer the benefits of free trade, more badly
needed humanitarian aid and the healthy ferment that comes from greater contact
with the outside world. As a substitute, Clinton is offering two exhibition
games between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban national baseball team.
Given the Orioles' showing last season, it may not be great baseball, but
it's smart diplomacy. Let the fans in Cuba, where baseball is the national
passion, contemplate a few free agents in action. They'll get the point, which
is less about money than about the rewards of liberty and self-determination.
The hard-line anti-Castro lobby won't like playing ball with the Cubans. But in
any matchup between today's Cuba and a free society, it's Castro who stands to
be the loser.
Detroit Free Press
GRAPHIC: Castro mug
Chicago Tribune
FOUNDED JUNE 10, 1847
SCOTT C. SMITH. Publisher HOWARD A. TYNER. Editor
N. DON WYCLIFF. Editorial Page Editor ANN MARIE LIPINSKI, Managing Editor
JAMES O'SHEA. Deputy Managing Editor/News GEROULD W. KERN, Deputy Managing Editor/Features
R. BRUCE DOLD, Deputy Editorial Page Editor
10
Section 1
V
Monday, January 11. 1999
Another perspective
SANCTONS.THATOughtafix'em!
STILL HERE
STILL HERE
The Minmi Hernld
MORAn
HISHA
Lincolr. Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
lleana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL),
Secretary Albright.
Left to right: Bob Menendez(D-NJ),
Chicago
ribune News - Columnists - Steve Chapman
Page 1 of 4
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If your only means of transportation
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conclude it was time to get a new car.
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money for gas or insurance, he's got the
perfect vehicle. If that reasoning makes
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sense to you, you'll have no trouble
understanding his latest policy shift on
Cuba, which turns out to be no shift at
all.
For 37 years, the United States has done
its best to isolate, ostracize and squeeze
Fidel Castro's regime in the hope of
bringing it down. The latest indicator of
its effectiveness came on Jan. 1, when
Cuba's Communist dictatorship
celebrated its 40th anniversary. But the
Clinton administration thinks mere
failure is no reason to try something
different.
So when he finally got around to a sober
re-evaluation of the U.S. embargo on
Cuba, the president reached the
conclusion that it's nearly perfect just the
way it is. He announced only a few token
changes--proposing to let any American,
not just relatives, send money to Cubans,
allow direct mail service between the
two countries, expand the number of
charter flights and, for those who wanted
a really bold stroke, send the Baltimore
Orioles there to play the Cuban national
team. (Fine--but only if Castro agrees to
keep Albert Belle.) The idea of
appointing a bipartisan commission to
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chapman/
1/12/99
Chicago Tribune I News - Columnists - Steve Chapman
Page 2 of 4
address American policy, raised by two
dozen senators and the likes of Henry
Kissinger, was studiously ignored.
Anti-Castro exiles in Florida, who
normally can be relied on to emit fire
from their nostrils and smoke from their
ears whenever relaxation of the embargo
is mentioned, did not think this plan was
worth denouncing. In fact, the
conservative Cuban American National
Foundation issued a statement praising
Clinton.
Asked about claims that it had gotten its
way with Clinton, the head of the group
cheerfully acknowledged, "I'd have to
agree with that." The administration
apparently is more concerned about
elevating Al Gore--a task that depends
partly on Florida's 25 electoral votes--
than on bringing down Castro.
Diehard defenders of the status quo say
that expanding U.S. trade and investment
would ease the economic crisis in Cuba
and thus perpetuate Castro's grip on
power. But listening to these partisans
tell us how to get rid of Castro is like
soliciting investment advice from a
panhandler. If they had the answer, we
wouldn't still be asking the question.
Once one of the most prosperous
countries in Latin America, Cuba is now
among the poorest. Its per capita income
is less than $1,500 per year--half the
level in Guatemala and one-fifth the
level in Mexico. Things were bad when
Cuba was on the Soviet dole, but they
have gotten worse since the Russians
abandoned communism and stopped
sending money.
Shortages abound, and most goods have
to be bought in state-owned stores that
accept only dollars, not pesos. Thanks to
rampant prostitution--much of it
employing children--"Cuba is now
second only to Southeast Asia as a sex
tourism destination," reports the left-
leaning on-line magazine Salon. Cubans
aren't allowed lobster or shrimp because
they're reserved for export. causing one
cabdriver to grouse to a USA Today
reporter, "We are on an island, and we
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chapmam/
1/12/99
Chicago 1 ribune I News - Columnists - Steve Chapman
Page 3 01 4
don't eat fish."
But Castro, like Saddam Hussein, has an
ever-ready excuse for every economic
problem: the U.S. embargo.
Washington's implacable pressure lets
him escape much of the blame for the
wretched poverty of his workers'
paradise. It also gives him a stature he
otherwise wouldn't have: He must be
very important to deserve such
imperishable hostility. As with Saddam,
merely surviving lets Castro stand as a
defiant symbol of opposition to the
Yankee imperialists. Without our
persistent efforts to inflate his
importance, he would be just another
Third World tyrant.
Breaking down the existing barriers
between the U.S. and Cuba would mean
more Americans traveling and doing
business in Cuba, exposing ordinary
Cubans to ever-increasing contact with
unapproved ideas and ways of doing
things. It might also spur economic
growth, which almost infallibly serves to
stimulate demands for democracy and
personal freedom.
So why does Castro favor junking it? He
thinks a lifting of the embargo would be
to his advantage--but then, Daniel Ortega
thought his Sandinista regime would
easily win a free election in Nicaragua in
1990.
Dictators don't gain from measures that
expand the number of things that are
outside their control. If we had the nerve
to lift the embargo, Castro would soon
discover that it was the best friend he
ever had.
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LEVEL 1 - 38 OF 66 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Denver Publishing Company
The Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Co.)
January 11, 1999, Monday,
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Ed. F; Pg. 34A
LENGTH: 656 words
HEADLINE: IT'S TIME U.S. LET BYGONES BE BYGONES WITH CUBA
BYLINE: Charles Roos
BODY:
It's hard to tell these days just how and when Bill Clinton will take his
leave of the presidency, but there's one loose end he ought to tie up, both in
the national interest and as a matter of simple justice.
Cuba.
The United States has been damning Fidel Castro for 40 years and has enforced
an economic embargo on Cuba since 1962, and what has it got us?
It has got us the scorn of most of the rest of the world, the disgust of
many Americans and the creation in South Florida of an arrogant Cuban-American
political force, a force so haughty and overbearing that it dictates foreign
policy.
Ten days ago the president took a hesitant step toward common sense by
easing restrictions on mail service, direct charter flights, purchases of food
and medicine and the transfer of private funds to Cubans.
But that step was both small and tardy. Some of the same things were being
considered three years ago, but were shelved after Castro's air force shot down
two civilian aircraft flown into Cuban air space by Cuban-Americans - private
citizens reportedly testing Castro's will to respond.
Well, he did, as he had a right to.
And after that, Clinton signed legislation tightening the embargo and trade
restrictions. The U.S. Cuba lobby cheered.
So what more could Clinton have done than he did this month? Well, for one
thing, as Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia has proposed, he could have
set up a national commission to review our whole Cuban policy.
Warner points out that the United States allows food and medicine to reach
North Korea, a former (and still potential) enemy, while keeping restrictions on
Cuba.
Page 3
The Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Co.) January 11, 1999
As columnist Mike Royko observed during the 1995-96 troubles with Castro,
'We had history's most terrible war with Germany, Japan and - to a much lesser
extent - with laid-back Italy. Now we're all pals. We had another terrible war
with Vietnam. Now we're shaking hands, making up and doing business with Vietnam
'We've been shaking hands and making up with all kinds of former enemies
all over the world, which is good, because doing business sure beats counting
body bags. But who do we still treat like our most dreaded enemy? A puny island
with a tired government and a feeble economy that isn't a threat to us or anyone
else
Exactly.
Sure, we all know that Castro, long ago, invited the Soviet Union to come in
and build missile bases that did, directly, threaten U.S. security. But that's
history, like our troubles with Germany, Japan and Vietnam.
The Soviet Union has gone bust, ideologically, militarily and financially.
Years ago it abandoned Castro to what he was bound to become, a feeble, worn-out
ruler of a bankrupt island.
So let Bill Clinton truly act presidential. Let him simply declare peace
with Cuba. Then, working with Congress, let him do everything he can, with
whatever time he has left, to do justice to the Cuban people. They've suffered
in isolation too long.
He doesn't have to hug Castro or invite him to the White House. He can treat
him like a zany, shirttail cousin who maybe ought to be in a nursing home but is
allowed to run loose (for whatever time he has left) because the Cuban people -
his family - love him.
What would Bill Clinton risk by doing this? Well, votes, if he were thinking
of running for anything, but I'd say that's unrealistic, wouldn't you?
Truth is, the anti-Castro Cuban-American bloc in the United States isn't
likely to vote for any Democrat for anything anyway. It's still married
politically to Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and conservative Republicanism, and
it doesn't believe in divorce.
QUOTE: May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the
world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba so that this people, which is
working to make progress and which longs for concord and peace, may look to the
future with hope.
- Pope John Paul II, Havana, January 1998.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: January 13, 1999
Page 4
LEVEL 1 - 24 OF 110 STORIES
Copyright 1999 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
January 10, 1999, Sunday
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. AA4
LENGTH: 638 words
HEADLINE: Now may be the time to lift embargo and call Castro's bluff
BODY:
For decades, Fidel Castro has said, "If the United States would only lift the
'blockade' (his word), then Cuba would be free to solve its social and economic
problems."
In reality, Castro fears that some U.S. president will call his bluff.
Bill Clinton has made it clear that he won't be that president.
This week, Clinton lightened, but didn't lift, some of the restrictions
imposed on Cuba in one way or another -- ever since shortly after Castro took
power 40 years ago.
The embargo has been a double-edged sword for Castro. Yes, it's made life
difficult for rank-and-file Cubans. But whenever his Marxist-inspired policies
failed, he's always had Washington to blame.
Last year, when the pope gave Castro a desperately sought injection of
international credibility, your reporter went to Havana. The decay of this proud
city is truly heartbreaking.
Havana's architecture is one of North America's treasures. But it's crumbling
into ruin, a sad monument to Castro's reign.
For the pope's visit, Castro gave the city a fresh coat of paint, but not
nearly enough to cover the depressing reality of what Havana has become. And in
the countryside, the struggle to survive is even tougher.
Agriculture has always been the main business of the island. Today, it's a
mess.
Even when the Soviets underwrote his communist experiment, Castro neglected
to shore up Cuba's economic infrastructure. Today, farming and industrial
equipment are Soviet relics at best held together with baling wire and
prayers like the 1950s cars that stagger along Havana's streets.
So when crops are bad (as they have been in recent years), neither hard work
nor hardware can help the Cuban people.
Some semblance of a reasonable argument can be made that Castroism once
helped Cuba's poor in some ways. Literacy improved. So did the most basic health
Page 5
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT) January 10, 1999, Sunday
care.
But there is no reasonable argument that his system has helped economically.
One enduring mystery is why someone as smart as Castro, and he is -- as anyone
who has been around him knows -- very intelligent, has so bullheadedly, yea,
stupidly, clung to Marxist-Leninist economic dogma.
Long after even Mother Russia and Mao's China jettisoned the old mumbo jumbo,
Castro remains a true believer.
He even claims that, without the embargo, Cuba would be overrun with foreign
capital as if communism naturally inspired investor confidence.
Castro used to point proudly to Cuba's break with economic practices he
considered corrupt and exploitative: gambling, prostitution, tourism. Now all of
these are back.
A Cuban now can make vastly more money as a hotel chambermaid than as a
doctor. Prostitutes of every persuasion swarm around tourists. The black market
is thriving.
Castro continues to blame the United States for his failures. Even his own
repressive measures, he claims, are a response to the embargo: If his communist
experiment were allowed to proceed "without interference," then he could
recognize freedom of speech, press and assembly.
So he claimed in an interview with your reporter a few years ago while
teenage student journalists stood by with wistful smiles. I could ask Castro
tough questions; they could not.
Now politicians and diplomats are urging Clinton to reconsider, perhaps even
lift, the embargo. Some even proposed a bipartisan commission, which could have
deflected or diffused any backlash from anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Florida
and New Jersey.
But those states are vital to presidential politics, and Clinton, like
President Bush before him, has SO far declined the opportunity to make any major
change in American policy toward Cuba.
Could rethinking the embargo actually force Castro's hand? Would he be able
to sustain his dictatorship without Uncle Sam as a boogeyman?
We may never know.
King Features Syndicate
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1999
PAGE 13
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Copyright 1999 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The Plain Dealer
January 9, 1999 Saturday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: EDITORIALS & FORUM; Pg. 8B
LENGTH: 120 words
HEADLINE: CAN CASTRO SAY NO
BYLINE: THE MIAMI HERALD
BODY:
We have supported the ban on U.S. business dealings with or in Cuba. The
idea, of course, is to prevent needless enrichment of Cuba's totalitarian
government. But we just as vigorously support the so-called Track II of the 1992
Cuban Democracy Act. While Track I choked off trade, Track II attempts to
promote civil society by allowing private groups to provide humanitarian aid to
people in Cuba and by encouraging cultural and academic exchanges.
Of course
the measures' impact will depend on the Cuban government's willingness to agree.
But Castro might be hard pressed to tell his people that they cannot enjoy money
from U.S. relatives, or a good pro-baseball game. (Scripps Howard News)
NEW YORK TIMES SAYS:
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
COLUMN: THE FRONT BURNER
LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1999
PAGE
14
211TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The Plain Dealer
January 9, 1999 Saturday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: EDITORIALS & FORUM; Pg. 8B
LENGTH: 167 words
HEADLINE: IT DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH
BYLINE: By JUAN FORERO
BODY:
With the end of the Cold War, Cuba no longer serves as a base for potential
Russian military operations against the United States. American business leaders
have become increasingly interested in the profit potential of Cuba as it moves
toward the post-Castro era. Conservatives have taken up the plea made by Pope
John Paul II to ease the American economic embargo for humanitarian reasons.
Finally, generational changes in the Cuban-American community have increased the
influence of those interested in easing the privations of ordinary Cubans.
The pity is that the Clinton administration has been hesitant about seizing
this opportunity. America should be doing all it can to break down the cultural
and intellectual isolation of Cuban society through increased tourism, business
and cultural and sports contacts. It should be defending human rights by
strengthening its diplomatic presence in Havana. Clinton must go beyond useful
tinkering with an outdated policy.
JUAN FORERO SAYS:
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
COLUMN: THE FRONT BURNER
LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1999
PAGE
14
25TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The Plain Dealer
January 9, 1999 Saturday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: EDITORIALS & FORUM; Pg. 8B
LENGTH: 171 words
HEADLINE: IT'S GLACIAL SPEED
BYLINE: THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
BODY:
Washington's cautious easing of restrictions on Cuba represents welcome
incremental progress. This week's announcement falls well short of a dramatic
move that could nudge Cuba toward democracy and lead to more normal relations,
but it has the virtue of being politically realistic.
The new U.S. policy - easing the flow of money into Cuba and of people both
ways - will reduce the isolation of the Communist country. Out-and-out tourism,
Cuba's biggest moneymaker, is excluded. But people-to-people exchanges will be
allowed in the arts, sciences, religion, education and sports.
The White House rejected a bolder recommendation from four former secretaries
of State to create a bipartisan commission to review U.S.-Cuba policy. That
commission - endorsed by Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William P. Rogers and
Lawrence Eagleburger - could have set the stage for ending the punishing trade
embargo in place since 1960, when Cuba, then a Soviet satellite, represented a
real security threat to the United States.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
COLUMN: FRONT BURNER
LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1999
PAGE
15
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Copyright 1999 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The Plain Dealer
January 9, 1999 Saturday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: EDITORIALS & FORUM; Pg. 8B
LENGTH: 161 words
HEADLINE: WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?
BYLINE: THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION
BODY:
Clinton declined to create a bipartisan panel to review U.S. policy on
Cuba.
His timidity on the point is inexplicable. He had ample political cover to
set a bolder course. Former secretaries of state from Republican administrations
had urged him to initiate the review, as had more than a dozen GOP senators,
many of them of the extra-conservative persuasion.
So why cling to a failed policy? To placate Castrophobes in south Florida and
their mossback champions in Congress?
For 40 years this crowd has concentrated solely on Castro's downfall; never
mind the bitter consequences of isolation and embargo on the Cuban people.
What can they be thinking? The way to hasten the end of Cuba's long night is
not to extend the darkness but to open up the country to trade and visitors and
ideas. The only thing to thrive in Cuba after 40 years of U.S. enmity is
Castro's tyranny. Isn't it time Washington tried a different tack? GEORGIE ANNE
GEYER SAYS:
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
COLUMN: THE FRONT BURNER
LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1999
PAGE
16
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Copyright 1999 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The Plain Dealer
January 9, 1999 Saturday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: EDITORIALS & FORUM; Pg. 8B
LENGTH: 123 words
HEADLINE: ISOLATION SUITS HIM
BYLINE: By GEORGE ANNE GEYER
BODY:
Early reports from Havana say the canny Cuban dictator's response is "cool." "
And you can bet your booties that it is!
If character is destiny, and it is, he will soon be doing exactly what he has
done repeatedly in the past. In 1995, when a similar policy change was in the
works, for instance, he shot down the two unarmed planes of the Cuban exile
group "Brothers to the Rescue, thus guaranteeing that there would be no
changes. The still-undeniable fact is that Fidel Castro does not want any
American "opening" that would give Americans any real power or influence in
Cuba and thus erode his absolute power.
Castro does not really care about the U.S. embargo, for it suits his real
purpose, which is the isolation of Cuba.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
COLUMN: THE FRONT BURNER
LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1999
cago Trib
n
Fridav. January 8. 1999
Jim Hoagland
Clinton and Albright seem unwilling to accept
the political costs for Al Gore in Florida and New
Jersey of understanding that Castro today IS weak
enough to be negotiated out the door of power.
Castro is a relic of another era and another battle.
In the 1962 missile crisis. he brought the United
States and the Soviet Union to the edge of nuclear
war and actually pushed Moscow to respond with
atomic rockets to the U.S. landing on Cuba he
Clinton takes
thought imminent. Today he is an anachronism in
what has become the decade-long Aftermath of the
Cold War.
timid step
The full-loaf effort led by Sen. John Warner (R-
Va.) and other conservatives to have Congress and
the White House empower a national commission
toward Cuba
to review and revise U.S. policy toward Cuba is the
right idea at the right time.
Warner has made no secret of his view that the
ASHINGTON-In his final days Fidel
commission would be looking at drastically
W
Castro endures an appropriate fate:
revising or ending the 37-year U.S. trade embargo.
The old revolutionary who once
He has eloquently described the costs to U.S.
consciously sought to drag two
foreign policy of a mindlessly enforced embargo
superpowers into nuclear
that serves little purpose. It merely gives Castro an
confrontation has become a geopolitical bone. His
external excuse for the glaring failures of his
only importance comes from the energy others put
regime and intensifies friction between
into scrapping over and gnawing at him.
Washington and its most important allies.
When Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
"We allow food and medicine to get into North
staged a pre-emptive strike against a full review of
Korea We allow food and medicine to get into
America's obsolete and self-defeating Cuba policy
Iraq. And we still deny this tiny country basic
this week. her real target was not Castro. The
things." Warner said of Cuba. correctly calling
small opening offered as a substitute for a policy
Clinton's decision to pre-empt the commission "a
review and dramatic change will have marginal or
missed opportunity.
no impact on the entrenched status of the world's
Administration officials say they doubt that the
last historical communist dictator.
Warner approach would prevail in the Senate and
Don't misunderstand. Albright's changes are
bring the changes in the Helms-Burton law and
certainly better than a slap in the face with a wet
other legislation needed to end the embargo. "We
fish. They are in fact the kind of steps that a bold.
did not want to use up political capital in naming
innovative president would have taken on Day 1 of
a commission that would probably not be
Term 2 as a commitment to bringing full change in
effective." said one State Department official. "We
U.S.-Cuban relations and an end to embargo within
felt it was more realistic to split the difference. We
felt It was not a time to go through a major self-
his presidency.
Clinton's mind and boldness were elsewhere.
examination on this."
Cuba could wait. Two years after his second
But the administration did even less than the
inauguration. and almost a full year after the mind-
half-loaf approach urged on it by a Council on
opening visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba. Clinton
Foreign Relations report released this week. The
abruptly announced on Jan. 5 that he would accept
report stresses the importance of opening Cuba to
Albright's recommendation for an easing of
U.S. market forces. They also hold out the
restrictions on the flow of mail. money and
possibility of military-to-military contacts and U.S.-
travelers to the Caribbean island.
Cuban cooperation in the war on drugs.
This quarter-loaf fell out of the oven between
The real message that comes from Clinton's tiny
two more ambitious and worthy efforts to question
steps is that he is still not prepared to exercise
the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Clinton's plan was
leadership on Cuba as both he and Castro fade into
clearly influenced. if not triggered. by them.
the sunset.
Also figuring in the timing mix is a tentatively
Washington Post Writers Group
scheduled trip to and speeches in Florida by
Albright. Such is the importance of appearance.
and of the short run. in policy-making in the
administration of the ninth American president
Castro has bedeviled.
CUBA CONTACT: Proposal is small step toward more effective policy
Page 1 of 2
freep/voices Detroit Shee Dress
/ editorials
CUBA CONTACT: Proposal
COLUMNISTS
is small step toward more
EDITORIALS
LETTERS
effective policy
CARTOONS
January 8, 1999
TRAVEL
You'll never convince Jesse Helms or the hard-
DESTINATIONS
PERSONALS
line Cuban exiles in Miami, but the fastest way
HELP
to subvert Fidel Castro is to end the embargo
WANTED
and drench him in Levis and Walkmans,
CLASSIFIEDS
Yankees T-shirts and Taco Bells. The aging
SUBSCRIBE
dictator keeps insisting, in his infamous, self-
HOME
DELIVERY
indulgent harangues, that the only choice for
NEWS
Cuba is socialism or death. Let a few more
LIBRARY
NEW HOMES
dollars into the country, and the Cuban people
YELLOW
will quickly figure out some better options.
PAGES
That's certainly what President Bill Clinton has
in mind with his proposal to allow more U.S.
money to flow to families and non-
Search
governmental organizations in Cuba. The
president also intends to allow direct mail
service between the two countries, more charter
flights and the sale of food and agricultural
supplies to religious groups and independent
farmers.
It's a small step. but one that inches the United
States closer to a rational policy toward Cuba.
The embargo was supposed to help topple
Castro; 36 years after it was imposed, he's as
entrenched and annoying as ever. It's time to
see what a change in tactics might do. There's
nothing more fatal to dictatorship, after all,
than an open contrast of its scarcity, fear,
rigidity and dullness with the abundance,
confidence and choice possible under a free
system.
Until Congress relents and relaxes the
commercial embargo, though, the Cuban
people will be denied a while longer the
benefits of free trade, more badly needed
humanitarian aid and the healthy ferment that
comes from greater contact with the outside
http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/qecuba8.html
1/12/99
CUBA CONTACT: Proposal is small step toward more effective policy
Page 2 of 2
world. As a substitute, Clinton is offering two
exhibition games between the Baltimore
Orioles and the Cuban national baseball team.
Given the Orioles' showing last season, it may
not be great baseball, but it's smart diplomacy.
Let the fans in Cuba, where baseball is the
national passion, contemplate a few free agents
in action. They'll get the point, which is less
about money than about the rewards of liberty
and self-determination. The hard-line anti-
Castro lobby won't like playing ball with the
Cubans. But in any matchup between today's
Cuba and a free society, it's Castro who stands
to be the loser.
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Page 25
10TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 The News and Observer
The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC)
January 8, 1999 Friday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL/OPINION; Pg. A17
LENGTH: 816 words
HEADLINE: Clinton's half-steps toward Cuba
BYLINE: Susanna Rodell, Correspondent
BODY:
ROUGEMONT -- Forget Monica. Forget sex, lies and audiotape. Let's talk about
Cuba.
It bothers me that the president couldn't keep his pants on and lied to us
all about it; but it bothers me a whole lot more that he's a coward when it
comes to certain obvious, rational, humanitarian policy decisions he could make
- if only he had a bit of political courage.
Take Cuba. As an old Latin America hand said to me the other day, only if
you're the biggest, strongest country in the world can you afford a 40-year
mistake. That mistake is our Cuba policy. It's an abject failure, any way you
look at it.
We have not succeeded in isolating Cuba, except from ourselves. The rest of
the world is flocking into Havana, eager to do business.
We have not succeeded in turning the Cuban people against Fidel Castro. True,
he's a dictator, but he's done a lot better by the Cuban people than his
predecessor, Fulgencio Batista, whom the United States supported. During Fidel's
reign Cuba's literacy rate has soared and health care has been extended into
regions where people went for generations without seeing a doctor. True, the
people are still poor, but it's always been a poor country for most of its
citizens and Castro has succeeded in blaming our embargo for most of Cuba's
ills. Despite our best efforts, most Cubans still love Fidel.
The folks who lost out were the rich, the ones who ended up in Miami and
formed themselves into one of the most effective single-issue lobby groups in
the history of American politics.
Headed by the recently deceased Jorge Mas Canosa, members of the
Cuban-American National Foundation contributed millions to various
congresspersons, among them the senior senator from this state. Mas Canosa
succeeded in presenting the Cuban-American community as a monolith, rabidly
anti-Castro to the point where any move to thaw our relations with Castro has
been seen by generations of American leaders - Bill Clinton included - as
political suicide.
Florida is a populous state. Cuban-Americans vote in presidential elections
Page 26
The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) January 8, 1999 Friday,
and Mas Canosa's coffers were deep.
In fact, a new generation of Cuban-Americans is not so fanatically opposed to
softening relations with Havana. Some even favor it.
Even so, we've ended up in the ludicrous position of having warmer relations
with China, a much more ruthless and dangerous dictatorship, than we do with
Cuba.
Consider the Helms-Burton Act, signed into law in 1996. As the name suggests,
it was co-authored by the aforementioned senior senator and it imposes onerous
restrictions on other countries doing business with Cuba, to the point where it
has soured our relations with some of our staunchest allies. It calls for trade
sanctions against any country doing business with Cuba. Problem is, everybody is
doing business with Cuba. Canada is, the entire European Union is, Mexico is.
The act functionally turns our best friends into trade enemies.
The practice of punishing countries for their trade relations with other
countries is called a secondary boycott, and it's contrary to international law.
But hey, we've just got this thing about Cuba, OK? Don't make us mad, says
Helms-Burton.
Now Clinton was doing OK with this for a while. He steadfastly refused to
sign the bill into law, until in 1996 a couple of ill-advised adventurers
decided to fly their airplanes close to Cuban air space and got themselves shot
down. Outrage! How could our brave president show he was not intimidated by this
flagrant defense of Cuban national sovereignty? Why, he could sign Helms-Burton!
Which he did.
Since then, Clinton has prevented some of the act's more odious provisions
from being carried out by signing six-month waivers - a sure sign that it's a
bad law in the first place.
This week, our president was offered the perfect escape. A bipartisan group
of senior statesmen, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,
suggested creating a bipartisan commission to review our Cuba policy. But even
this relatively safe course was too dangerous. Clinton was taking no chances on
messing things up for Al Gore in 2000.
Instead he'll take a couple of relatively modest steps, allowing direct mail
service to Havana and letting people send more money to their relatives in
Cuba. And we may just see, finally, the kind of contact that humanized the
Chinese in the '70s: sports diplomacy (ping-pong then, baseball now).
In fact, it's an astute move. Sending the Baltimore Orioles to Havana is a
move that even rabid Castro-hater Sen. Robert Torricelli doesn't object to, and
it could just create a surge of interest and affection for the tiny country that
continues to produce some of the world's best ballplayers.
And there's a chance, we're told, that the Cubans could also play here.
A modest suggestion: If that comes to pass, Bill, do something really
courageous. Let Fidel throw out the first ball.
PAGE A18 / FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1999
The Washin
WESLEY PRUDEN. Editor IN Chief
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Snuggling up to Fidel
"
S
ocialism or death" used to be the battle cry
money and may prove to serve U.S. interests since
of Fidel Castro's revolution. Now, under pol-
they send home the message, in material form, that
icy changes adopted by the Clinton adminis-
free economies generate prosperity and could help
tration, more Cubans will reap the spoils of capitalism.
wet appetites for political and economic opening.
Already strict observance of communist dogmas have
The administration has also facilitated direct and
been eroded on the island by a thriving black market,
indirect contact between Cubans and U.S. residents by
a nascent private sector, rampant prostitution that
allowing an increase in direct flights between the two
caters to pleasure-seeking tourists and the dollars those
countries, restoring mail service and allowing cultur-
freewheeling tourists bring to the country. These
al and athletic exchanges, such as baseball games. This
changes have been brought upon by the breakdown
will prove to be a fortunate development. Any influx
of a flawed system, rather than any purposeful move
of U.S. ideas to the island could only prove positive.
towards free-market reforms by the government.
U.S. voters need be wary, however, of the Clinton
None of these factors can counteract the crippling
administration's unspoken position towards Cuba. A
stranglehold of communism, however. Cuba's econom-
commission to review U.S. policy, proposed-by Sen.
ic performance has dropped 38 percent in the last five
John Warner, was dubbed the Gore commission by
years and the discontinuation of Soviet aid after 1989
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Lincoln Diaz-
was devastating to the country's inefficient economy.
Balart because of their perception of the Vice Presi-
The changes in policy the Clinton administration
dent's support for such a study. The administration has
has instituted can be broken down into two areas:
decided to reject the commission, but this was, accord-
allowing Cubans greater access to material goods and
ing to some insiders, Clintonian political maneuver-
cash, on one hand, and greater access to U.S. culture
ing in anticipation of elections in the year 2000.
and ideas, on the other. The former may prove prob-
Clinton & Co. have repeatedly waved the Helms-
lematic in some cases and inconsequential in others.
Burton law of 1996 and had a faint-hearted response
Independent restaurateurs and farmers in Cuba will
to the shooting down of an unarmed civilian aircraft
be allowed to purchase U.S. food and farming equip-
by the Cuban Air Force that same year. In the case
ment, the Cuban government willing. According to
Albert Gore were to become the U.S.'s next head of
some Cuba experts, however, the degree of autonomy
state, voters should anticipate future waiving of
these budding entrepreneurs are able to maintain
Helms-Burton legislation and an attempt to discon-
from the government is limited, and the regime might
tinue the U.S. trade embargo.
find a way to benefit from the sales.
A weakening of the embargo would undermine the
American organizations will now also be able to
U.S.'s national interests. It is imperative that the U.S.
send significant cash contributions to non-govern-
keep a firm stand on these policies. Normalization of
ment entities, but there are few such groups on the
relations with Cuba is no magic formula. A large part
island. In addition, the administration has decided
of the rest of the world has already done so, and Cas-
to allow any U.S. citizen to send up to $1,200 a year
tro is still Castro. The expropriation of U.S. assets is
to anyone in Cuba, except senior Communist offi-
outright thievery and any country that does so must
cials, while before only citizens with Cuban relatives
suffer consequences. The pressure on Cuba serves
could send cash. Some analysts estimate, however,
not only to weaken the regime, but is a standing tes-
that money sent to Cuba from the U.S. far exceed-
tament to the consequences of Castro-style policies.
ed the legal limit. At any rate, the legalization of
The suffering of the Cuban people will end only after
greater remittances will facilitate the sending of
Castro is out.
Motherhood and Marines
Chicago Tribune
Thursday. January 7. 1999
Editorial
Cuba policy needs bolder changes
After decades in a deep-freeze, any uptick in the
Moreover, Clinton's lame-duck status-and his
warmth of U.S.-Cuba relations must be counted as
search for a legacy amid all the scandals-also would
good news. And so it is with the Clinton administra-
have suggested bolder moves were in the works.
tion's announcement Tuesday that it intends to
But for now, the biggest changes will be to allow
loosen, if only a little, certain aspects of the American
United States citizens to send money to Cuba, to
economic embargo on the island.
increase the number of direct flights to the island and
Still, the timidity of the measures-in apparent
to allow direct mail service, along with freer artistic
deference yet again to Miami's hysterically anti-Cas-
and academic exchanges. Independent Cuban farmers
tro lobby-is a serious disappointment to those who
and restaurant owners-an inflnitesimal group-will
hoped the president would launch a far more dra-
be allowed to buy fertilizer and other goods directly
matic overhaul of our bankrupt policies toward Cuba
from the U.S.
Recently the administration has been offered sev-
Administration officials argue that any opening
eral political covers for such an overhaul. A biparti-
between the two countries will undermine the grip of
san commission, including such Republican heavy-
the Castro regime. In fact, hundreds of millions of
weights as former Secretary of State Henry A.
legal and illegal dollars already flow to Cuba yearly
Kissinger, has volunteered to study this nation's Cuba
from the U.S. This particular policy change is so
policy and offer alternatives. The prestigious Council
limited that it's unlikely to accelerate any democratic
on Foreign Relations presented its own plate of policy
transition in Cuba.
options, well short of abrogating the constrictive
A bolder policy shift, even without completely lift-
Helms-Burton Act.
ing trade sanctions, would have deprived Castro of
Before that, a bipartisan Congressional group had
his most potent propaganda weapon-his litany of
proposed a partial lifting of the embargo, while the
complaints about U.S. aggression-and forced him to
U.S. Chamber of Commerce-hardly a coven of Castro
confront his own people's most urgent question: After
sympathizers-urged the administration to make a
40 years of revolution, why are things in our country
move to lift some trade restrictions.
still so miserable?
A24 THURSDAY, JANUARY 7. 1999
The Washington Post
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
When Fidel Castro Goes
P
OST-COLD WAR American policy on
engagement. The United States no longer
Cuba has been hung up in a stalemate
harbors aggressive intentions toward Cuba
between those favoring the 37-year em-
and, in Washington's eyes, Cuba no longer
bargo and those believing it obsolete and
poses a strategic or political threat.
inhumane. Sen. John Warner proposed a
But that leaves unresolved whether Fidel
rescue in the form of a national bipartisan
policy-review commission; he delivered the
Castro can be compelled to yield power in
moderate Republicans. But the administra-
exchange for the lifting of the embargo-un-
tion, cautious to a fault, cut its own deal. To
likely; or whether the prior lifting will itself
accommodate hard-line opinion in Miami and
loosen his grip-likelier but hardly a sure
the Senate, it backed away from the policy-re-
thing. The administration's own tactic, one
view commission. For the rest, it now propos-
supported by the Council on Foreign Relations
es to modestly extend modest earlier steps to
report, is to finesse the embargo issue in favor
widen humanitarian, economic and cultural
of a more realistic step-by-step opening.
contacts with the Cuban people and while
The council draws attention to the models
continuing to deny relief to the communist
of de-communization provided by Soviet col-
government.
lapse. One lesson is that the bottom-up civil
These steps go not far but in the sensible
society built by citizens promises the smooth-
direction taken by a more ambitious new
est transition from top-down communist rule.
report from the Council on Foreign Relations.
A second is to make a place for former
Led by former Democratic and Republican
(non-criminal) officials prepared to turn from
Latin-policy hands Bernard Aronson and Wil-
communist allegiance to cooperation with
liam D. Rogers, this report addresses the same
democrats. But of all the questions pending
stalemate that stirred Sen. Warner.
about Cuba and America in the 21st century,
The premise of all but the hardest-liners is
the sharpest goes to the future connection
that the Cold War is over and that the part of
between Cubans who stayed on under commu-
American policy calling for containment of
nism and those who fled and may wish to
Cuba worked and needs to be replaced by
return when Fidel Castro, 73, goes.
Page 75
4TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Sun-Sentinel Company
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
January 7, 1999, Thursday, Broward Metro EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. 14A
LENGTH: 460 words
HEADLINE: EASING OF RESTRICTIONS ON CUBA A WELCOME, BUT INCOMPLETE STEP
BODY:
Forty years ago on New Year's Day, Fidel Castro's band of 800 guerrillas
overthrew the corrupt government of Fulgencio Batista and turned Cuba into the
first communist state in the Western Hemisphere.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was president of the United States in 1959 and
Castro's coup surely was as shocking to American policy-makers as it was to
Batista's poorly led armed forces.
In the four decades since that fateful Jan. 1, eight more American presidents
have sought to dislodge Castro with policies ranging from armed intervention by
exiles (the ill-fated Bay of Pigs operation in 1961) to economic sanctions,
international isolation and unremitting hostility. Yet the 72-year-old dictator
still rules his impoverished police state only 90 miles from Key West, to the
endless frustration of South Florida's Cuban-American community.
Despite abundant evidence that the United States' long-term Cuba policy has
been not only ineffective but counter-productive, imposing severe hardship on
average Cubans while strengthening Castro's control, the fiction persists that
Castro will topple if only the U.S. keeps turning the economic screws.
Bill Clinton, the latest president to buy into this fantasy, took a welcome
but incomplete step toward a more enlightened engagement with Cuba Monday when
he announced plans to increase people-to-people contacts, allow more cash
transfers from American citizens to needy Cubans and private sales of food to
non-governmental agencies.
Clinton stopped short of creating a bipartisan commission to review
Washington's failed Cuba policy, as he should have done, but the changes he did
propose should help individual Cubans and small businessmen in their efforts to
move toward a market economy and promote democratic reforms.
Direct mail service, the resumption of direct charter flights to Havana and
authorization of cash transfers up to $ 1,200 a year from any American to any
Cuban, not just to relatives, make up the Clinton plan. The rationale is that as
more Cubans hold dollars, they will become less dependent for survival on
Castro's regime.
Cuban cooperation with the U.S. initiatives is uncertain, but a test of
Havana's receptivity should come soon when a delegation from baseball's
Baltimore Orioles, who conduct spring training in Fort Lauderdale, will propose
Page 76
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), January 7, 1999
a series of exhibition games against Cuban teams in March, with gate receipts
earmarked for independent charities.
One of Clinton's predecessors, Richard Nixon, used "ping-pong diplomacy" to
prepare Americans for his historic diplomatic overture to China in the 1970s. If
"baseball diplomacy" can help Clinton open a promising new era of pragmatic
engagement with Cuba, it is long past time to start the ball rolling.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, AP file photo; Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro speaks to
supporters on Jan. 8, 1959 at the Batista military base "Columbia," now known as
Ciudad Libertad.
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St. Petersburg Times, published January 7, 1999
President Clinton is often lauded for his sense of timing, but he
just missed a good opportunity to repair U.S. policy toward
Cuba. Last year's papal visit to Cuba and the death of hard-line
exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa gave the president the opportunity
to draw America's 37-year embargo of Cuba to a close. Instead,
the administration unveiled a set of initiatives Tuesday that failed
to capitalize on the momentum toward normalizing relations.
The White House announced steps to expand mail service and
charter air flights between the United States and Cuba. It also
eased restrictions on U.S. food sales to Cuba and expanded the
laws allowing Americans to send donated cash. If all goes well,
the Baltimore Orioles will soon play exhibition games against
Cuba's national team.
The measures are designed to build bridges to the Cuban people
while embarrassing their government, and they are welcome as
far as they go. But they fall short of a comprehensive policy
change that could foster a broader climate for democratic reform
within Cuba.
Nothing wrong with a ballgame or two. Given the vitriol between
Cuban and American leaders over the years, it is worthwhile for
ordinary people from both countries to expand their contacts. But
such exchanges already take place in other settings, from family
reunions to private aid missions and academic conferences. The
initiatives announced this week are a cautious step forward at a
time when conditions are ripe for a dramatic break with the past.
The president rejected a proposal by former diplomats and
moderate members of Congress for a full-scale review of U.S.
policy toward Cuba. U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., called for the
appointment of a national commission that would conduct the
first comprehensive review of sanctions against Cuba in decades.
However, some cold warriors and extremists within the Cuban
exile community oppose any such process.
Warner's idea, which is long overdue, is endorsed by some of the
earliest architects of Cuba's containment because it provides the
http://www.sptimes.com/News/10799/Commentary/Overcautious_on_Cuba.html
1/7/99
Commentary: Overcautious on Cuba
Page 2 of 2
Iframework for ensuring America's long-term interests in the
region. Appointing the commission would increase the pressure
on Fidel Castro to grant a new degree of political and economic
freedom to Cuban citizens. It also would send the signal to
ordinary Cubans that Washington views the Castro dictatorship
as a temporary impediment to normal relations.
Typically, the president instead chose an incremental approach.
Depending on how Castro responds to the Clinton overture, it
may lead to a broader relaxation of relations in the future.
However, the White House missed another opportunity to make a
dramatic gesture that could have hastened the end of Castro's
stranglehold on Cuban society.
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PAGE
1
LEVEL 1 - 1 OF 18 STORIES
Copyright 1999 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
January 7, 1999, Thursday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. B6
LENGTH: 584 words
HEADLINE: LET'S PLAY BALL
BODY:
U.S. CUBAN RELATIONS
Call it baseball diplomacy. Just as ping-pong prepared the way for more open
U.S. -Chinese relations, a passion for baseball may help thaw U.S. Cuban
relations, still an icy relic of the Cold War. The Baltimore Orioles are hoping
to play charity exhibition games with the Cuban national team, one in Havana and
another in this country.
The baseball games are just the glitziest changes announced by President Bill
Clinton on Tuesday. They also include the more quotidien: easing athletic,
cultural and academic exchanges; establishing direct mail service; allowing more
Americans to send money to individual Cuban families; authorizing the sale of
food and other agricultural products to non-governmental organizations, such as
churches and charities. Taken toge ther, they are meant to "help the Cuban
people without strengthening the Cuban government," said Mr. Clinton.
be sure, the president's announcement is welcome and long overdue. But
this opening falls far short of what the president could have done and should
have done. A report from the Council on Foreign Relations, which has found favor
among some conservatives, urged Mr. Clinton to take more dramatic steps, like
approving certain companies to do business in Cuba. The president declined to do
SO.
Mr. Clinton also rejected the idea of Sen. John Warner, a Republican from
Virginia, for a bipartisan commission to review U.S. policy toward Cuba.
Presumably, a commission would give Mr. Clinton the political cover to end the
embargo. "It's a lost opportunity for America to review a policy of basic
isolationism," said Mr. Warner.
The world has changed since the embargo was first imposed, but the core of
U.S. policy, shaped largely by the early waves of Cuban exiles, remains frozen
in time and enmity.
The embargo was originally supposed to be a tool for getting rid of Fidel
Castro. It hasn't worked. In and of itself, that is the single biggest reason
for abolishing it. Why hang on to a policy that's a demonstrable failure,
especially now when it may be counterproductive?
In and out of Cuba, people realize that Fidel Castro - and his era - are in
their twilight years. The man who thumbed his nose at every president since John
Kennedy is not immortal, and that fact is gradually transforming Cuba from the
PAGE
2
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 7, 1999
inside out. Reports from Cuba suggest a gradual blossoming of civil society.
Even the pope, a staunch anti-communist, has chosen engagement as the best way
for nurturing that embryonic impulse. It's apparently paying off for the church.
f U.S. policy toward China and Vietnam are any guides, that should be the
U.S. approach as well. The Clinton administration regularly justifies trade and
closer economic ties with these countries as a part of a strategy for fostering
political liberalization.
The same argument should apply to Cuba. Historically, the United States has
much stronger ties to Cuba and would likely be more influential in shaping Cuban
culture and society. Unlike conceivably China, Cuba poses absolutely no military
threat to the United States. Nor does it pose a threat to Latin America. In
fact, the majority of the countries within the Organization of American States
support reintegrating Cuba into the hemisphere.
Cuban policy has rested for too long in the hands of exiles who dream about a
triumphant return to Cuba. Mr. Clinton should craft a policy that reflects the
interests of the whole country, not just a special-interest group.
LANGUAGE: English
LOAD-DATE: January 7, 1999
Page 10
27TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Times Publishing Company
St. Petersburg Times
January 07, 1999, Thursday, 0 South Pinellas Edition
SECTION: EDITORIAL; EDITORIALS; Pg. 14A
LENGTH: 483 words
HEADLINE: Overcautious on Cuba
BODY:
The time is right for bold changes in U.S. policy towardthe island nation,
but the president takes only a few small steps. President Clinton is often
lauded for his sense of timing, but he just missed a good opportunity to repair
U.S. policy toward Cuba. Last year's papal visit to Cuba and the death of
hard-line exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa gave the president the opportunity to
draw America's 37-year embargo of Cuba to a close. Instead, the administration
unveiled a set of initiatives Tuesday that failed to capitalize on the momentum
toward normalizing relations. The White House announced steps to expand mail
service and charter air flights between the United States and Cuba. It also
eased restrictions on U.S. food sales to Cuba and expanded the laws allowing
Americans to send donated cash. If all goes well, the Baltimore Orioles will
soon play exhibition games against Cuba's national team. The measures are
designed to build bridges to the Cuban people while embarrassing their
government, and they are welcome as far as they go. But they fall short of a
comprehensive policy change that could foster a broader climate for democratic
reform within Cuba. Nothing wrong with a ballgame or two. Given the vitriol
between Cuban and American leaders over the years, it is worthwhile for ordinary
people from both countries to expand their contacts. But such exchanges already
take place in other settings, from family reunions to private aid missions and
academic conferences. The initiatives announced this week are a cautious step
forward at a time when conditions are ripe for a dramatic break with the past.
The president rejected a proposal by former diplomats and moderate members of
Congress for a full-scale review of U.S. policy toward Cuba. U.S. Sen. John
Warner, R-Va., called for the appointment of a national commission that would
conduct the first comprehensive review of sanctions against Cuba in decades.
However, some cold warriors and extremists within the Cuban exile community
oppose any such process. Warner's idea, which is long overdue, is endorsed by
some of the earliest architects of Cuba's containment because it provides the
framework for ensuring America's long-term interests in the region. Appointing
the commission would increase the pressure on Fidel Castro to grant a new degree
of political and economic freedom to Cuban citizens. It also would send the
signal to ordinary Cubans that Washington views the Castro dictatorship as a
temporary impediment to normal relations. Typically, the president instead
chose an incremental approach. Depending on how Castro responds to the Clinton
overture, it may lead to a broader relaxation of relations in the future.
However, the White House missed another opportunity to make a dramatic gesture
that could have hastened the end of Castro's stranglehold on Cuban society.
Page 9
20TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 Scripps Howard Newspapers
Press Journal (Vero Beach, FL)
January 7, 1999, Thursday
SECTION: Editorial; Pg. A10
LENGTH: 325 words
HEADLINE: IMPROVING CUBA POLICY
BODY:
President Clinton's decision to ease sanctions on Cuba is only common sense.
The 37-year-old policy serves no one. What justification there was for a
wholesale embargo - the threat of communism spreading from Cuba into the
hemisphere at large - has long since passed.
Unfortunately, the president hasn't gone far enough, even though a bipartisan
Council on Foreign Relations task force - co-chaired by former officials in the
Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon administrations - has given him ample political
cover to go further.
Building on a few token steps taken last year after Pope John Paul II's Cuban
visit, the White House will allow the sale of food and agricultural items such
as seed and fertilizer to private restaurants and farms. There are few such
entities in Cuba, although this may spur formation of more, and since the State
Department must OK sales on a case-by-case basis, approval could be
cumbersome.
The White House also will work toward resumption of direct-mail service and
allow more charter flights, letting them service cities other than Miami and
Havana. And, too, State Department officials will streamline the visa and
permission process for religious, scientific, educational and athletic
exchanges, such as a proposed baseball exhibition game between the Baltimore
Orioles and the Cuban national team.
And any U.S. resident, not just Americans with relatives on the island, can
remit up to $ 1,200 a year to Cuban families.
Clinton's proposals are actually timid. He could have been bolder, as the
council urged, and lifted most limits on travel and remittances and food and
medicine sales altogether. He could have allowed Americans, with some
restrictions, to invest in the island.
American policy has been tied up in the personality of Fidel Castro, at 72 a
fading force. The United States should be thinking beyond Castro. Clinton's
actions are steps in the right direction.
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change this country's rusting relations with
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The changes suggest progress in dismantling the
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stagnated his economy.
The job of containing him has long been over.
Threadbare Cuba no longer sends its soldiers
abroad to oppose U.S. interests, and 72-year-old
Castro is no longer a showman- revolutionary
likely to win over Latin America. Why can't
Washington discard an old policy?
The reason is American politics. In particular,
Clinton is worried about alienating Cuban
American voters in swing states such as Florida
and New Jersey from his preferred successor,
Vice President Al Gore. Setting the bipartisan
commission in motion would be seen by these
anti-Castro voters as a sellout.
But after nearly four decades, the heavy-
handed embargo of Cuba needs a fresh look.
The island's politics have changed, its
subversive threat is a faint flicker, and a
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A turning point is at hand, yet it will take
courage and strength in Washington to break
through the old concepts on Cuba. Instead,
short-term political calculations continue to
block opportunities for change.
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embargo by facilitating greater people-to-people
contacts and an easier flow of money to
individuals. Even so, there was muttering from
anti-Castro elements in Florida that the main
beneficiary would be Fidel Castro.
But it was a sign that political times are changing
that staunch anti-Castro figures such as Sen.
Robert Toricelli found many of the new initiatives
"unobjectionable." Those include:
*
More U.S.-Cuba charter flights involving cities
other than Miami and Havana.
*
Improved mail service, perhaps including
service by FedEx and UPS.
*
Sale of fertilizers and farm machinery to
individual Cuban farmers.
*
Easier sale of food and medicine to individual
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The Dallas Morning News: Opinions
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Cubans and private businesses.
* The prospect of two baseball games between the
Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban national team, in
Baltimore and Havana.
A thorough review of U.S. policy toward Cuba
would have been preferable. That would likely
have yielded a more comprehensive list of moves
that would have been contingent upon specific
reforms by the Castro regime. Such reforms could
ease the transition from Mr. Castro's inevitable
departure from the political scene - and reduce the
prospect of dangerous repercussions from a
scramble for power.
The administration justifiably argues that the
initiatives are designed to help the Cuban people.
rather than the government of President Castro.
The goal of the United States should be to
demonstrate to the Cuban people that the U.S.
government supports their bid for freedom and an
improved quality of life. With or without a
bipartisan commission, a step-by-step relaxation
of the embargo should help send that message.
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C.S. Monitor
PA: OPINION, COLUMN, Page 11
HD: Clinton Cuba shift is hardly enough
71
BY: Pat M. Holt
ED: ALL 01/07/1999
TX:
New year's day marked the 40th anniversary of the triumph of the Castro
revolution in Cuba. Fidel Castro is by far the world's senior dictator.
The United States has a long history of accommodating itself to equally or
more brutal Latin American dictators. One of the worst was Leonidas
Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. FDR said of Trujillo, "He's an SOB, but
he's our SOB." That explains why we have had such trouble accepting Mr.
Castro. He is not, and never has been, nor ever will be, ours.
Since the days of the Monroe Doctrine, the US has had a hegemonic
relationship with Latin America; but with pre-Castro Cuba it was something
more. From the beginning of Cuban independence following the
Spanish-American War, the US unilaterally asserted the right to intervene
in Cuba and did so. American ambassadors acted as pro-consuls. Castro
stopped that.
It did not take long for Castro in power to confirm the State Department's
worst fears, and the American government shortly began to scheme for his
overthrow. To no avail. Castro has survived the Bay of Pigs, the missile
crisis (the only time he was a genuine threat to the US), countless dirty
tricks hatched by the CIA, American economic embargoes, and the loss of $3
billion or $4 billion dollars a year in Soviet aid.
With the exception of Carter who made a modest, short-lived effort at
rapprochement, every American president from Eisenhower to Clinton has
followed the same policy of implacable opposition.
The policy has been motivated less by sober assessment of the US national
interest than by Castro's destruction of US influence in Cuba.
In some respects, the Castro revolution was as much against the US
position in Cuba as it was against the then Cuban government. Especially in
its early days, the revolution had a strong puritanical streak. It ended
gambling and open, big-scale prostitution, both of which were supported by
American tourists and returned large profits to the American mafia. When
the CIA was looking for a hit man to knock off Castro, the mafia was more
than happy to supply one.
American interests in pre-Castro Cuba controlled more than vice; through
legitimate investments, they also controlled a good deal of the Cuban
economy. Castro ended this by expropriating American investments. This has
given rise to large claims of American citizens against the Cuban
government, but Cuba is hardly the first country to incur such claims.
The US has steadily raised the bar of what Cuba must do to get back in US
good graces. When Cuba meets one standard, the US demands another. For
years, we said Cuba had to get rid of Soviet influence. That was
accomplished, though not by anything Cuba did, through the disintegration
of the Soviet Union.
No longer having this to complain about, the US said Cuba had to
democratize its politics, increase its respect for human rights, and
liberalize its economy. Large steps toward the last goal have been taken
under pressure of the cessation of Soviet aid. Desperate for foreign
exchange, the Castro government 1S catering to Canadian and European
tourists and is tolerating a resurgence of open prostitution.
The pope's visit a year ago brought some improvement in freedom of
religion, and it was OK this year to celebrate Christmas. But the political
system continues to be authoritarian. We tolerate this in China, but we
demand more from Cuba.
A potent influence on American policy has been the large, vociferous,
anti-Castro exile community in the US, concentrated in Miami with
substantial numbers also in New Jersey. Many of these exiles dream of a
return to the status quo ante in a post-Castro Cuba. This 1S unrealistic
fantasy; some Castro policies can be reversed, but the omelette he made is
WHANS
never going to be unscrambled.
The American obsession with Castro has long since become counterproductive.
It is one thing to prohibit American trade with Cuba, foolish though this
may be. It 1S something else to try to impose such a policy on third
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/199/01/07/tex/p1sl.pxt
1/7/99
Chicago Tribune
Thursday. January 7. 1999
Editorial
Cuba policy needs bolder changes
After decades in a deep-freeze, any uptick in the
Moreover, Clinton's lame-duck status-and his
warmth of U.S.-Cuba relations must be counted as
search for a legacy amid all the scandals-also would
good news. And so it is with the Clinton administra-
have suggested bolder moves were in the works.
tion's announcement Tuesday that it intends to
But for now, the biggest changes will be to allow
loosen, if only a little, certain aspects of the American
United States citizens to send money to Cuba, to
economic embargo on the island.
increase the number of direct flights to the island and
Still, the timidity of the measures-in apparent
to allow direct mail service, along with freer artistic
deference yet again to Miami's hysterically anti-Cas-
and academic exchanges. Independent Cuban farmers
tro lobby-is a serious disappointment to those who
and restaurant owners-an infinitesimal group-will
hoped the president would launch a far more dra-
be allowed to buy fertilizer and other goods directly
matic overhaul of our bankrupt policies toward Cuba.
from the U.S.
Recently the administration has been offered sev-
Administration officials argue that any opening
eral political covers for such an overhaul. A biparti-
between the two countries will undermine the grip of
san commission, including such Republican heavy-
the Castro regime. In fact, hundreds of millions of
weights as former Secretary of State Henry A.
legal and illegal dollars already flow to Cuba yearly
Kissinger, has volunteered to study this nation's Cuba
from the U.S. This particular policy change is so
policy and offer alternatives. The prestigious Council
limited that it's unlikely to accelerate any democratic
on Foreign Relations presented its own plate of policy
transition in Cuba.
options, well short of abrogating the constrictive
A bolder policy shift, even without completely lift-
Helms-Burton Act.
ing trade sanctions, would have deprived Castro of
Before that, a bipartisan Congressional group had
his most potent propaganda weapon-his litany of
proposed a partial lifting of the embargo, while the
complaints about U.S. aggression-and forced him to
U.S. Chamber of Commerce-hardly a coven of Castro
confront his own people's most urgent question: After
sympathizers-urged the administration to make a
40 years of revolution, why are things in our country
move to lift some trade restrictions.
still so miserable?
Chicago Tribune
Thursday. January 7. 1999
FRANCE
Complaint accuses Castro of drug links
PARIS-The daughter of an
smuggling. Her father was con-
executed Cuban colonel filed a
victed and executed by Cuba in
complaint against Fidel Castro
1989 with three other military
in a French court Wednesday,
officers for smuggling drugs
accusing the Cuban leader of
into the United States.
international drug trafficking.
Cuban drug trafficking "was
&
Two men, represented by the
a matter of state, organized by
same lawyer, also filed two
the highest echelons of power
other complaints charging Cas-
in the country," de la Guardia
tro with crimes against human-
told reporters at the Palais de
My in the Investigating Magis-
Justice. "It's impossible that
trates Office of the Paris Court.
Fidel Castro was unaware of
Ileana de la Guardia, the
this."
exiled daughter of Cuban Col.
Judicial officials said a judge
Antonio de la Guardia, said
would open an investigation
she hopes to clear her father's
because of the complaint and
name and have Castro charged
that the probe could eventually
with involvement in drug
lead to criminal charges.
Page 3
5TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1999 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
January 7, 1999, Thursday, CONSTITUTION EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 18A
LENGTH: 368 words
SERIES: Home
HEADLINE: Editorials;
Try loosening screws on Cuba
BODY:
One of the enduring peculiarities of Bill Clinton's presidency is his
blindspot regarding Cuba. While his positions on other world trouble spots are
reasonably well thought out, he is in denial about Cuba. Intent on perpetuating
40 years of official hostility toward Fidel Castro's regime, he appears
oblivious to the policy's utter failure.
Clinton first made a play for Cuban-American rightwingers' support when he
campaigned in Florida's Democratic primary in 1992. As chief executive, he has
never strayed far from their hard line not even this week when he riled the
fiercest of Castro's exile enemies by announcing a handful of steps to
strengthen people-to-people contacts between Americans and Cubans.
These measures, intended to open access to Castro's closed society and
improve the lives of ordinary Cubans, are fine SO far as they go. Unfortunately,
Clinton declined to take an even more meaningful step the creation of a
bipartisan panel to review U.S. policy on Cuba and hopefully to give it a
much-needed overhaul.
Clinton's timidity on the point is inexplicable. He had ample political cover
to set a bolder course. Three former secretaries of state from Republican
administrations Kissinger, Schultz and Eagleburger had urged him to
initiate the review, as had more than a dozen GOP senators, many of them of the
extra-conservative persuasion.
So why cling to a failed policy? To placate Castrophobes in south Florida and
their mossback champions in Congress like Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) )
For 40 years this crowd has concentrated solely on Castro's downfall; never
mind the bitter consequences of isolation and embargo on the Cuban people. To
illustrate the point, Diaz-Balart objected immediately this week to the modest
Clinton proposal that would make more food available to malnourished Cubans.
What can he and his cohorts be thinking? The way to hasten the end of
Cuba's long night is not to extend the darkness but to open up the country to
trade and visitors and ideas. The only thing to thrive in Cuba after 40 years of
U.S. emnity is Castro's tyranny. Isn't it time Washington tried a different
Page 4
The Atlanta Journal, January 7, 1999
tack?
GRAPHIC: Graphic :
CLINTON'S NEW PLAN FOR CUBA
Would permit any U.S. resident to send up to $ 1,200 annually to needy
Cubans.
Would allow sale of food and agricultural supplies to private Cuban
groups.
Would improve direct mail service between U.S. and Cuba.
Would expand charter flights to Cuba, extending service to U.S. cities
beside Miami.
Would let the Baltimore Orioles and Cuba's national team arrange
exhibition baseball games.
Photo :
Iliana Lopz (left) buys stamps in Havana. / JOSE LUIS MAGHANA /
Associated Press
LOAD-DATE: January 8, 1999
WEDNESDAY , JANNARY 6
The A a Hera à
JOHN S. KNIGHT (1894-1981)
JAMES L KNIGHT (1909-1991)
ALBERTO IBARGUEN. Publisher and Chairman
JOE NATOLI
TOM FIEDLER
DOUGLAS C. CLIFTON
President
Editorial Pages Editor
Executive Editor
MARTHA MUSGROVE and JOE OGLESBY
LARRY OLMSTEAD
Associate Editors
Managing Editor
Back to the future
he
T
Clinton
ernment's willingness
administration
FOR A FREE CUBA
to agree. But Castro
yesterday
might be hard pressed
adroitly tiptoed along a
Policy changes build on
to tell his people that
fine line in ordering
old idea: Cuba's future
they cannot enjoy
overdue changes in
Cuba policy designed
depends on its people.
money from U.S. rela-
tives, or a good pro-
to encourage more
baseball game.
people-to-people (and baseball player-
That said, letting U.S. companies sell
to-baseball player) contact while still
agricultural supplies in Cuba makes lit-
enforcing the 37-year-old trade
tle sense. Any such sales could bolster
embargo. Anyone expecting (or fearing)
the state, which virtually controls all
some dramatic new overture to emerge
food production. The measure smacks
from the ballyhoo might be disap-
of some corporate lobby's sneaky way to
pointed, which we believe is good. In the
get a foot in the door on Cuban trade.
main, the changes put into practice mir-
The Clinton initiative — pushed by
ror positions that The Herald long has
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. - also
supported, with the single exception of a
accomplishes one other thing: It torpe-
suspicious idea to allow the sale of fertil-
does a request by Henry Kissinger and
izer and other agricultural supplies to
other former policymakers turned lob-
Cuban farmers.
byists to create a commission to review
There are obvious reasons for moving
U.S. Cuba policy. That commission was
slowly here. Cuba "has always been a
a transparent attempt to end current
'third rail' of U.S. policy," as former
sanctions by people whose interests in
White House adviser Richard Nuccio
Cuba are more mercenary than demo-
says. "Touch it and you die." That's
cratic or humanitarian.
because of the political clout of South
Florida's Cuban exiles, most of whom
support the embargo. Any administra-
tion that dares tamper with it risks los-
ing valuable allies in Florida, not to
mention elections.
For the record, The Herald always has
supported the ban on U.S. business deal-
ings with or in Cuba. The idea, of
course, is to prevent needless enrich-
ment of Cuba's totalitarian government.
But we just as vigorously support the
so-called Track II of the 1992 Cuban
Democracy Act, developed by Mr. Nuc-
cio. While Track I choked off trade,
Track II attempts to promote civil soci-
ety by allowing private groups to pro-
vide humanitarian aid to people in Cuba
and by encouraging cultural and aca-
demic exchanges.
We welcome yesterday's proactive
"Cuba initiatives because they enhance
the Track II approach. Among them are:
allowing any U.S. resident, not just rela-
ives, to send cash to families and non-
governmental groups in Cuba; increas-
fing direct passenger flights; restoring
direct-mail service; and encouraging cul-
tural exchanges, including two exhibi-
Stion baseball games where profits would
:go to charity. Of course the measures'
impact will depend on the Cuban gov-
A12
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1999 /NA
LOS ANGELES TIMES EDITORIALS
MARK H. WILLES, Publisher
KATHRYN M. DOWNING, President and Chief Executive Officer
MICHAEL PARKS, Editor and Executive Vice President
JANET CLAYTON, Editor of the Editorial Pages and Vice President
Glacial Change in Cuba Policy
Washington's cautious easing of restric-
to Cuba will also help, as will more charter
tions on Cuba represents welcome incremen-
flights, direct mail service and the sale of
tal progress. This week's announcement falls
food and agricultural supplies to Cuba's pri-
well short of a dramatic move that could
vate restaurants and farmers.
nudge Cuba toward democracy and lead to
The White House rejected a bolder recom-
more normal relations, but it has the virtue of
mendation from four former secretaries of
being politically realistic.
State to create a bipartisan commission to re-
The new U.S. policy-easing the flow of
view U.S.-Cuba policy. That commission, en-
money into Cuba and of people both ways-
dorsed by Henry Kissinger, George Shultz,
will reduce the isolation of the Communist
William P. Rogers and Lawrence Eagleburg-
country. Out-and-out tourism, Cuba's biggest
er, could have set the stage for ending the
moneymaker, is excluded. But people-to-peo-
punishing trade embargo in place since 1960,
ple exchanges will be allowed in the arts, sci-
when Cuba, then a Soviet satellite, represent-
ences, religion, education and sports. The last
ed a real security threat to the United States.
could lead to a little baseball diplomacy. The
Times have changed and Cuba has dimin-
Baltimore Orioles organization is seeking per-
ished in the 40 years since then. But as long
mission to play an exhibition game in base-
as the aging Fidel Castro remains dictator,
ball-crazy Cuba in March, with the Cuban na-
and the Cuban Americans who so despise him
tional team later playing in Baltimore. Cuban
continue to wield political power in the
charity would get the proceeds, a big help in
United States, no big turnaround in Washing-
one of the Caribbean's poorest countries.
ton's policy is likely. The waiting game goes
An easing of restrictions on sending money
on.
PAGE 5
LEVEL 1 - 3 OF 18 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Chicago Sun-Times
January 6, 1999, WEDNESDAY,
SECTION: EDTEDITION: 5XS; Pg. 37
LENGTH: 707 words
HEADLINE: Cuba deserves better
BYLINE: Editorials
BODY:
In a welcome move toward resuming relations with Cuba, President Clinton has
approved measures to increase trade with the communist island. Typically, the
administration has settled for a halfhearted policy designed to appease staunch
opponents of Fidel Castro.
Recommended by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the changes will allow
any U.S. citizen -- not just relatives -- to send up to $ 1,200 a year to
Cubans, and permit more direct flights and mail service to the island. And for
the first time since the early 1960s, the Baltimore Orioles would be allowed to
play two exhibition baseball games in Havana with Cuba's national team.
Those changes are all well and good, designed to ease the harsh impact of 37
years of trade sanctions on the Cuban people. But they do not go far enough. The
on administration rejected a wider proposal supported by 24 Democratic and
lican senators to review and revise all aspects of U.S. policy toward
Cuba.
Clinton has been rightly criticized for a foreign policy that changes with
the political winds. Using the excuse of spreading democracy and increasing U.S.
business opportunities abroad, the White House has removed sanctions against the
former Soviet Union, Vietnam and that most brazen of human rights violators,
China. To leave tough sanctions in place against Cuba smacks of hypocrisy.
LANGUAGE: English
LOAD-DATE: January 6, 1999
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Updated: Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1999 at 13:43 CST
Progress on Cuba
Star-Telegram editorial
It's about time.
The Clinton administration's announcement yesterday that initiatives designed to allow more direct
contact between Americans and Cubans is long overdue.
We have long postulated that the best way to alter the minds and hearts of Cubans who remain
committed to a communist dictatorship is to expose them to the benefits of a democratic lifestyle.
What better way of accomplishing that than through the power of the almighty U.S. dollar?
Under present rules, cash transfers to Cuba can only be sent by family members in America. The
new program would allow anyone in the United States to send as much as $1,200 a year to any
individual or group in Cuba, with the exception of high-ranking Cuban officials.
Cuba represents one of those strange disconnects in U.S. foreign policy that are so hard for the
American people to understand. Trying to compare how we relate with, say, China and Cuba is like
trying to compare apples to aircraft parts.
In China, where a Roman Catholic priest was just this week arrested and subjected to torture
reminiscent of the brutal Cultural Revolution days, the U.S. trades highly sophisticated missile
technology. In Cuba, where the pope was welcomed warmly last year and Christmas was once again
openly celebrated, the United States has restricted the importation of food and medicine.
Substantive change is always a slow process, but in the case of Cuba it has been artificially slowed
by a foreign policy that stopped making sense the day the Cold War ended. We hope this week's
announcements are just the first of many to eliminate the embargoes on trade with Cuba.
Send your comments to [email protected]
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http://www.startelegram.com/new/doc/10471:EDIT31/1:EDIT3101059.hml
1/6/99
Clinton Presidential Records
Digital Records Marker
This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a tabbed divider. Given our
digitization capabilities, we are sometimes unable to adequately
scan such dividers. The title from the original document is
indicated below.
SPANISH LANGUAGE
Divider Title:
No ay II cambio de política
de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba
Afirma Sebastián Arcos Casabón
Por ENA CURNOW
de ambos lados del Estrecho de
Sebastián Arcos Casabón, ac-
la Florida, sin pasar por el go-
tivista del Comité Cubano Pro
bierno cubano.
Derechos Humanos, enfoca las
medidas de la Casa Blanca hacia
P: Una de las medidas más
Cuba de una manera positiva.
controversiales es la de facilitar
Para él, lejos de debilitar el em-
productos a entidades privadas
bargo económico, las medidas
en la Isla. ¿Qué opinas?
fortalecen la Ley Torricelli y la
Ley Helms-Burton. Y considera,
R: Primero es muy difícil defi-
además, que favorecen específi-
nir para quienes no manejan
camente a la oposición interna
bien la situación cubana, quié-
dentro de la isla.
nes son no gubernamentales
dentro de Cuba. Por ejemplo, el
P: ¿Alteran estas medidas el
gobierno cubano arguye que la
curso de la política de Estados
Federación de Mujeres Cubanas
Unidos hacia Cuba?
0 los CDR lo son. Espero que el
Departamento de Estado tenga
R: No. Esto no se puede consi-
en cuenta esto y actúe con mu-
derar de ninguna manera un
cho cuidado. Por otra parte, aún
cambio de política. La política
cuando el gobierno cubano acep-
sigue siendo la misma y el que
te esto (hay declaraciones ya de
ARCOS CASABON
crea que esto no es así, le re-
disidentes internos, entre ellos
comiendo que se refiera al carril
mi tío Gustavo Arcos, en el sen-
número 2 de la Ley Torricelli que
celli que está dentro de la Ley
Helms-Burton, instrumento jurí-
tido de que es muy difícil que
se pasó en el año 92 y que fue
adoptado por la Ley Helms-Bur-
dico que forma parte importante
el gobierno cubano acepte este
tipo de medida) pero aún cuando
ton. Considero que el embargo
de la política hacia Cuba y que
la aceptara, su implementación
precisamente establece aumen-
queda intacto y lo que sucede es
tar los contactos a nivel perso-
en la práctica va a ser compli-
que se flexibiliza, se amplía el
cada. Esto no quiere decir que
carril número 2 de la Ley Torri-
nal, incrementar el flujo, la co-
(Pasa a la Pág. 2-B Col. 2)
No hay un cambio de política de EE.UU. hacia Cuba
(Viene de la Pág. 1-B)
yo esté en desacuerdo, sino que hay
verán también con buenos ojos.
el gobierno cubano dijera que no,
que trabajarla con mucho cuidado
Esto redunda positivamente en los
habría que ver como entonces va
para no equivocarse y seguir en es-
disidentes. El hecho de que se pue-
a justificar su actitud ante el resto
te camino que me parece muy in-
da enviar dinero a Cuba directa-
del mundo, cuando ellos precisa-
teligente de flexibilizar la política,
mente sin necesidad que lo haga
mente están diciendo que el pue-
los contactos por debajo del gobier-
un familiar, aumenta el número de
blo cubano pasa necesidades por
no, sin tocar la parte principal del
personas beneficiadas, las que en-
culpa del embargo.
embargo, que es precisamente la
tenderán así que los exiliados de
presión económica y que, repito,
Miami no queremos matarlos de
P: De todas maneras el régi-
considero que queda intacto. Todo
hambre, al contrario, ayudarlos.
men de Castro va a recibir más
esto me parece inteligente. Me pa-
Esta es una forma específica de
divisas con estas medidas...
rece que se debe seguir trabajando
cómo se debe trabajar con las nue-
en esa dirección.
vas medidas.
R: Eso es indiscutible. Todo el
dinero que vaya a Cuba, de una
P: ¿Cómo acogerá la oposición
P: ¿Cuál será la reacción de
manera u otra va a terminar en
interna estas medidas?
Castro?
las arcas del gobierno. Esa es
una realidad con la que tenemos
R: Creo que las acogerá con
R: Sería muy interesante que el
que trabajar, pero lo que está
agrado. Mi tío Gustavo que no es
gobierno cubano dijera que no, por
tratando de hacer es que ese di-
de los más liberales entre los di-
ejemplo a la posibilidad de que en-
nero pase primero por otros sec-
sidentes, reaccionó favorablemen-
tidades privadas puedan comprar
tores de la sociedad cubana y los
te. Me imagino que los demás las
en el mercado norteamericano. Si
beneficie antes.
Dialio las Americas 1/99
PIDO PARA CUBA "UNA
"OiDOS
SOCIEDAD MAS PRÖSPERA,
JUSTA Y FRATERNA
SORDOS"
40
35150
MUJERES
BALSEROS
HOMBRES
MUJERES
PRISIONERAS
mm
Y NIÑOS
EN PRISION
12,483
FUSILADOS
SIL
VIO
Caritas califica de
"positivas" las
medidas de EE.UU.
LA HABANA (EFE).- Mientras
arrollo y los días posteriores son
las autoridades de La Habana
muy importantes".
guardan silencio sobre las medi-
das respecto a Cuba anunciadas
Suárez recordó que su organi-
por Estados Unidos, la organiza-
zación ya ha recibido en el pa-
ción humanitaria católica "Cari-
sado donaciones de material mé-
tas" las calificó de positivas.
dico por parte de la "Catholic
Relief Services", su correspon-
La oficina del portavoz del Mi-
diente en EE.UU., que fueron
nisterio de Relaciones Exteriores
distribuidas a través de los or-
declaró a la prensa que el Gobier-
ganismos oficiales pues se tra-
no "estaba analizando" el mensaje
taba de equipo avanzado para el
del presidente norteamericano,
tratamiento de enfermos graves.
Bill Clinton, y que posteriormente
haría una declaración.
"Lo que nos gustaría aplicar se-
ría un programa de ayuda huma-
Por su parte, el presidente de
nitaria en alimentos que vaya des-
"Caritas Cuba", Rolando Suárez,
tinado a las personas con menos
dijo que "las medidas son muy
recursos, y que podría derivarse
positivas aunque falta ver su des-
de estas medidas", señaló.
El Nuevo Herald Digital: Gran Miami
Page 1 of 2
Publicado el sábado, 9 de enero de 1999 en El Nuevo Herald
Critican medidas de la Casa Blanca
WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA
Especial para El Nuevo Herald
Representantes de organizaciones de Miami que favorecen la normalización de
relaciones con Cuba, criticaron el viernes las medidas anunciadas recientemente
por la administración Clinton para aumentar los contactos con la isla,
calificándolas de ``inocuas" e ``ilusorias".
"Ningún proceso de distensión o normalización puede ser conducido por dictados
unilaterales, especialmente cuando las decisiones son anunciadas en espíritu de
confrontación y con la finalidad de subvertir el orden institucional cubano",
afirmó Andrés Gómez, presidente de la Brigada Antonio Maceo.
Ceekan american
Las declaraciones de Gómez se produjeron durante una rueda de prensa, que
reunió además a miembros de la Alianza de Trabajadores de la Comunidad
Cubana (ATC) y del grupo Rescate Cultural Afrocubano, así como a Kay Sedam,
groups that
representante de la Coalición de Miami contra el embargo a Cuba. De acuerdo con
Gómez, el propósito principal de las medidas anunciadas por la Casa Blanca es
support the
apaciguar el creciente llamado de importantes grupos y sectores de opinión de
Estados Unidos de terminar con ``el infame bloqueo mantenido durante 38 años
contra el pueblo cubano".
lifting of the
El pasado martes el gobierno de Bill Clinton anunció que permitirá ampliar hasta
$1,200 el envío de remesas anuales, vender productos alimenticios al sector
privado de la isla, e incrementar los vuelos directos desde Estados Unidos hacia
embargo Critical of new
varias ciudades cubanas, entre otras medidas.
measures.
Pero según Gómez, las medidas no son más que una cuestión de trucos" para dar
una impresión de cambios.
A una pregunta de El Nuevo Herald sobre el impacto que tendría el aumento de
They claim the
los envíos de dinero a personas en Cuba, Gómez ratificó que los verdaderos
beneficiados serán ``los contrarrevolucionarios y los delincuentes".
measures
Copyright © 1999 El Nuevo Herald
subvert national Institu tiona
Contactos
order
Claim only
areminals and
counter revolutionarie
well benefit
http://www.elherald.com/miami/digdocs/003979hm
1/9/99
El Nuevo Herald Digital: Cuba
Page 1 of 2
Publicado el sábado, 9 de enero de 1999 en El Nuevo Herald
Elogia anuncio de EU el canciller canadiense
ANDREW CAWTHORNE
Reuters
La Habana El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Canadá, Lloyd Axworthy,
se reunió el jueves en La Habana con el gobernante cubano, Fidel Castro, y elogió
los pasos recientes de Estados Unidos de ampliar los canales con la isla.
`Creo que hay una cierta tendencia de Estados Unidos a una actitud más abierta y
la apoyamos", dijo Axworthy a la prensa al terminar una breve visita a Cuba que
inició un recorrido de seis días por América Latina y el Caribe.
El canciller se refería al anuncio de Washington esta semana de que permitirá más
vuelos directos a Cuba y mayores envíos de dinero, y aumentará los contactos
Lloyd
individuales, todo dentro del embargo económico de Estados Unidos a la isla.
avwarthy
Las medidas, interpretadas por algunos como pequeñas acciones dentro del
embargo, pero por otros como un alivio significativo de las sanciones, que duran
37 años, incluyeron también el correo directo a la isla y la autorización de envíos
1
de alimentos y ventas de productos agrícolas a entidades no gubernamentales.
praises new measures
En breves comentarios, Axworthy declaró que Canadá percibió que el lenguaje
del anuncio de Estados Unidos mostraba ``algún grado de vínculo constructivo",
un término que el gobierno del primer ministro Jean Chretien utiliza para definir
undertaken
sus relaciones con Cuba.
``Esperamos que haya una disposición a emprender nuevos pasos que permitan
cambios y una apertura de las relaciones entre Cuba y Estados Unidos, y hasta ese
by u.s.
punto los alentaremos", agregó.
Con Chretien, Canadá ha sido un abierto oponente a los esfuerzos estadounidenses
meets with
de aislar a Cuba y presionar a Castro para que emprenda reformas democráticas.
Castro
Canadá, que ha sido la primera fuente de turismo e inversiones extranjeras desde
que la isla se abrió en los últimos años, insiste en que el acercamiento es es mejor
método para promover las reformas democráticas.
Raises the
Axworthy discutió sobre derechos humanos con Castro en un almuerzo y en la
entrevista posterior en la sede del gobierno cubano, el Palacio de la Revolución,
issue of the
en la que también estuvieron presentes el vicepresidente Carlos Lage y el ministro
de Relaciones Exteriores, Roberto Robaina.
"Four
"Sí, lo planteamos", respondió el canciller canadiense en la conferencia de prensa
dissidents"
a una pregunta sobre si habló del caso de cuatro conocidos disidentes cubanos
encarcelados sin juicio desde hace 18 meses.
Copyright © 1999 El Nuevo Herald
Contactos
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1/9/99
Exclusivas 9 y 10 de Enero Diario Las Amé...
Page 1 of 2
El Mundo
esta en sus
Manos
Ediciones
DIARIO AMERICAS
Anteriores
Primera
Contraportada
Editorial
Que Dicen
Cuba
Latinoamérica
Centroamérica
Edición del 9 y 10 de Enero, 1999
EEUU
Caribe
Las nuevas medidas para ayudar al pueblo cubano
Exclusivas
Local
Por Madeleine K. Albright, Secretaria de Estado
Deportes
Nicaragua
Finanzas
Los pasos anunciados por el Presidente el 5 de enero ponen énfasis en el
España
permanente compromiso de parte de la Administración Clinton de apoyar al
México
pueblo cubano. Ampliando los contactos de pueblo a pueblo, aumentando las
remesas de fondos, aumentando los vuelos directos por contrato,
Cuestiones
Gramaticales
estableciendo el correo directo y autorizando la venta de alimentos y
productos para la agricultura a particulares se ayudará al pueblo cubano y
Notas
facilitará el desarrollo de actividades cívicas pacíficas independientemente
Evangelicas
del régimen cubano. Esto ayudará al pueblo cubano a prepararse para el día
en que su país sea nuevamente libre.
En la Onda del
Internet
Estas medidas son cónsonas con nuestra política de promover una transición
Puente a otros
democrática pacífica y respetar los derechos humanos. No están encaminadas
Medios
a beneficiar al gobierno cubano 0 a mejorar las relaciones con el mismo. El
Iníormativos
gobierno cubano necesita comprender que la única manera de normalizar
Hispanos
Internacionales
relaciones con los Estados Unidos es si lleva a cabo cambios democráticos y
deja que el pueblo cubano ejerza sus libertades fundamentales.
Iniormación
Desgraciadamente. la situación de los derechos humanos sigue siendo
Galeria
horrible. Es por esto que el Presidente también anunció nuestra intención de
ampliar los esfuerzos diplomáticos encaminados a llamar la atención
Para
Anunciarse
internacional sobre los abusos que se siguen cometiendo y continuar los
esfuerzos para trabajar con amigos y aliados para hacer más a fin de
presionar en favor del respeto a los derechos humanos. También daremos los
pasos necesarios para mejorar la efectividad de las transmisiones de Radio y
TV Marti a fin de llevar la verdad al pueblo de Cuba.
Yo creo que estamos viendo una emocionante dinámica desarrollándose
dentro de Cuba: A pesar de la mantenida represión del régimen, el pueblo
cubano está buscando cada vez más formas creativas para actuar
independientemente y prepararse para la inevitable transición que le espera.
La exhortación del Sumo Pontífice de "no tengáis miedo" ha resonado a
través de la isla.
Las medidas que anunciamos están encaminadas a fortalecer esta dinámica y
trabajar sobre las medidas que anunciamos en marzo. La ampliación de las
remesas les dará a los cubanos mayor oportunidad de una actividad cívica
independiente y les hará menos dependientes del régimen. El aumento de los
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/dlaexclu.html
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Exclusivas - 9 y 10 de Enero - Diario Las Amé...
Page 2 of 2
contactos de pueblo a pueblo demostrará al pueblo cubano los valores
democráticos y las realidades de cómo funciona una sociedad civil libre. Las
ventas de alimentos ayudarán a fortalecer al naciente espíritu empresarial
privado. Y todo esto beneficiará directamente a la familia cubana que. como
nos dijo un lider cubanoamericano, es realmente la más fuerte y más
importante organización no gubernamental.
Pondremos en marcha estas medidas sin darle ayuda y alivio al gobierno
cubano. Y sobre la marcha recordaremos las sabias palabras de José Martí de
que "sólo la opresión ha de temer el ejercicio pleno de las libertades."
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/dlaexclu.htm
1/11/99
Viernes 8 de Enero de 1999
La Secretaria Albright y la
Secretary Albright and the
Nueva Política Hacia Cuba
New Policy Toward Cuba
Es muy importante, es muy conveniente, que se haga
It is important, very convenient, that a coordinated
un esfuerzo coordinado, inteligentemente razonado,
effort, intelligently reasoned, be undertaken near high
en torno a los altos funcionarios del gobierno esta-
officials of the American government, specifically in
dounidense, concretamente de la Casa Blanca y del
the White House and the State Department, regarding
Depto. de Estado, en lo que respecta a esta nueva
this new stage in the relations between Washington
etapa de relaciones entre el gobierno de Washington
and the totalitarian communist tyranny of Fidel Cas-
V la tiranía totalitaria comunista de Fidel Castro. Y
tro. And this should be done with those senior officials
es conveniente hacerlo con esos altos funcionarios que
who have indicated that they are most inclined, or
havan dado muestras de ser los más favorables, o
least disinclined, to help the cause of Cuba's liberty.
los menos desfavorables, para la causa de la libertad
Naturally, this is surely already being done by many
de Cuba. Por supuesto, seguramente esto lo están ha-
or some exile leaders who know, to a greater or lesser
ciendo muchos o algunos dirigentes del exilio que co-
degree, the realities of the U.S. foreign policy, par-
nocen en mayor o en menor grado, pero siempre en
ticularly concerning Cuba.
un grado importante, la realidad de la política inter-
nacional estadounidense, particularmente en lo rela-
In those circles alluded in the previous paragraph,
cionado con el caso de Cuba.
there are officials who might be mistaken or who are
forced to follow the guidelines of tradional American
Dentro de esos círculos aludidos en el párrafo an-
politics, but who do whatever they can to reduce the
terior, hay funcionarios que pueden estar equivocados
effectiveness of the proposals of those who, for any
0 se ven obligados a seguir las pautas de la política
reason, are always on the side of what is best, directly
tradicional estadounidense, pero que hacen lo que les
or indirectly, for the Castro tyranny. And they should
es posible por reducir la efectividad de las proposi-
start by reasoning when speaking to those individuals
ciones de quienes, por cualquier motivo. siempre están
upholding the firmness of the genuine exile that is
del lado de lo que conviene, directa 0 indirectamente,
nobly and patriotically adamant, but that must be
a la tiranía de Castro. Y hay que comenzar por razonar
prudent and skillfull to awaken. maintain, or augment
ruando se habla con esas personas manteniendo la
the political willigness of that small group of officials
meza del criterio del genuino exilio que es noble
who is less pro-Castro and who in the internal and
patrióticamente intransigente, pero que debe ser
private high level government deliberations want true
prudente y hábil para despertar, mantener o acre-
freedom for Cuba.
centar la voluntad política de ese pequeño grupo de
funcionarios que es más hostil a Castro y que dentro
Among the alluded senior officials is Secretary of
las gestiones internas y privadas de las altas esferas
State Madeleine K. Albright, one of the two persons
del gobierno quieren una genuina libertad para Cuba.
who are possibly more determining or influential
regarding this matter. This does not mean that in
Entre los altos funcionarios aludidos está una de
her public statements she does not define the policy
las dos personas de las posiblemente más determi-
of the administration according to what, in the final
nantes o influyentes en relación con este asunto, la
analysis, has been decided by the President of the
Secretaria de Estado Madeleine K. Albright. Esto no
Republic, Bill Clinton. However, based on many of
quiere decir que en las declaraciones públicas ella
her statements, it is safe to assume that in the se-
no defina la política del gobierno de acuerdo con lo
cret, confidential, or private discussions at the
que, en última instancia, ha decidido el Presidente
upper levels of government, her opinion has been,
de la República, Bill Clinton. Sin embargo, a la luz
albeit depending on the circumstances, the least
de muchos pronunciamientos de ella, cabe presumir
unfavorable, or the most favorable, for the fight
que en el seno de los planteamientos secretos, confi-
against the Castro tyranny. If we go over the state-
denciales 0 privados de la alta jerarquía del gobierno,
ments of the many Secretaries of State who have
su opinión ha sido, dentro de las circunstancias, la
been involved in the Cuban tragedy, we will realize
menos desfavorable o la más favorable para la lucha
that she has been the one most firm in her stand
contra la tiranía de Castro. Si se revisan los pronun-
against the totalitarian tyranny in Cuba. Probably
ciamientos de muchos Secretarios de Estado envueltos
the fact that she and her family were victims of
en la tragedia cubana, se encontrará que ella ha sido
communist totalitarianism who had to flee their no-
la más firme en el enfrentamiento con la tiranía to-
ble native Czechoslovakia has influenced her.
talitaria de Cuba. Y mucho influye en su persona el
hecho de haber sido ella víctima del totalitarismo co-
munista en su noble patria checoslovaca de la cual
tuvo que huir con su familia.
gue debate en el exilio sobi
nedidas de la Casa Blanca
(Viene de la Pag 1-B)
riodista: "Los intercambios se
ciertos comerciantes america-
gran preocupación ante las
Cuba no las hay y lo que va a
car las divisas que tanto nece-
han estado produciendo desde
labras del Cardenal Ortega no
nos exportadores hoy, un pedazo
medidas tomadas por el presi-
suceder es que el gobierno va
sita. Fidel no ha cambiado, el
se trasmitieron en los medios
hace bastante tiempo. Y pienso
del pastel cubano que codician
dente Clinton Para el activista
a fomentar este tipo de empre-
que piense que él ha cambiado
que eso es positivo. A los que es-
públicos. Señores, que engaño,
y que esperan comerse completo
político, con toto lo que se diga,
sas para beneficiarse de esa
está equivocado. Veamos que
tamos fuera de Cuba, nos ense-
mañana, con Castro 0 sin el"
que ingenuidad 0 que mala fe
"son un paso Inicial hacia un
medida y muchos de esos ali-
el discurso que hizo en Santia-
existe en los lideres de esta na-
nan sobre la realidad cubana, y
restablecimiento de relaciones
mentos no van a llegar siquiera
go por el aniversario de la re-
a los que están dentro de Cuba
Según Agustin Tamargo "esa
ción en estos momentos para
con Cuba las que, según se CO.
al pueblo y Castro los va a re.
volución fue transmitido a todo
y tienen la posibilidad de viajar,
querer restablecer relaciones
estrategia es demasiado burda
menta en circulos de Washing-
vender a otros paises para sa-
el país y. sin embargo, las pa-
con Cuba".
también les facilita ver lo que
para que los cubanos serios
ton el Presidente se ha com-
sucede fuera. Los intercambios
puedan aceptarla. Su señuelo
prometido a lograrlo antes de
académicos crean un clima de
más elevado, la creación de
retirarse del poder"
discusion serio, to que es muy
una sociedad civil, es irreali-
Importante para el futuro de
zable. Nunca se ha creado una
Evaluando el alcance que
nuestra patria".
oposición, por pacífica que
puedan tener, agrega el Vice
sea, ni ha surgido en parte al-
Chairman retirado del Nation
Sigue debate en el exilio sobre
Para finalizar, Aragón da su
guna una sociedad democráti-
Bank "estas medidas no van a
punto de vista sobre la reacción
ca (por medio de subsidios y
beneficiar al pueblo cubano.
que tendrá el régimen castrista:
respaldo político-económico
Es muy desafortunado ver que
"Cuba verá con reservas que las
extranjero, abiertamente de-
medidas de la Casa Blanca
todo el mundo habia que pro-
ayudas sean a privados. Hay que
clarado) con la anuencia de la
pician la reunificación de las
entender que un gobierno donde
tiranía que se pretende comba-
familias, pero no hablan del
Por ENA CURNOW
el Estado lo controla todo tiene
tir. Yeltsin apoya el plan de
verdadero porqué el pueblo de
de la isla y del
señala que quizás sf, pero aclara
que ver con reservas el creci-
Clinton, el gobernador de
Cuba quiere salir de allá y ve.
exterior y de to
No hay uniformidad de crite-
que según entiende el espíritu
miento de las industrias priva-
Puerto Rico apoya el plan de
nir para açá. Las condiciones
que pueda ha-
-ios en las fuerzas vivas del
del embargo no es aislar al pue-
das, por pequeñas que sean. Por-
Clinton. los dialogueros de
en la isla no han cambiado. En-
cerse para ali-
blo cubano, ni contribuir a dis-
exilio cubano ante las medidas
que a mayor independencia de
Miami y los de La Habana apo-
tonces cual es el motivo de que
viar las difi-
tanciar a las familias cubanas.
de la Casa Blanca Una parte
las mismas, menor control del
yan el plan de Clinton. Wayne
la Casa Blanca esté haciendo
cultades del
"Es más la Ley Torricelli, la Ley
importante las califica de CO.
estado"
Smith apoya el plan de Clinton
ninguna gestión favorable ha-
pueblo cuba-
laboracionistas con el régimen
Helms-Burton tienen acápites
No creo que haya que decir mu.
cia Cuba si Fidel Castro no ha
no", dice Uva
que favorecen los Intercambios
de La Habana. otros conside-
Para el conocido periodista
cho más"
hecho nada por la libertad. por
de Aragón,
ran a algunas de ellas benefi-
académicos, y todo lo que pueda
Agustin Tamargo. estas medidas
subdirectora
los derechos humanos AI con-
promover los cambios democrá-
ciosas para el pueblo de la Isla.
DE ARAGON
ARBOLEYA
TAMARGO
del Centro de
ticos en Cuba".
no ofrecen dudas de ninguna cla-
Y finalmente Tamargo confia
trario, el sigue presionando CO
mientras califican de inope.
Estudios Cu-
se Su posición ante las mismas
en que "la sociedad civil cubana.
mo siempre, persiguiendo a to
rante la relacionada con faci-
los cubanos de Miami.
banos de la Universidad Inter-
es radical.
Profundizando en los Inter-
la Cuba democrática. se impon-
das las personas que se oponen
litar alimentos y mercancias a
nacional de la Florida, ante las
al régimen
los propietarios privados. De
cambios académicos previstos
drá de todos modos, porque es
"Las medidas son positivas.
propuestas de la Casa Blanca.
"La nueva estrategia del go-
todas maneras, es la diversi-
ahora que se Incrementen, su-
la respuesta histórica natural al
Siempre estoy a favor de todas
bierno de Clinton sobre Cuba (si
fracaso del sistema comunista
dad de opiniones lo que carac-
braya la también escritora y pe-
Por todo lo anterior, el cono-
las cosas que puedan contribuir
En cuanto a si estas medidas
eso es estrategia) tiene tres ob.
de Castro.
cido activista precisa "Cren
teriza este debate abierto de
a los contactos entre los cubanos
alivian o no el embargo, Aragón
(Pasa a la Pág. 2-B Col. 1)
jetivos esenciales, a mi Juicio. I.
que nada de esto 13 a benefi
Entrar en la pachanga universal
Anunciarla como producto de
ciar verdaderamente al pueble
de manichismo con Castro da
una subvención plattista. me pa
cubano Por ejemplo, con res
apertura hacia Cuba del Papa).
rece contraproducente hoy y pe.
pecto a la venta de alimentos.
2- Asegurarse los votos de los cu.
ligroso para mañana"
hay que ser muy ingenuo para
banos de New Jersey y la Florida
pensar que los Estados Unidos
frustrando el plan de Kissinger
La posición representante
logren negociar libremente
y sus asociados Y 3. Darle a
del exilio Carlos Arboleya es de
con empresas privadas si en
Diarios has Americas
Debate Contenues about 1/8/99 new Measures. Three Cuban
two against (a nuis comment retired
Unerican Leaders opine 1 in favor professor) callege
El Nuevo Herald Digital: Cuba
Page 1 of 2
Publicado el viernes, 8 de enero de 1999 en El Nuevo Herald
La Habana rechazará comercio con EU
PABLO ALFONSO
El Nuevo Herald
Gustavo Arcos Bergnes, secretario general del Comité Cubano Pro Derechos
Humanos, afirmó que el régimen de Fidel Castro rechazará la propuesta de la
Administración Clinton por la que empresas norteamericanas puedan comerciar
con sectores privados en Cuba, porque esa medida abriría las puertas a la
democracia en la isla.
Justave
``Si ellos aceptan ese comercio perderán el poder político", subrayó Arcos. ``Eso
Cerebo Bergae,
no lo pueden permitir porque irían perdiendo el poder económico, y luego irían
perdiéndolo todo".
head of
Arcos, de 72 años, quien habló por teléfono con El Nuevo Herald el jueves desde
the Cuban
La Habana dijo que si el régimen castrista autoriza el comercio del sector privado
con empresas estadounidenses ``sería como aceptar que están cediendo ante las
demandas de nosotros aquí, de los disidentes internos, que desde hace años
Committee
estamos abogando por aperturas políticas y económicas".
Pro Human
Según Arcos, el auge que alcanzaría el sector privado, los pequeños agricultores,
los dueños de paladares, las cooperativas y trabajadores por cuenta propia, sería
inmenso si pudieran comerciar con empresas norteamericanas y el régimen
castrista, que lleva 40 años en el poder no le interesa eso", a pesar de la difícil
situación económica que atraviesa la población.
(a Rights desident respected)
En el país se abre cada día más un abismo entre el beneficio del trabajo, el salario
y el costo de la vida, dijo Arcos, quien añadió que los alimentos que vende el
Estado a través de la libreta de racionamiento, vigente desde hace ya 37 años, son
mínimos, "y es imposible sobrevivir con ellos". Esa situación origina el mercado
negro, la corrupción, el robo y la prostitución.
Prediets
"Sólo los que recibimos dólares de nuestros familiares y amigos del exterior
Castro will
podemos alimentarnos y vestimos un poco mejor que el resto de la población.
Pero la mayoría de los trabajadores, gente del pueblo que no tiene esa posibilidad,
está sumido en la miseria", afirmó Arcos. "Eso ha dado lugar al fenómeno de dos
grandes clases dentro del pueblo: los que sólo cuentan con su salario y los que
measures rejects new
reciben dólares".
Arcos reconoció que las nuevas medidas anunciadas por la administración
& Ciaims that
Clinton, en general, son beneficiosas para la población cubana, pero se mostró
escéptico en cuanto a la posibilidad de que el gobierno cubano permita el
comercio del sector privado con empresas norteamericanas. Eso conspira contra
sus intereses políticos, y a este gobierno le importa poco anteponer sus intereses
Clubans only those that
políticos a las necesidades económicas de la población, de la nación cubana",
subrayó Arcos. ``A fin de cuentas, eso es lo que ha hecho hasta ahora".
get dollars
Copyright © 1999 El Nuevo Herald
from U S are
Contactos
getting by
@ Doubts the Cuvan Goot
@ feels the
food because it would
will allow the sale of
measures will be
beneficial to
them. take control kevay from
are Cubars
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El Nuevo Herald Digital: Cuba
Page 1 of 2
Publicado el viernes, 8 de enero de 1999 en El Nuevo Herald
PABLO ALFONSO
El turismo no genera tanta divisa
El turismo extranjero que en 1998 llevó a la isla 1.4 millones de viajeros que
aportaron $1,800 millones de ingresos brutos, está recibiendo veladas críticas en
medios oficiales de prensa, que le atribuyen pocos beneficios económicos y altos
costos políticos y morales.
"La industria turística no vive del aire. Se traga alrededor de tres cuartas partes de
sus ingresos", afirmó en días pasados en La Habana el periodista Ariel Terrero.
Tourism in
Según datos oficiales en 1998 cada dólar de ingreso en el sector turístico significó
Cuba is not
una inversión de $0.71 centavos de dólar, y el ingreso promedio diario generado
por cada turista fue de $88.40 dólares.
Advirtiendo que los turistas ``con su cachetes colorados se han convertido en parte
so profitable
del paisaje cubano", Terrero indicó que en 1997, la industria turística sólo obtuvo
un 25 por ciento de utilidades
of each
"En opinión de expertos, todavía anda por el sótano la eficiencia global de esta
rama en Cuba", indicó Terrero.
spent by
La industria turística ha sido vinculada al incremento de la prostitución, la
tourist
corrupción, el robo y otros males sociales que el gobernante cubano Fidel Castro
señaló el martes durante un discurso pronunciado para conmemorar el 40
aniversario de la Policía Nacional Revolucionaria.
go to costs
Con la esperanza de disminuir sus efectos negativos, los dirigentes de la industria
tourism
turística cubana están alentando el turismo alemán que en 1998 tuvo un
incremento de 71.6 por ciento con respecto al año anterior. Un total de 130,000
alemanes visitaron Cuba, ocupando el tercer lugar en importancia turística en la
isla, tras çanadienses e italianos.
only Industry generates
Los expertos de la industria turística cubana han llegado a la conclusión de que las
costumbres veraniegas de los alemanes son más compatibles con los objetivos del
25% Project
gobierno cubano que quieren promover un turismo familiar y deportivo, en lugar
de ``las vacaciones de solteros de muchos italianos, afectos a los amores tarifados,
que Prensa. hacen caso omiso de la moral socialista", indicó la Agencia Francesa de
R touresm has
increased
Además, según las autoridades cubanas, los turistas alemanes se quedan más
tiempo y disponen de un poder adquisitivo superior al de otros países.
Crime prostitution
Este año, el Ministerio de Turismo se prepara para un nuevo aumento de un 70
and Corruption
por ciento en el flujo de ciudadanos germanos. Si ese cálculo se cumple, los
visitantes alemanes sumarían unos 220,000, más que los canadienses y los
italianos que durante los últimos tres años representaron los principales
1 Germans Canadians
contingentes de turistas a Cuba, con cerca de 200,000 visitantes por país, pero
and Haliars
cuyo número parece estancarse, según AFP.
are the
Para este año, Cuba planea recibir a cerca de 1.7 millones de turistas, un 20 por
ciento más que en 1998. El 84 por ciento de esos visitantes procederá, por orden
numbers
de importancia numérica, de Alemania, Canadá, Italia, España, Francia, Gran
Bretaña, México, Argentina, los países escandinavos, Colombia y Suiza, según las
previsiones oficiales.
Copyright © 1999 El Nuevo Herald
Contactos
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Notwithstanding negotiations that might have taken place
Jueves 7 de Enero de 1999
between the government of the United States of America
and the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro regarding the
latest measures taken by the White House regarding the
political and economic situation in Cuba, it is indispensable
Que Washington no Subestime
to insist in saving that Fidel Castro has specialized for over
forty years in deceiving the democratic world and. espe-
cially, the American government under different parties
la Habilidad Política y
and administration. We should mention. because it is a fact.
that the Assistant Secretary of State, Stuart Eizenstat, per-
Dictatorial de Castro
sonally stated to the Editorial Board of DIARIO LAS AMER-
ICAS that there have been no previous negotiations between
Washington and Castro now.
Al margen de posibles negociaciones habidas entre el
It is indispensable to bear in mind that Castro has tre-
gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América y el régimen
totalitario de Fidel Castro en relación con las últimas
mendous experience and diabolic cleverness in the sense
medidas tomadas por la Casa Blanca con respecto a la
of -we repeat- deceiving the world and always getting his
situación política y económica de Cuba, es preciso poner
own way, at least up to the present. To speculate about
énfasis en que Fidel Castro se ha especializado durante
the disappearance of his tyranny based on the more or
más de cuarenta años en burlarse del mundo democrático
less nearness of his death is somewhat risky when what
y, especialmente, del gobierno estadounidense de dis-
is at stake are serious, very grave problems, surrounding
the case of the totalitarianism entrenched in Cuba merci-
tintos partidos y administraciones. Cabe decir, en honor
a un hecho, que el Subsecretario de Estado estadouni-
lessly for the last forty years. Everyone knows that after
dense Stuart Eizenstat personalmente afirmó a la Di-
birth, the only thing that is certain is death. Naturally, there
are a number of factors that determine the belief or the
rección de DIARIO LAS AMERICAS que no ha habido
negociaciones previas entre Washington y Castro.
certainty that someone's death might be imminent, such
as a very old age or a terminal sickness.
Es indispensable no perder de vista la realidad de que
Castro ha adquirido una inmensa experiencia de habi-
Washington has officially said that the unilateral measures
lidad diabólica en el sentido de -repetimos- burlarse
it has taken toward Cuba take into consideration a transition
del mundo y de salirse siempre con la suya, por lo menos
that is presumed more or less imminent due to the death
hasta el momento. Especular con la desaparición de su
or disability of Fidel Castro. To put it in business terms,
tiranía sobre la base de su muerte más 0 menos inmediata
it could be said that a dangerous, risky, credit is being
es algo aventurado cuando hay en juego problemas muy
granted based on a more or less imaginary transaction re-
serios, muy graves, en torno a el caso de ese totalitarismo
garding its terms. The idea. based on helping the Cuban
implantado en Cuba a sangre y fuego desde hace cuarenta
people. that any of these measures if Castro accepts them
años. Ya se sabe que después que una persona nace lo
in full. something which might happen. or partially. de-
único seguro alrededor de ella es la muerte. Por supuesto.
pending on what he feels is better for him, is not warranted
existen una serie de factores que determinan la creencia
by history over the last forty years. The Cuban people will
o la seguridad de que puede ser inminente la muerte
get what Fidel Castro wants them to get even if it is benefits
de alguien. Entre esos factores están una edad suma-
granted by the American government, which has no say
mente avanzada 0 una enfermedad sumamente grave
inside the island. On the other hand, if the people do get
de carácter terminal.
some benefits, Castro will take care of telling them that
they are receiving these benefits because of his government
Oficialmente ha dicho Washington que estas concesio-
and his personality, and that if he were to disappear or
nes hechas unilateralmente con respecto a Cuba son en
his dictatorship were to weaken, there would be no reason
función de la transición que se presume más o menos
or need for the United States to send what it is now offering.
inminente por la supuesta muerte o incapacidad de Fidel
Castro. Hablando en términos comerciales podria decirse
If it is a serious mistake to underestimate the communists
que se está extendiendo un crédito peligroso. arriesgado.
in general. it is even more serious to underestimate Castro.
sobre la base de una transacción más 0 menos imaginaria
en lo que respecta al vencimiento del plazo. La creencia
de que cualquiera de estos arreglos si Castro los acepta
plenamente, lo cual puede ser que así sea o en parte.
según a él le convenga, creencia que se enfoca en lo
relativo al "beneficio del pueblo de Cuba". no está avalada
por la realidad histórica de estos cuarenta años. Ese
pueblo recibirá lo que Fidel Castro quiera que reciba
aunque se trate de beneficios otorgados por el gobierno
de Washington, el cual no manejará esos asuntos dentro
de la isla. Por otra parte, si hay algunos beneficios para
el pueblo, Castro se encargará de demostrarie al pueblo
que por la manera de ser de su gobierno y de su per-
sonalidad es que está recibiendo esas ventajas y que si
él desaparece 0 su dictadura se debilita, desaparecerían
el motivo V la necesidad de mandar a la isla desde los
Estados Unidos todo lo que ahora se está ofreciendo.
Si es un grave error subestimar a los comunistas en
general. lo es en muchísimo mayor grado subestimar a
Castro.
Z
Publicado el jueves, 7 de enero de 1999 en El Nuevo Herald
La apertura de Cuba, gran
negocio para la Florida
Tallahassee (Reuters) La apertura del
de correo entre Cuba y Estados Unidos. y un
comercio con Cuba podría ser un buen negocio
incremento de las ventas directas de alimentos a
para las empresas de la Florida, el bastión de la
compradores privados en la isla.
poderosa comunidad de exiliados en Estados
Según el informe, si el mercado cubano se
Unidos, indicó un estudio divulgado el miérco-
abriera exigiría capital, tecnología de telecomu-
les.
nicaciones y unas 500,000 casas, desplazando,
El estudio, realizado para la legislatura estatal
potencialmente, a otros mercados latinoamerica-
por la firma Arthur Andersen, fue presentado un
nos para compañías de Miami y de otras partes
día después de que el presidente estadounidense
de Estados Unidos.
Bill Clinton, anunció que suavizaría un embargo
Cuba, con unos 11 millones de habitantes,
comercial impuesto hace 36 años por Washing-
está a sólo 145 kilómetros de Florida.
ton sobre la isla.
El estudio advierte que las compañías de Flo-
Las nuevas medidas incluyen menos restric-
rida deben estar preparadas para una eventual
ciones para envíos de dinero, servicios directos
apertura y democratización de Cuba.
Publicado el lueves. de enero de 1999 en El Nuevo Herald
Medidas de EU dan que hablar
RAUL RIVERO
Especial para El Nuevo Herald
Las medidas anunciadas esta
semana en Washington por el
presidente Bill Clinton que favo-
recen la ampliación de contactos
y ayuda al pueblo cubano suscita-
ron diversas reacciones en la isla.
Hector Palacios Ruiz, de 55
años, director del Centro de Estu-
dios Sociológicos, dijo a El
Nuevo Herald: "Siempre voté a
favor del embargo como un mal
necesario pero se que después de
la visita del Papa. el mundo ha
tenido mayor interés por Cuba, y
Estados Unidos como potencia ha
dado un paso positivo para tratar
de resolver la crisis cubana".
"Estoy a favor de esas medi-
das, y que con ellas le quiten al
gobierno cubano un pretexto para
sentirse sitiado, y les obliguen a
iniciar la democratización del
país antes de la visita del rey de
España".
El tema estuvo ausente de los
medios de comunicación este
miércoles, y tampoco apareció
entre los trascendidos de un dis-
curso de Fidel Castro el martes.
cuando habló por cinco horas
sobre la lucha contra el delito.
Un punto que causó disgusto
en sectores de La Habana, según
la agencia Agence France Presse,
es la decision de aumentar los
recursos a las emisiones anticas-
tristas de Radio y Televisión
Marti, porque -incluso según
Associated Press
sectores de la oposición interna-
Jóvenes cubanos juegan beisbol en las calles de la Habana. Muy pronto un equipo de las Grandes Ligas
esto no aportaria nada al relaja-
podria visitar Cuba.
miento de las tensas relaciones
entre ambos países.
entre el puebio cubano y el esta-
aliviar la situación de la sociedad
inmediato. por parte de la Confe-
El resto de las medidas que
dounidense. Es una comunicacion
cubana y sustituye la diplomacia
rencia de Obispos. no hay nin-
facilitan el envio de dinero a
normal entie personas que se
entre Estados por una diplomacia
guna declaración al respecto"
Cuba desde Estados Unidos.
aman. que se han visto interrum-
entre ciudadanos. Hay algunas
dijo el padre José Félix, secreta-
incrementan los vuelos charter
pidas por las malas relaciones
medidas no viables como las que
no adjunto de ese órgano.
directos. restablecen el correo
entre los gobernantes
hablan de agencias gubernamen-
La autorización de importar
hacia la isla y permiten intercam-
Otro aspecto muy discutido en
tales ayudando a los independien-
alimentos y productos agrícolas a
bios culturales. científicos y
la isla. tue la negativa por parie
tes
entidades independientes no
deportivos, parecen estar siendo
de la Casa Blanca de crear una
La estudiante Jamile Gorgoy.
gubernamentales, y al emergente
estudiadas en La Habana antes de
comision bipartidista con el fin de
de 18 años, le dió la bienvenida a
sector privado fue una de las
emitir una reacción.
revisar la politica de Estados Uni-
las medidas. "No entiendo
medidas que más extrañeza,
El ayuno informativo en
dos hacia Cuba
mucho de leyes y embargo. pero
dudas y hasta bromas generó
medios de prensa oficiales no
Manuel Morua secretario
SI creo que hace falta aceptar
entre los cubanos.
impidió. sin embargo. que el
general de la Corriente Socialista
cualquier tipo de ayuda. Estamos
La posibilidad de que los pro-
cubano de la calle recibiera filtra-
Democrática Cubana. lamentó
pasando mucho trabajo y necesi-
pietarios de los pequeños restau-
ciones de emisoras radiales
que se rechazara la creacion de
dad. Nos hace falta medicina y
rantes privados cubanos de doce
extranjeras.
dicha comision. "Lo que se
comida. Ambos gobiernos deben
sillas, conocidos en la isla como
Según Adolfo Fernández
impone a fines del milenio es una
pensar en eso"
paladares. o que los vendedores
Sainf. vocero del Partido Solida-
revisión de la politica norteamen-
La agencia France Presse
ambulantes de fiambres, puedan
ridad Democrática, el gesto "es
cana hacia Cuba
señaló que la iglesia católica
importar sus insumos de Miami.
positivo en general. Es bueno que
"Las medidas son global-
cubana se abstuvo de realizar
provoco interrogantes, dudas y
se establezcan vinculos directos
mente positivas porque avudan is
comentarios sobre el tema. "De
hasta sonrisas.
Exclusivas 6 de Enero Diario Las Américas
Page 1 of 2
El Mundo
esta en sus
Manos
Ediciones
DIARIO AMERICAS
Anteriores
Primera
Contraportada
Editorial
Que Dicen
Cuba
Latinoamérica
Centroamérica
Edición del 6 de Enero, 1999
EEUU
Caribe
La política hacia Cuba ha sido alterada y el
Exclusivas
Local
embargo debilitado
Deportes
Nicaragua
Finanzas
Afirma el profesor Antonio Jorge
España
México
Por ARIEL REMOS
Cuestiones
"La política norteamericana hacia Cuba ha sido alterada cualitativamente, y
Gramaticales
el espíritu del embargo, parte esencial de la política de la contención, que
Notas
consistía fundamentalmente en el aislamiento del régimen castrista, resulta
Evangelicas
debilitado", afirmó el Dr. Antonio Jorge, profesor de economía y relaciones
internacionales de la FIU, comentando las nuevas medidas que anunciaron el
En la Onda del
martes el Presidente Clinton y la Secretaria de Estado Madeleine Albright.
Internet
Por lo que se desprende de las medidas anunciadas en relación con el
Puente a otros
Medios
embargo, para el profesor Jorge EE.UU. se ha resignado a que el proceso de
Informativos
la transición a la democracia y al libre mercado en Cuba no habrá de tomar
Hispanos
lugar hasta después de la desaparición o inhabilitación de Fidel Castro, como
Internacionales
han confirmado en repetidas ocasiones la Secretaria de Estado Albright y el
Subsecretario Stuart Eizenstat. Y, en consecuencia, la nueva política hacia la
Iniormación
Isla, que recuerda la estrategia del pin-pon que precedió la apertura con
Galeria
China, está basada en concesiones unilaterales tendientes al reforzamiento de
la sociedad civil con la esperanza de que ésta pueda eventualmente constituir
Para
un frente de oposición al régimen.
Anunciarse
El profesor Jorge fundamentó sus afirmaciones del modo siguiente: la
política de EE.UU. hacia Cuba ha pasado por varias etapas desde el
comienzo de la revolución castrista hasta el presente. La primera consistió en
diversos esfuerzos por desestabilizar al régimen. La segunda fue una variante
de la política de la contención de EE.UU. hacia la URSS a partir del final de
la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Y la tercera se caracterizó por la inauguración
de la política llamada de los "pasos calibrados", que hubiera consistido en el
intercambio gradual de concesiones de ambas partes para lograr una lenta
transición de la sociedad cubana.
"Obviamente, la política actual está basada en los esfuerzos por parte de
EE.UU. de ayudar a la creación y el fortalecimiento de la llamada sociedad
civil en Cuba", dice Jorge. "Esta política ha sido adoptada en vista de la
negativa del régimen a aceptar los términos de la estrategia de los 'pasos
calibrados'
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/dlaexclu.html
1/6/99
Exclusivas 6 de Enero Diario Las Américas
Page 2 of 2
Como consecuencia, sigue diciendo Jorge, "EE.UU. ha decidido hacer
concesiones unilaterales sin contrapartida alguna. con la esperanza de que a
plazo extendido, esto pueda contribuir a la creación de focos autónomos de
oposición al régimen.
Según Jorge, estos acontecimientos eran claramente previsibles y, de hecho.
con la excepción de la venta de alimentos y equipo agropecuario a las
llamadas entidades independientes en Cuba, el resto de las medidas
propuestas se ajustan al contenido de los dos leyes que regulan el embargo:
la Ley Democracia (Torricelli) de 1992, y la Ley Libertad (Helms-Burton).
de 1998.
"En otras palabras", precisa, "el propuesto aumento de las remesas de
recursos económicos a Cuba, la intensificación de contactos entre diversas
personas y grupos de ambas sociedades, el establecimiento del servicio de
correos directo, y la autorización de vuelos de pasajeros desde distintas
ciudades, forman parte de la estrategia de fomento de la sociedad civil, y
encaja dentro de las dos leyes antes mencionadas".
En lo que se refiere a la venta de equipo agropecuario a organismos no
gubernamentales (ONG), Jorge coincide con los comentarios hechos por los
congresistas Diaz-Balart y Menéndez, sobre que violaría el espíritu o la
intención del embargo, "y, por demás, en forma indirecta habría de beneficiar
al régimen, ya que las ONG simplemente no existen en un régimen totalitario
y colectivista como el de Cuba".
Como detalle adicional, afirma Jorge que "sin duda, los anunciados juegos
de pelota de exhibición entre los Orioles y un equipo cubano, recuerdan la
famosa estrategia del pin-pon que precedió a la apertura a China comunista".
Desde luego, añade finalmente, "queda por ver hasta qué punto el régimen
castrista está dispuesto a comprometerse a la estrategia del pin-pon".
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1/6/99
Comentario sobre Cuba 6 de Enero Diario L...
Page 1 of 5
El Mundo esta
en Sus Manos
DIARIO AMERICAS
sobre Cuba
Ediciones
Anteriores
Edición del 6 de Enero, 1999
Primera
Cuba: ¿Amenaza nacional o ficción?
Contraportada
Editorial
Que Dicen
Por Manuel Cereijo
Cuba
Exclusivas
El régimen se encuentra en su momento más débil, y por lo tanto en el
Latinoamérica
momento de mayor peligrosidad.
Centroamérica
EEUU
OPCIONES
Caribe
Local
Deportes
Específicamente existen tres opciones, desarrolladas por Cuba desde hace
Nicaragua
varios años, que le permite desarrollar un ataque no convencional contra los
Finanzas
Estados Unidos causando un posible daño cuantioso en vidas humanas. Estas
España
tres opciones, o sectores ofensivos, son:
México
1.- Entrenamiento militar de un cuerpo élite
Comentario
Gráfico
2.- Espionaje e interferencia electrónica de las telecomunicaciones y redes de
Cuestiones
computación
Gramaticales
3.- Guerra bacteriológica y química
Notas
Evangelicas
El reporte reciente del Pentágono, presentado por el Secretario de Defensa
William Cohen menciona solo brevemente, y esto después de ser revisado
En la Onda del
Internet
por las presiones del Senado, estás opciones. Sin embargo, el informe pone
un énfasis mayor en el hecho que Cuba. dado que sus fuerzas militares están
Puente a otros
diezmadas, ya no representa un peligro militar para Estados Unidos. Pero es
Medios
que, aun cuando Cuba estaba en el cenit de su poderío militar convencional,
Informativos
Hispanos
nunca represento un peligro militar convencional contra este país. cuba es un
Internacionales
peligro "no convencional" contra la seguridad de los Estados Unidos, y para
ello se ha estado preparando hace unos 15 años. Y acabamos de comprobarlo
Información
con la detención de este red de espionaje en Miami, donde algunos de los
supuestos espías tienen una alta calificación técnica.
Galeria
A continuación describiremos brevemente cada uno.
WORK
1. Entrenamiento militar de un cuerpo élite
Desde mediados de la década de los 80' S, Cuba creó en Los Palacios, Pinar
del Río, en la zona conocida como el Cacho, una escuela militar, Baraguá,
donde se entrenan, muy profesionalmente, personal militar, especializado en
ataques comandos, ataques militares relámpagos, y cuerpos de infiltración y
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Comentario sobre Cuba 6 de Enero Diario L...
Page 2 of 5
de espionaje. El asesoramiento militar proviene principalmente de Vietnam.
Este grupo está compuesto de unos 3,500 soldados, todos entre 20 y 30 años,
hablan inglés perfectamente, y pueden pasar por hombres de negocios o
ejecutivos, si así lo requieren sus actividades. El grupo está capacitado, desde
luego, para ser portador de armas bacteriológicas y químicas, e introducirlas
en los Estados Unidos. Asi como de interferir electrónicamente las redes de
computación de bases militares, aeropuertos, industrias, etc.
Pregunta: ¿Si Cuba es una isla, sin conflictos fronterizos, por qué mantiene
esta base especial de guerra ofensiva a tan alto costo?
2. Espionaje e interferencia electrónica
Las conversaciones telefónicas, los faxes y las intercomunicaciones vía
computadoras realizadas en los Estados Unidos, siempre que utilicen como
medio de transmisión tramos aéreos, no soterrados, pueden ser interceptadas
por la base de espionaje de Lourdes. Esta base, de 28 millas cuadradas, está
situada al sureste de La Habana, y trabajan en la misma 800 técnicos rusos.
Rusia se ha gastado más de $3,000 millones en esta base, y desde noviembre
de 1996 ha mejorado los instrumentos y equipos por un valor de $85
millones.
Por el alquiler de esta base. Rusia le paga a Cuba $200 millones al año. La
base tiene dos grupos de platos o discos rastreadores y un sistema de
satélites. Un grupo es para interceptar las llamadas telefónicas en general, y
el otro grupo está designado a funciones y números específicos. Desde 1995,
Rusia comenzó la construcción de una base similar en Bejucal, está para ser
operada por los cubanos. Esta base fue terminada en febrero de 1997. Pero la
base de Bejucal tiene una capacidad aún más importante que la de espiar o
interceptar las telecomunicaciones. Y este función es la de poder interferir
las comunicaciones civiles, y aun militares de los Estados Unidos, en caso de
un ataque comando o de un ataque bacteriológico. Antes del fallido golpe de
estado de agosto de 1991, la KGB estaba desarrollando virus para introducir
en las computadoras. con el objetivo de interrumpir los sistemas de redes
computacionales durante un momento de crisis o de guerra. En 1991, un
proyecto altamente secreto fue empezado en cuba por el directorio Militar de
Inteligencia de las Fuerzas Armadas de Cuba.
El grupo se dedicó al desarrollo de virus que pudiesen infectar las
computadoras de los Estados Unidos. Al principio, se le asignó al grupo
$50,000 para la adquisición de datos sobre redes de computación, SATCOM,
y tecnología en general. Esto se conoce como guerra tecnológica
informativa. Es una nueva fase del terrorismo internacional. Es muy difícil
de detectar su procedencia. y además de la introducción de virus, se
introducen códigos erróneos, distorsión, etc. que representan una amenaza a
los Estados Unidos. Esto puede causar desde pérdida de productividad, files
erróneos, hasta confusión en operaciones militares en caso de una guerra.
Cada día esta sociedad aumenta la concentración de información, y
dependencia en general. de las computadoras. desde el aspecto militar, a
todos los aspectos civiles. Las computadoras con acceso a líneas telefónicas
pueden ser penetradas por intrusos desde cualquier lugar del mundo. Esto se
realiza en una forma bastante simple, poco costosa, y muy dificil de detectar.
Existen ya muchos ejemplos de intromisión de este tipo en redes
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Comentario sobre Cuba 6 de Enero Diario L...
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computacionales de este país. Por ejemplo, en 1989, un grupo de Alemania,
usando líneas telefónicas tuvieron acceso a 250 sistemas de computación de
este país, incluyendo por lo menos 90 sistemas relacionados, directa o
indirectamente. con sistemas de defensa. Otro ejemplo lo es el de un grupo
de jóvenes holandeses que obtuvieron acceso a los sistemas de computación
de 34 localizaciones del DOD, incluyendo el Air Force Weapons Lab., y
todo esto durante la Guerra del Golfo.
Este desarrollo electrónico continúa en forma intensa, y presenta un peligro
enorme en caso de un ataque dada la confusión y caos que tendría como
resultado este tipo de interferencia electrónica que afectaría todas las
telecomunicaciones, las intercomunicaciones a través de computadoras. los
correos electrónicos, etc. El desarrollo de esta capacidad requiere poco en
cuanto a recursos monetarios.
3. Desarrollo bacteriológico y bioquímico
Desde principios de la década de los 80' S comienza Cuba sus esfuerzos en el
campo de la investigación bacteriológica y química, estableciendo los
centros de Biotecnología, de Ingeniería Genética, de Medicina Tropical, de
Inmunología. de Cría de Animales de Laboratorio, el Biocen, el Instituto
Finlay, la Academia de Ciencias, el Instituto de Oceonografia, y el centro de
Preparaciones Biológicas. el Centro de Neuro Ciencias, así como La
Fabriquita. 0 centro de desarrollo de pienzo.
Numerosos ingenieros y científicos cubanos han recibido educación y
entrenamiento en la antigua Alemania Oriental, Rumanía, China, Corea del
Norte, Vietnam, así como en Irán y en Iraq. Ha habido una cooperación
intensa desde 1992 con Vietnam y con China.
Desde 1991 hasta la fecha, cuba ha invertido aproximadamente $2,800
millones en equipos. instrumentos. materiales, para todos estos Centros, con
una aplicación comercial mínima, ya que sólo ha comercializado ciertos
productos, como vacunas contra la meningitis, vacunas contra la hepatitis,
interferón, y otros productos menores. con un valor comercial de sólo $80
millones, producidas esporádicamente. con ventas a Chile, Brasil, Argentina.
Un ejemplo es el posible desarrollo de una toxina paralizante del sistema
nervioso, desarrollado de investigaciones marinas. Este producto puede ya
estar terminado V almacenado. listo para ser utilizado. Otro ejemplo es
cuando en conjunción con el Instituto Cubano de Oceonografia, y la
Academia de Ciencias, realizaron un experimento que consistió en lanzar
botellas desde las costas cubanas. con un mensaje que pedía a quienes la
recibieran se comunicaran con la Academia de ciencias, pues era un estudio
científico sobre la contaminación de las aguas oceánicas. De esta forma,
después de dos años de estudio, se determinó el lugar de la costa cubana más
factible de enviar objetos flotantes que llegarán a las costas de Florida,
Georgia. Louisiana, Texas. con más rapidez y en mayor cuantía.
No olvidemos que para una guerra bacteriológica o química, no hacen faltas
cohetes, ni portadores sofisticados. Botellas, contenedores, cajas, etc. pueden
ser portadores de sustancias mortiferas que pueden causar daño o la muerte a
miles de personas en una zona determinada. Productos bacteriológicos o
químicos, toxinas, etc. que pueden transportarse en un maletín, pueden
causar la muerte, por ejemplo, a 50,000 personas.
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/dlacubal.hml
1/6/99
Estados Unidos 6 de Enero Diario Las Amér...
Page 4 of 5
droga que se vende en el país, que forman parte de un ciclo de consumo que
comenzó cuando eran adolescentes y que continúa hasta la muerte, "a menos
que algo intervenga" en su favor.
Asimismo, anunció que el presupuesto antidrogas para el año fiscal 1999,
que empezó el pasado 1 de octubre, ha tenido un aumento sustancial a
17.800 millones de dólares, y que se usará una cantidad "significativa" para
combatir el consumo de estupefacientes en los centros penales.
El principal asesor antidrogas del presidente Clinton, dijo que el nueve por
ciento de los presos del país -900.000 en las cárceles estatales, alrededor de
500.000 en las de los condados y 105.000 en prisiones federales-, dieron
positivo en pruebas de narcóticos.
Clinton ha destinado un buen porcentaje de los nuevos fondos para la lucha
contra las drogas, a programas de prevención del consumo en los centros
penales, tratamiento sanitario a los adictos y planes educativos.
McCaffrey informó, además, de que se usará toda la tecnología disponible
para evitar que se introduzca drogas en las penitenciarías, y desveló que este
problema es más frecuente en las cárceles estadounidenses.
Rey Husein hace escala en Washington tras salir
de Clínica Mayo
WASHINGTON El rey Husein de Jordania hizo escala en Washigton para
visitar la Casa Blanca y el Departamento de Estado, tras salir de la clínica
Mayo donde se sometió durante seis meses a un tratamiento contra el cáncer.
En una entrevista de media hora en la Casa Blanca, el rey y el presidente
estadounidense, Bill Clinton, hablaron del último pulso de Estados Unidos
con Irak y de las dificultades del proceso de paz para Oriente Medio, así
como de las perspectivas económicas para la región.
El presidente prometió al monarca más ayuda para Jordania, cuya economía
se ha resentido de las sanciones económicas internacionales contra el vecino
Irak.
Clinton, según un portavoz de la Casa Blanca, indicó a Husein que Estados
Unidos considera a Irak una amenaza para la estabilidad en la región.
Precisamente hoy volvió a producirse un incidente entre los aviones de
EEUU que patrullan la zona de exclusión en el sur de Irak y aparatos
iraquies.
Clinton y Husein hablaron también del programa por el que la ONU permita
a Irak vender crudo para comprar alimentos y medicinas, ya que Jordania es
uno de los principales países que participan en esa transacción.
"Queremos asegurarnos de que esto no se convierte en una forma por la que
(el presidente iraquí) Sadam Husein consiga ingresos de manera indebida",
dijo el portavoz del Departamento de Estado, James Rubin.
Después de visitar la Casa Blanca, el rey Huseín se entrevistó en el
Departamento de Estado con la secretaria de Estado, Madeleine Albright.
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/dlausa.html
1/6/99
Estados Unidos - 6 de Enero Diario Las Amér...
Page 5 of 5
Tras la entrevista, el portavoz expresó la satisfación con la que el Gobierno
de EEUU ha recibido la noticia de que el rey "ha completado su
tratamiento".
El rey Husein de Jordania estuvo ingresado en la clinica Mayo. en Rochester.
Minnesota, desde mediados de julio, sometido a un tratamiento contra el
cáncer linfático que ha dado buen resultado.
Mientras estaba en la clínica, el rey recibió algunas visitas de carácter
político e incluso se desplazó a Wye, Maryland, en el momento crítico de las
negociaciones de paz para Oriente Medio con el fin de ayudar a conseguir el
acuerdo de octubre pasado.
El rey visitó Washington acompañado por su esposa, la reina Noor, que se
entrevistó con Hillary Clinton mientras su marido se encontraba con el
presidente.
Servicios Noticiosos del Diario Las Américas AFP/EFE
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/dlausa.html
1/6/99
¿A go r` evo e
cuanto a Cuba?
Por Julio Estorino
E
1 año ha comenzado, en lo que a
La otra noticia consistió del anuncio
cho en el orden de las comunicaciones,
Cuba se refiere, con gran anima-
de una serie de medidas que Estados
pues todos utilizamos mucho más el
ción. Apenas estrenado el mes de
Unidos pretende implantar en sus re-
teléfono, pero presenta la posibilidad,
enero, la Casa Blanca anunciaba dos no-
laciones con Cuba. Digo "pretende im-
si llegara a concretarse, de convertirse
ticias a un tiempo. Una, la negativa por
plantar", porque algunas de ellas reque-
en una vía alterna para el envío de pa-
parte del presidente Bill Clinton a nom-
rirían consentimiento del propio
quetes de ayuda a la isla, vía que sería
brar, según le había sido sugerido, una
régimen al que se intenta debilitar con
más económica para los remitentes y
comisión bipartidista que evaluaría la po-
ellas y ese consentimiento aún está por
menos lucrativa para Castro y para las
lítica de Washington hacia La Habana, pa-
ver. Las medidas anunciadas incluyen
agencias que aquí se dedican a esos
ra hacer recomendaciones al respecto. La
mayores facilidades para el envío de dó-
envíos. De paso, hay que acotar lo mu-
sugerencia había partido de prominentes
lares y expansión de los de los vuelos
cho que ha tenido de positivo la ex-
políticos y prominentes ex funcionarios
a la isla, aumento de intercambios cul-
pansión de las comunicaciones telefó-
de estado, con abundancia, entre ellos, de
turales, académicos, científicos y de-
nicas, anteriormente aprobada.
destacados miembros del Partido Repu-
portivos, el restablecimiento del servi-
blicano, lo que ponía un ingrediente pe-
cio de correos directo entre los dos
Lo de las ventas a entidades no gu-
culiar e intrigante en la propuesta.
países y la autorización de ventas de
bernamentales es lo único realmente
alimentos e implementos agrícolas a en-
de cuidado, pues sería compleja y ries-
Como bien se hizo notar al conocerse
tidades no gubernamentales de Cuba.
gosa su implementación. Dada la pe-
este asunto, varios de los proponentes
queñez notoria de lo que pudiera Ila-
están en la actualidad muy comprome-
Para poder calibrar estas iniciativas,
marse el sector económicamente
tidos con grandes intereses mercanti-
con todas sus posibles implicaciones,
independiente del gobierno en Cuba,
les, ansiosos de hacer negocios con los
habría que tomar en cuenta la reacción
habría que ver cómo se aseguraría na-
castristas, a como dé lugar, y ello, ló-
de la dictadura, que, hasta el momento
die de que el comprador no resultase
gicamente, levantó por acá justificados
en que escribo estas líneas no se ha pro-
ser, en realidad, un agente del régi-
temores.
ducido. Entretanto, solamente podemos
men. Y hay que ver, repito, lo que dicen
evaluarlas a prima facie:
por allá de todo esto. No me sorpren-
Esos temores, al parecer, obnuvilaron
dería que algunas de estas iniciativas
el juicio de algunos y, dados a lo rotundo
Los dólares están yendo ya, desde hace
de Washington muriesen al nacer, li-
y lo categórico, le dieron rango de axio-
tiempo y en abundancia muy superior
quidadas por la arrogancia y el miedo
ma a sus propias conjeturas, aseveran-
a lo que la ley permite, prácticamente
de los castristas.
do enfáticamente que era indefectible
con cada pasajero que va a Cuba. Los
el nombramiento de la comisión de ma-
que allá quieren viajar, lo han hecho
Lo de la negativa a la comisión es lo
rras y añadiendo que la misma formaba
siempre y lo continuarán haciendo, aun
verdaderamente importante. Si el pre-
parte, supuestamente, de una secreta
cuando no hubiera vuelos directos, co-
sidente Clinton estuviese tan interesado
conjura en la que ya estarían de per-
mo ya lo ha demostrado la experiencia.
en promover la eliminación del embar-
fecto acuerdo Bill Clinton, el Papa, y
go unilateralmente, como algunos afir-
Fidel Castro. Todo ello, seguía la trama,
Los intercambios, habría que equili-
man, ¿qué mejor oportunidad que la que
encaminado a "salvar" a este último.
brarlos para que fueran, de verdad, algo
presentaba la petición de un grupo de
parejo para ambos lados, pero no deben
"notables" integrado mayormente por
El caso es que la terminante predic-
preocuparnos demasiado, porque lo
ex funcionarios republicanos? Me pare-
ción no se cumplió y el presidente Clin-
cierto es que todo el que de aquí va allá
ce pues, que el mensaje es claro y va
ton dio por liquidada la idea de la co-
regresa horrorizado y todo el que de allá
directo a La Habana: no habrá cambios
misión, diciendo que ya hay consensus
viene aquí, vuelve allá maravillado.
sustanciales por acá, si no hay cambios
en Washington en cuanto a la política
sustanciales por acá. Digo; al menos eso
a seguir con Cuba.
Lo del correo no va a funcionar mu-
es lo que parece.
DIARIO AMERICAS
Edición Electrónica Miami, Florida
Visto en Más de 50 Países Del Mundo
Edición del Miercoles, 6 de Diciembre, 1999
Acusan a Clinton de
ignorar al Congreso
Por ARIEL REMOS
Está actuando la Administración de espaldas
Las nuevas medidas relaciona-
al Congreso y la Ley, dicen congresistas, y
das con el embargo comercial a
las nuevas medidas sobre Cuba podrían
Cuba, anunciadas el martes por
el Presidente Clinton y la Secre-
provocar una confrontación
taria de Estado Madeleine Al-
bright, fueron hechas de espal-
mité de Relaciones internaciona-
del Departamento de Estado, y Ri-
das al Congreso y a la Ley y
les; Dan Burton, presidente del Co-
chard Newcomb, director de la
podrían provocar una seria con-
mité de Reforma y Supervisión
Oficina de Control de Bienes Ex-
frontación con el Poder Legisla-
Gubernamental, Ileana Ros-Lehti-
tranjeros del Departamento del
tivo, fue el mensaje enviado este
nen y Lincoln Díaz-Balart, congre-
Tesoro, para expresarles sus pun-
z
miércoles al Presidente Clinton
sistas por la Florida, y Chris
tos de vista sobre las medidas
por un grupo de congresistas que
Smith, por New Jersey, todos re-
anunciadas.
se reunió con altos funcionarios
publicanos, se entrevistaron en la
de la Administración.
oficina de Ros-Lehtinen con los
"Nuestro mensaje fue que la
funcionarios Michael E. Rannen-
Ben Gilman, presidente del Co-
berger, a cargo del Buró de Cuba
(Pasa a la Pág. 10-A Col. 1)
Pág. 10-A DIARIO LAS AMERICAS JUEVES 7 DE ENERO DE 1999
Acusan a Clinton de
ignorar al Congreso
Administración está
(Viene de la pág. 1-A)
a las reglas y pro-
actuando sin contar
cedimientos. asin-
con la autoridad del Congreso y
tiendo ellos en que ese es tam-
de la Ley y que las leyes que re-
bién su deseo", dijo
gulan el embargo deben ser im-
Rannenberger. "Les expresé des-
plementadas tal como han sido
pués que tenemos las mismas
aprobadas, porque las medidas
metas en relación con Cuba, que
anunciadas no están en concor-
es una transición pacífica a la
dancia con los objetivos deline-
democracia y el respeto a los de-
ados en dichas leyes, en especial
rechos humanos y que, apesar
la Helms-Burton. Lo que hay en
de las diferencias que puedan
todo esto es que la Administra-
existir, podemos actuar conjun-
ción está haciendo todo lo posi-
tamente para avanzar esos ob-
ble por normalizar totalmente el
jetivos".
embargo, y estas medidas son
un paso en esa dirección", dijo
El representante Burton des-
Ros-Lehtinen a DIARIO LAS
tacó a los periodistas que la Ad-
AMERICAS.
ministración Clinton encubrió
un cargamento de cocaína des-
Diaz-Balart les planteó a los al-
cubierto recientemente en Co-
tos funcionarios que la Adminis-
lombia en el que el régimen cu-
tración puede escoger dos rum-
bano estaba involucrado,
bos: uno, el de la confrontación
precisamente para no estropear
con el Congreso. "Burton ha di-
el anuncio de las medidas hecho
cho que no va a permitir la venta
el martes.
y financiamiento de equipos
agropecuarios, y estamos dis-
La Administración Clinton
puestos a usar todos los poderes
anunció el martes una serie de
del Congreso e inclusive ir a los
nuevas medidas que afectan el
tribunales de justicia para evi-
embargo a Cuba, dando como Γa-
tarlo". El otro es "trabajar jun-
zón que persigue reforzar la so-
tamente con nosotros para aca-
ciedad civil en la Isla y disminuir
bar con la tiranía de Fidel
la dependencia del cubano del
Castro, mediante el plan que te-
gobierno, pero muchos las ven
nemos, semejante al que se puso
como un debilitamiento del em-
en práctica con Hussein en
bargo y una violación a la legis-
Iraq".
lación que lo regula.
Ranneberger expresó a DIA-
Entre las medidas figuran el
RIO LAS AMERICAS que él ha-
aumento de remesas económi-
bia informado a los congresistas
cas, de vuelos de pasajeros, de
sobre las medidas y que com-
intercambios académicos, cien-
prendía su preocupación de que
tíficos, culturales y atléticos, y
la venta de alimentos y equipo
la venta de alimentos y equipo
agricola a entidades privadas no
agrícola de sector privado a sec-
esttuviera de acuerdo con la ley;
tor privado.
pero que él les indicó que la Ad-
ministración estudió muy cuida-
Los congresistas Díaz-Balart,
dosamente el asunto y que es
Ros-Lehtinen y el demócrata por
completamente legal, porque si
New Jersey Bob Menéndez, ex-
bien la Ley Helms-Burton había
presaron inmediatamente su
codificado el embargo, codificó
desacuerdo sobre todo con la
también la facultad del Presi-
venta de alimentos y venta y fi-
dente de autorizarla.
nanciamiento de equipo agríco-
la, partiendo de la base de que
"Les dije asimismo que la Se-
violan la ley del embargo, punto
cretaria de Estado quería imple-
de vista que Diaz-Balart expuso
mentar las nuevas medidas de
a la Secretaria de Estado señora
manera legal y transparente y
Albright antes del anuncio, para
que queremos consultar y traba-
que la decisión fuera reevalua-
jar con el Congreso en cuanto
da.
PRIMERA PLANA
Clinton con medidas que ayudan al pueblo cubano
AP/Washington
El presidente Bill Clinton anunció over medidas
destinadas a incrementar los contactos entre cu-
a/cl MIERCOLES .
banos norteamericanos, así como a aumentar
significativamente las transferencias de dólares
de Estados Unidos a Cuba.
La iniciativa también contempla por primera
vez la venta limitada de comestibles de Estados
Unidos a Cuba. así como el establecimiento de un
servicio directo de correos el aumento de los
vuelos fletados también directos a la isla.
"Estas medidas están destinadas a brindar avu-
da al pueblo cubano sin fortalecer al gobierno'
de la isla. dijo Clinton en una declaración.
Las medidas "están de acuerdo con nuestra po-
lítica de mantener la presión sobre el gobierno
para lograr cambios democráticos por medio del
embargo y las iniciativas diplomáticas vigorosas.
Foro AF
al tiempo que hallamos fórmulas para que nues-
EN LA BODEGA Una mujer recibe su racion mensual de pescado en La Habana. Las transferencias de
tondos de estadounidenses en beneficio de familiares O amigos residentes en Cuba. tue una de las medi-
tros esfuerzos humanitarios lleguen al pueblo de
das que autonzo la Casa Bianca
Cuba y lo avuden a desarrollar una sociedad ci-
Nuevas disposiciones:
Fortalecer los recursos guberna-
vil". agregó el mandatario.
mentales destinados 3 las anticas-
tristas Radio y TV Marti. que emi-
AFP/Washington
bios en ambos sentidos de acade-
La Fundación cubana ataca
ten desde Miami. Washington e.
Las nuevas medidas anunciadas
micos, atletas V cientificos.
tudia además la posibilidad de
ayer martes por el presidente nor-
Autorizar nuevos vuelos charter
la política del presidente
transmitir programas desde otros
teamericano Bill Clinton. destina-
directos de pasajeros entre ciudades
puntos de Estados Unidos
das a "incrementar los contactos
de los dos paises. además de los
JAVIER CASTAÑO
vive el pueblo. La misma liber-
Las medidas de flexibilizacion
con el pueblo de Cuba". son las SE
existentes entre La Habana y Mia-
"El presidente Clinton está des-
tad que tiene cualquier persona
se suman a las adoptadas por Was
guientes
mu para facilitar la visita a sus la
montando el embargo a Cuba,
cuando visita Estados Unidos."
Extender a todo residente de Es
miliares de los cubanos exiliados.
hington en marzo de 1998 tras la
suavizando la relación con
-iQué importancia tiene el
visita a Cuba del papa Juan Pablo
tados Unidos la posibilidad de en-
Esfuerzos para restablecer el co-
Castro y por eso nos opo-
aumento de los vuelos a Cuba?
viar hasts 1.200 dolares anuales
men directo hacia Cuba
II En esa oportunidad. Estados
nemos a las nuevas medidas de
"Los vuelos directos sólo enn-
tamiliares 0 amigos en Cuba Ac
Autorizar la venta de alimentos
Unidos habia reinstaurado to vue
la Casa Blanca", dijo ayer Alber-
quecen a las empresas que con-
los charter directos entre Miami
tualmente solo las personas de on
insumos agricolas a entidades in-
to Hernández. presidente de la
trola Castro en Estados Unidos"
gen cubano podian envior end can-
dependientes no gubernamentales.
La Habana autorizado el en io II.
junta directiva de la Fundación
-¿Y cuáles son esas em-
udad de dinema sus tamilias
incluyendo grupos religiosos el
mitado de remesas por familiares
Cubano Americana, con sede en
presas?
Facilitar la concesion de visas
emergente sector privado de Cuba.
radicados en Estados Unidos. \
Miami
"No quiero mencionarias por-
pura ampliar contactos "de personal
como restaurantes familiares
permitido un incremento de la
Hernández dijo a el diario/LA
que seria darles importancia y
personal uses de intereant
granjas privadas
venta de medicamentos a la isla
PRENSA que está hablando con
tampoco me interesa discutir con
los congresistas estadounidense
esa gentuza".
que apoyan el embargo para ata-
-¿Qué opina sobre los es.
Venta de comida y envío de dólares
car la estrategia del presidente
fuerzos para restablecer el correo
Clinton. "Estas medidas son el
directo hacia la isla?
son políticas equivocadas': Menéndez
primer paso para quitar el embar-
"Esta medida la apoyamos
ROBERTO BUSTAMANTE
namental en Cuba es Caritas. y
dio qu. el lider del exiho cubano
go a Cuba y por eso vamos a lu-
porque le otorga derecho a) pue-
char con todas nuestras fuerzas
blo de comunicarse con los cuba-
EI anuncio de la vents de produc
virtualmente no hay ningún otro
Jorge Mas Canosa. en vida califico
tos comestibles un., et JU
grupo independiente. y eso de
de "Caballo de Troya". porque su
para detenerias"
nos que vivimos en esta nación.
mento significativo el envirode
vender raciones es una politica
meta era desarticular el embargo
Esta es la opinión de Hernán-
Si Castro no acepta esta medida,
dolares J la Na. h.i side calificado
equivocada". indico. refinendose
"Siempre hemos estado de
dez sobre los seis puntos más LMH
entonces todo este paquete debe-
portantes de la estrategia de la
rá ser desechado Asi es de im-
aver por el congresista Bob Mi
la nueva iniciativa en la comer-
acuerdo con el envio de alimentos
nende/ como politica equivocada
cialización de productos comesti-
avuda humanitaria. pero debo
Casa Blanca hacia Cuba
portante que haya correo directo
de is administracion Clinton
bles a la isla. "Este asunto de ven-
indicar que no hacer falta vender.
-De ahora en adelante cual-
hacia Cuba"
Menendez. quien non we reuning
der productos agricolas es una
porque este pais puede donar. Alla
quier persona puede enviar
-¿A quien favorece la venta
con el vicepresidente AI Gore du
presion de los senadores republi-
en Cuba no hay un sector privado
anualmente 1.200 dólares a Cu-
de insumos agricolas a entidades
ranie el homenaie de hn represen
canos porque ellos son los que en-
y es muy dificil establecer quienes
ba, ¿qué significa esto?
cubanas independientes?
tantes democratas en el Congreso
tan mas interesados en este tipo de
son los agricultores independien-
"No estamos de acuerdo con
"Esta es la medida mas ndicu-
mostro SU descontento con las nue
comercialización".
les. explico el lider cubano-amen-
esta medida, pero tampoco nos
la y estúpida: en Cuba no hay
vas medidas tomadas por la admi
El congresista por Nueva Jer-
cano en Nueva Jersey. en clara
oponemos puesto que no es im-
empresa privada. N1 siquiera res
nistraction Clinton en relacion con
ses rechazo la apertura de la trans-
oposicion a la venta de productos
portante. El Departamento del
taurantes Se negociará con Car
Cune aunque hizo una sola wive
ferencia de dolares a cualquier CU-
alimenticios al sector privado que
Tesoro nunca ha actuado con fir-
tro y su gente y no con el pueblo
chall con is eliminación de 13 persi
bano "Eso da pie para que el par-
no existe en el regimen de Fidel
meza para regular el envío de di-
cubano. La Fundación apoya la
bilided de termar una comision
udo socialista (en Estados Unidos)
Castro. segun indico.
nero a Cuba".
ayuda humanitaria a traves de or
no Kissinger que estudie La political
pueda enviar dinero a Cuba. Yo
Aclaró Perez que las nuevas
-¿Cómo afectará el incre-
ganizaciones no gubernamenta
* kn Estados Unidos hacia la isla
favorezco SI el dinero es enviado a
medidas ditundidas por la admi-
mento del otorgamiento de visas
les, pero no este tipo de apertura
"Me escucharon en que no "
los disidentes opositores del ré
nistración Clinton no son el fin del
a quienes quieran visitar Cuba?
comercial".
dehe du interencia J una comision
gimen. porque un dolar en Cuba
embargo económico contra Cuba
"Es una medida que está en
-¿Qué significa un mavor
que no ev election ni ests respected
es un dolar en cautiveno"
y es importante que to cubanos no
contra de la ley. Debemos impe-
apoyo a Radio y Televisión
di a mas que no hace ninguna
se sorprendan con los fines propa-
dar que los empresarios empiecen
Marif?
talla manitesto Menendez res
Reacción de
gandisticos del regimen castrista
a comercializar con Cuba Apo-
"Se debe apoyar si la progra-
pecto a La retends comision
exilio cubano
En opinion de Lionel Rodri
yamos el intercambio cultural y
mación se usa para informar y
Preciso Menendez que la medi
La Fundación Cubano Amen-
guez. periodista del exiho cubano
deportivo, siempre y cuando el
orientar al pueblo de Cuba sobre
da de vender productos alimenti-
cana a través de su directo en Nue-
en Nueva Jersey, los anuncios de la
gobierno cubano permita que la
los procesos democráticos y so-
CIOS a Cuha beneficiará de modo
va York-Nueva Jersey. Remberto
administración Clinton no son nada
gente hable sin tapujos sobre la
bre la libertad de prensa, la cual
potencial al regimen de Castro
Pérez. expreso su rechazo a la um-
nuevo. y por el contrano se está
opresión y la falta de libertad que
no existe en Cuba".
"La UDICA organización.no.gober.
plantación-de-la cerrisión de emu-
dando un cateno legal al asunto.
eldiario
endade an 1913
Involve
Decano de in prenas bespens - les EE UU
OPINION
el
The Chare - Language -
Health
NI.
How
Carlos D. Ramirez
Increase
-
Leon
Communications
Group
Inc
no
1
Rossana Rosado
we
-
I
Directors/
diamed
PHENSA
The
expressed
-
el MIERCOLES
Hay que ir a la raíz del conflicto cubano
R
ichard Nuccio, que ocupo el car-
dencia y sepultar el ideano de Marti en
Nuccios de Washington. Es decir. nego-
cubano. va tan dolorida. lo que esta
go. en el pasado. de consejero de
el olvido dejó una huella protunda en la
clar. imponer condiciones. forzar la ma-
gente en estos tiempos. sobre 1000
Clinton en el caso de Cuba. dijo
conciencia del cubano Y no me refiero
no. tratar a Cuba como una dependencia
despues de 40 años de sutrimientos
algo muy interesante: "No hay ninguna
a la masa sino a los grupos mas cons-
americana. Eso es irreal
la conviccion de que los Estados Uni
oferta que nosotros podamos hacer que
cientes
Cuando se leen en el Miami Herald
dos. como una reparacion necesaria. de-
ellos no esten dispuesto a rechazar" Se
Hay que precisar No tue necesaria la
los artículos de Carlos Alberto Monta-
ben sacar las manos de Cuba. deben sus.
refería a Castro y aludia a la película
ocupación militar de la isla el I de enero
ner. en los cuales se plantea el caso de
pender el embargo-bloqueo : hasta dar
The Godfather. Más claro: cualquier
de 1898. No tue necesaria la interven-
Cuba como SI la isla tuera una depen-
excusas al pucblo de Cuba por el crimen
cosa que ie propongan los americanos a
ción militar de 13 isla por los america-
dencia de los Estados Unidos a la cual
cometido. deben tratar a Cuba con res-
Castro va a ser rechazada A primera
nos. Hubo un engano en la Resolución
hay que imponerle reglas uno entiende
peto y aceptar to que Cuba decida sobre
vista se podria pensar que hay algo irra-
Conjunta por la cual se reconocia por el
la conducta de Castro. Montaner repre-
su propio destino sin tratar de interterir
cional en esto. Este hombre no acepta
Congreso americano
senta la reaparición
en los asuntos de la isla. Y deben. sobre
nada. Esta hombre no quiere negociar
el derecho de Cuba a
moderna del plattis-
Este hombre es intransigente. Este hom-
LUIS
todo, dar los pasos necesario para disol-
ser libre c indepen-
ta del 1901. Cuan-
ver. de algun mode. el bonche de merce-
bre toma esto como pretexto para atc-
diente. Elihu Root.
do se leen los arti-
narios que han instalado cn Miami para
rrarse al poder. Este hombre es un bárba-
con el respaldo de
ro. No hay manera de entenderse con él
McKinley primero
ORTEGA
culos de un editor
amenazar a Cuba Ellos to crearon
del Herald liamado
ellos dehen licenciarlos Ellos han side:
Correcto. Es muy comprensible la
Roosevelt despues.
Jim Hampton. un
siempre los agresores.
reaccion que produce en muchas gentes
manipuló soborno J
hombre que ha lo-
:Que esto Cs exagerado? Claro que to
la conducta de Castro. Sin embargo. SI
los cubanos. empe-
grado disimular un
es. Pero tambien tue exagerado invadir
Nuccio. y tantos otros funcionarios amc-
zando por el propio Gomez. que recibió
caudal extraordinario de ignorancia so-
a Cuba en 1898 V obligar a los cubanos
ricanos que tienen una visión distorsio-
dinero de Wood se convirtio en com-
bre el tema de Cuba y que sucie plantear
a aceptar cl status semicolonial. Fue
nada del caso cubano. se adentraran un
plice de la tarsa. tal VC/ por ignorancia.
la tesis de los "pasos calibrados". es de-
exagerado pasarse tantos años. hasta
poco en el complejo mundo de la con-
Hubo maldad americana en la ditusión
cir. "lu haces esto y VO hago esto otro"
1959. tratando a Cuba como una simple
ciencia histórica del cubano. podrian en-
de la idea de que los cubanos cran semi-
O séase. que es lo mismo que en aque-
dependencia informal. Fue exagerado
tender mejor la situación. No me refiero
salvajes c incapaces de gobierno propio.
llos tres años y medio de 1899 a 1902.
declararle la guerra a Cuba a partir de
al cubano de Miami. que es. en ngor. un
Hubo infamia en cl desarme dcl ejercito
"Tu tc sometes y aceptas nuestras condi-
1959 y tratar de invadirla con un grupo
mercenario. en el sentido más estricto.
insurgente cubano Huho algo siniestro
ciones 0 seguimos ocupando militar-
de combatientes a sueldo. Ha sido exa-
puesto que se ha puesto al servicio de
en la politica para obligar J los cubanos
mente la isla y no nos vamos". Y ahora.
gerado y criminal el estuerzo que han
los intereses americanos y no puede en-
a aceptar las condiciones que les ponian
"O te agachas 0 te aplastamos".
hecho para arruinar al pueblo de Cuba
tender la posicion cubana. Me refiero al
los americanos para reurarse del pais
Esc lapso de tiempo de 1899 a 1959
durante 40 años. Lo correcto es que rec-
cubano que no ha roto los lazos profun-
"O aceptan nuestras condiciones (En.
durante el cual Cuba tuvo que vivir bajo
tifiquen y husquen la amistad y respeto
dos con su origen, no importa SI vive en
mienda Platt no nos women se decid
la tutela de los Estados Unidos es. preci-
de los cubanos. Eso no cuesta nada. Co-
Miami o en la isla Y me refiero. sobre
Hubo algo miserable en querer america-
samente. lo que explica la conducta in-
ba es hoy el lugar más adolorido y an-
todo. al cubano que carga todavía viva
nizar cl pais enviando maestros ameri-
transigente de Castro. que es compartida
gustioso de la América. Es una llaga pa-
la historia de su pais. con todos los in-
canos a las escuelas para establecer el
por el sector más lúcido de la población
ra el prestigio americano. Y Castro. no
gredientes martianos que esta liene
ingles como lengua oficial por ulumo
cubana. Ahi está la raiz del conflicto
se engañen. ha venido a representar ese
La maniobra que realizaron los ameri-
enviar maestros cubanos J Harvard para
Mientras los Richard Nuccios y los
dolor. Se ha elevado a la condición de
canos en Cuba desde el I de enero de
que vinicran J las eseucias J americant
Jim Hamptons estén hablando de impo-
símbolo.
1898 hasta el 20 de mavo de 1902 (Root
zar a los cubanos L. mentalidad de EM
nerle condiciones a Cuba (pasos calibra-
y Wood) para escamotearle a los cuba-
hu Root Leonardo Wixed. on 1899 cru
dos) tropezarán con un muro infran-
Luis Ortega es un penodista cubano radicado
nos los 30 años de lucha por la indepen-
en Miami
la misma que lienen has los Richard
queable. En la conciencia histórica del
El Presidente debe renunciar
Insatisfecho con columnista
El presidente Bill Clinton. debe
predicar y ensenar la moral la
Quien por ene medio. expresar
los latinos no necesitamos que
menos de Puerto Rico. que di-
seguir el ejemplo del congresista
decencia Lambien olvidan su res
mi insalistaccion por los esentos
los anglos nos quicran, pero si
cho sea de paso fue cl sainete
Bob Livingston y renunciar. 0 cl
ponsabilidad Nosotros tenemos
de Mantere Aree Es mas sensa-
Senado debe enjuiciarlo V desti-
que nos respeten. No tengo la
más hablado. comentado y repu-
que darie gracias a Dios porque
to reconder. que somos huos de
tuirio de la Presidencia Con su
mas mínima intención de pole-
diado tanto en Puerto Rico como
hay unos pocos de politicos que
una patria invadida. pretender
mizar con la hermana Mantere.
hipocresia V su falta de temor a
en la diáspora: el mal llamado
sin importarte la opinion del PO
Dios. Bill Clinton coge una Biblia
ciercer de Yankee por posser
pero consideramos saludable
blico estan
plebiscito de Pedro Rossello got
una ciuda-
debajo de sus brazos. se va a una
dispuestos J
aclarar algunas cosas que ella
hernador colonial de Puerto Ri-
PIDO LA PALABRA
dania im.
iglesia a hotar lagnmas. mientras
tomar decrease
pasa por alto al refenrse a nues-
co. donde el puchlo emitio su
que por el otro lado. faltando todo
siones NC.
puesta CS
tros pucblos. sin analizar con
sufragio en contra de la anexion
respeto a Dios V su Santa Palabra.
nas honestas no N° tavan las
algo un po-
protundidad el "mogollo" politi-
y cicipaveria de los incondicio-
firma la ley del aborto parcial.
... absurdo
manos como Priatos por miedo J
CO de la patria del maestro Albi-
nales a Washington
convirtiendose asi en el Herodes
Nada tenemos en contra de la
perder NOS posiciones
zu. Cuesta trabajo hacer este upo
Por último quisiera aclararle a
de nuestros tiempos cuando envia
Como previdente de la Organi
emigrae ni dc los que por ne.
de critica. primero, porque no
la amiga Mantere que en Cuba.
V firma la ley para que maten a
zacion de Ministros Hispanos de
cesidad adquiren la "ciudadama
queremos enfadar a nadic y se-
el dia de Navidad luc sacado del
los niños de aquel entonces
New York estate organizando
Yankee Una cosa CN la impost-
gundo porque se corre el nesgo
calendario oficial de dias teria-
Mientras que los politicos de
motivando el cuerpo Ministros
cion otra la adquisicion No
que no se ic publique a uno por
dos. pero no se Ic prohibio al
hoy dia al igual que Poncio Pila-
Hispanos de is Crudad en 100
solo en Puerio Rico se lienen las
diferir con quien liene la ventaja
pueblo festejar. el que diga to
tos toman encuestas. y al ver que
proximos dias naremos una de
malcias preparadas para venir a
y la facilidad de los medios.
contrario. es ignorante de la ver-
la mayoria de la nacion desea per-
mostracion public de repudion al
este pars
aunque sabemos que esa no es la
dad 0 lo hace por complacer a
donar los crimenes de Barrabas y
Presidente
Esto sucede donde quiera que
regla en el diario
alguien
crucificar a Jesucristo, y mientras
existan necesidades Pero nadic
En el articulo. "La novela real
aun muchos ministros del evan.
Rev. Ruben Dhaz
en su sano juicio puede preten-
que lue el 1988". Maritere nos
Franklin Flores Silva
gelio que su trabajo y deber es
Bronx N
der ser algo que no es. nosotros
narra escenas de todo el mundo
Nueva York. N.Y.
REDACCION/No.
-
Learnes -
a resp
- R. Reves
Justs Sencher
Markers After
Educas Late
Deportes/Spon
Are ultera/Ant and Culture
Asst de la Directora/A or ... the Estent
A te jamd re Manel
( artes juice That
Reginalds Atomay
Juan M. Mender
Material
Subtities for/Managing
tax
munidad -
Opinition Puge
Laun Americ Purse
13/el diariora PRENSA. MIERCOLES 6 DE ENERO DE 1999
NUESTROS PAISES
Analizarán anuncio de EEUU sobre el bloqueo
AFP/La Habana
tada en octubre pasado por congre-
a todos los países del mundo.
dad personal e individual, atenta-
El gobierno de Cuba
sistas que reclamaban la creación
Dijo que en naciones occidenta-
dos contra lo que debía de ser una
analizará oportuna-
de una comisión para reexaminar
les se promocionan mucho los de-
convivencia pacífica de los ciuda-
mente las medidas
la política de Estados Unidos hacia
rechos políticos, olvidando otros
danos.
anunciadas ayer martes en Was-
Cuba, proyecto que era seguido
contenidos también en la Carta
Añadió que en Cuba, como en
hington que flexibilizan el bloqueo
con interés en La Habana.
Universal, los que se han cumpli-
Portugal, España o Italia pueden
económico sobre la isla, señaló la
do y se están respetando en Cuba
producirse violaciones aisladas,
Cancillería cubana.
Habla Premio Nobel
mucho más que en países desarro-
pues no hay dirigentes santifica-
Alejandro González, vocero de
El premio Nobel de Literatura, el
llados, supuestamente cultos, su-
dos. no hay políticas celestiales,
la Cancillería, dijo a la prensa que
portugués José Saramago, afirmó
puestamente civilizados y supues-
hay lo que hay y la realidad es la
que analizaremos oportunamente
tamente demócratas.
(la decisión estadounidense), no
ayer martes en La Habana que nin-
que es.
El novelista comunista, que par-
Al hablar sobre democracia, Sa-
voy a adelantar ninguna reacción
gún país del mundo es un templo
ticipó en un taller sobre Cultura y
ramago dijo que en el mundo se
por el momento.
de respeto de los derechos huma-
revolución a 40 años de 1959 que
está produciendo un proceso de
Las nuevas disposiciones facili-
nos, pero que en Cuba se observan
concluyó en la fecha, con la pre-
globalización que es fundamental-
tan el envío de dinero a Cuba des-
algunos de esos principios más
sencia de un numeroso grupo de
mente económico, que hace impo-
de Estados Unidos, incrementan
que en países desarrollados y de-
intelectuales de izquierda iberoa-
sible ejercer la democracia por fal-
los vuelos directos de pasajeros,
mócratas.
mericanos.
ta de control político ciudadano.
buscan restablecer el correo hacia
AI aclarar unas declaracio-
Saramago aclaró a la prensa
"El control de la economía está
la isla y permiten intercambios
nes a una emisora radial portu-
que al decir que ningún país es una
fuera del control político de los
culturales, científicos y deportivos.
guesa en diciembre pasado,
excepción, eso tiene que ver con
ciudadanos, mientras que eso no
Pero la Casa Blanca rechazó
afirmó que él no particularizó
atentados contra los derechos hu-
se resuelva, es imposible hablar de
una propuesta bipartidista presen-
sobre Cuba, sino que se refirió
manos, atentado contra la seguri-
democracia", indicó.
7
Pág. 4-A DIARIO LAS AMERICAS MIERCOLES DE
DIARIO LASAMÉRICAS
(ISSN-0744-3234)
Published daily except Mondays. New Year Dav.Good Friday Memorial Dav
Fourth of July, Labor Day. Thanksgrving and Christmas
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HORACIO AGUIRRE
ALEJANDRO J.AGUIRRE
Vicepresidente. Director Y Gerente
Subdirector
Washington's New Measures Will
HELEN AGUIRRE FERRF
Directors de las Páginas de Optation
Ease the Embargo Against Castro
Periodicals Postage Paid at Miami. Fla. 33152
Mall subscriptions outside Miami by mail
Yearly 3111 SIX months $55.50 three months $27.75
POSTMASTER Send address changes to Diano Las Americas
The Cuban exile reacted strongly against a proposed bi-
P.O. Box 593177. Miami Fla 33159
partisan commission that would "review" American policy
toward the totalitarian dictatorship of Fidel Castro because
Miércoles 6 de Enero de 1999
it considered that there existed the danger that such a com-
mission would lead to a number of moves favorable to that
dictatorship. Now, the Administration has said officially that
there will be no such commission. but is approving a number
Las Nuevas Medidas de Washington
of measures that are extremely alarming and dangerous
for the democratic future of the Cuban people. Those meas-
Debilitan el Embargo Contra Castro
ures will be -speaking in general- the same that would
be proposed by the mentioned commission based on the
criteria of its members who, although belonging to both
Sobre la base de que la proyectada V llamada Comisión
parties. coincide in many things that, wittingly or unwit-
Bipartidista tenía por objeto "revisar" la política de los Es-
tingly, would favor the Castro dictatorship.
tados Unidos con respecto a la dictadura totalitaria de Fidel
In other words. the threat of a reviewing commission has
Castro, hubo justificadamente un rechazo del exilio cubano
disappeared. at least for the time being. But what has emerged
por considerar que era un peligro que de esa Comisión
is very much like what that group would have recommended
surgiesen una serie de fórmulas favorables a dicha dicta-
and that ultimately favors Castro. The measures that the Amer-
dura. Ahora se ha dicho oficialmente por el gobierno de
ican government is about to approve would make the embargo
Washington que no se le da respaldo a esa iniciativa de
against the Havana communist regime inoperative in many
una comisión revisora, pero se aprueban una serie de me-
aspects. These measures will benefit the Cuban people only
didas sumamente alarmantes y peligrosas para el futuro
to the extent that Fidel Castro specifically decides will be
democrático del pueblo de Cuba. Esas medidas serán
good for him. since he is the one who actually controls every-
hablando en términos generales- las que propondría la tan-
thing in Cuba.
tas veces mencionada Comisión, de acuerdo con el criterio
de sus integrantes 0 proponentes que, siendo de ambos par-
The idea that a comfortable economic situation in the country
tidos, coinciden en muchos puntos de vista que, queriéndolo
will hurt Castro is not warranted by the experience in Cuba
o no queriéndolo. favorecerian a la dictadura de Castro.
and in other countries of the world. A good economic situation
strengthens the governments. specially dictatorships. with the
Es decir. la amenaza de la Comisión Revisora ha desa-
exceptions that confirm the rule. Exceptions determined with
parecido. al menos en estos momentos. Pero ha surgido
the help of a strong international communist conspiracy. as
algo que es lo que sustituye lo que en favor de Castro habría
happened in Cuba and Nicaragua. Important foreign investors
propuesto ese grupo. Las medidas que va a aprobar el go-
are the first ones to have a fundamental interest in the "sta-
bierno harán casi inoperante en muchos aspectos el embargo
bility" of the country based on a strong government that guar-
económico -que día a día se ha venido debilitando- de parte
antees their investments in line with what the capitalist has
del gobierno de Washington contra el régimen comunista
agreed upon with the regime. Therefore. the thought that large
de La Habana. Esas medidas favorecerán al pueblo cubano
business concerns will in one way or another encourage dis-
en lo que específicamente convenga y decida Fidel Castro
comformity and possible rebellion against the dictatorship is
que es el que en último análisis controla. en el teatro de
simply a pipe dream. Furthermore. those who work for the
las operaciones. todos estos casos.
foreign investors are employed by the Cuban government
which determines how much they are paid and in what cur-
El criterio de que el supuesto bienestar económico en el
rency. The dictatorship receives dollars and pays them low
país va a perjudicar a Castro. no hace juego con las expe-
salaries in Cuban currency.
riencias de Cuba y de otros países del mundo. Una buena
situación económica fortalece la posición de los gobiernos,
The list of reported "changes" includes the authorization
especialmente de las dictaduras. salvo las excepciones que
for any American citizen to send $1,200 a year to anyone
confirman la regla. Excepciones determinadas por la avuda
in Cuba -family or not- "except to senior Communist offi-
de una fuerte conspiración comunista internacional. como
cials". a measure that is very strange, perhaps unprece-
fueron los casos de Cuba y Nicaragua. Los grandes inver-
dented in other countries. That additional money that Cuba
sionistas 0 inversores extranjeros son los primeros en tener
will receive will make the totalitarian State wealthier
un interés fundamental en que hava "estabilidad" en el país
through taxes or currency exchange rates. And the other
a base de un gobierno fuerte que les garantice sus inver-
measures are along those same lines...
siones de acuerdo con lo que ha pactado el capitalista con
el régimen. Por consiguiente, eso de creer que las grandes
empresas en una u otra forma van a alentar la disconfor-
midad y posible rebeldía contra la dictadura es una simple
ilusión. Además. los que trabajan para esos inversores son
contratados por el gobierno cubano que es el que decide
la cantidad que se paga y la moneda que se usa. La dictadura
recibe dólares y les paga salarios bajos en moneda cubana.
La lista que hasta el momento se ha dado de los "cambios"
incluye la autorización para que cualquier ciudadano esta-
dounidense pueda enviar a cualquier persona en Cuba -de
su familia 0 no- "excepto a altos funcionarios comunistas"
hasta la cantidad de mil doscientos dólares al año, algo
que es sumamente raro, posiblemente sin precedente en
otros países. Ese dinero adicional que llegue a Cuba enri-
quecerá al Estado totalitario a través de impuestos o del
tipo de cambio con respecto a la moneda nacional. Y las
otras medidas son por el estilo..
DIARIO LADAMERICAS
Edición Electrónica Miami, Florida
Visto en Más de 50 Países Del Mundo
Edición del Martes, 5 de Diciembre, 1999
EE.UU.: más vuelos, y
más dinero para Cuba
Washington busca aumentar contactos entre EE.UU y Cuba al margen del gobierno
Por ARIEL REMOS
Aumentar las remesas
del gobierno).
Autorizar vuelos de pasaje-
permitiendo a cualquier
ros a otras ciudades además de
Tal como informamos en nues-
residente en EE.UU. (no
Expandir el contacto
La Habana, desde otras ciuda-
tra edición de ayer, el Presidente
solamente a los que tie-
de dos vías de persona
des de EE.UU. además de Mia-
Clinton anunció este martesuna
nen familiares en Cuba)
a persona, a traves de in-
serie de medidas en relación con
mi, con el propósito de facilitar
enviar cantidades limita-
tercambios académicos,
Cuba, que complementan las
la reunificación familiar a per-
das tanto a familiares co-
atléticos, científicos,
sonas que no vivan en esas dos
que autorizó en marzo pasado
mo a organizaciones inde-
culturales y otros.
ciudades.
tras la visita del Papa a la Isla,
Diaz-Balart
pendientes del gobierno.
para aliviar la situación del pue-
(Actualmente SC pueden
Autorizar la venta de
Menéndez
Tratar de establecer el ser-
blo de Cuba sin beneficiar al go-
enviar a familiares en Cu-
Graham
alimentos y equipo agrí-
bierno, según la declaración presiden-
vicio de correos directo a Cuba,
ba $300 trimestrales 0 $1,200 año.
cola a entidades independientes
cial.
de acuerdo con la Ley Democracia de
Ahora podrá enviarse esa cantidad y po-
del gobierno, incluyendo a grupos reli-
1992 A la vez que la Casa Blanca emitió
siblemente se autorice a aumentarla, a
giosos y emergentes del sector privado,
la anterior declaración del Presidente
Las medidas anunciadas por el Presi-
cualquier persona no familiar, siempre
tales como restaurantes y campesinos
dente Clinton, son:
que no sea un funcionario o empleado
dueños de tierra.
(Pasa a la Pág. 10.A Col. 1)
Pág. 10-A DIARIO LAS AMERICAS MIERCOLES 0 DE ENERO DE 1999
EE.UU.: más vuelos y
más dinero para Cuba
(Viene de la pág. 1-A)
Clinton, la Secretaria de Estado,
que modificarla y no resolverla
Eizenstat hizo hincapié en que
The New York Times subraya
Madeleine Albright compareció
mediante una orden ejecutiva.
las medidas se tomaban en an-
en su edición de este martes
ante la prensa para dar a cono-
Dijo haber recomendado a la
cer con más detalles las nuevas
ticipación "al inevitable cambio
la coincidencia en la naturale-
secretaria de Estado Madelei-
a la democracia que sobreven-
za y la oportunidad del anuncio
medidas, y las razones por las
ne Albright revisar esa medi-
drá en Cuba cuando fallezca Cas-
de las medidas hecho por la Ad-
cuales se estaban tomando. Se-
da, que seguramente provoca-
ría una confrontación con el
tro, o quede incapacitado" y con-
ministración, con un informe
ñaló la Secretaria que no obs-
tribuirian a fortalecer la ayuda
del Consejo de Relaciones Ex-
tante las esperanzas
Congreso
que había sembrado
a su sufrido pueblo. Afirmó asi-
teriores (Council on Foreign
el viaje de Su Santi-
mismo que no respondian a ne-
Relations). en el que se propo-
Por su parte, el
dad Juan Pablo II a
congresista demó-
gociaciones con Cuba, sino que
nen medidas similares a las
estarian adoptadas unilateral-
anunciadas.
Cuba hace un año, el
crata por New Jer-
gobierno cubano no
mente por el gobierno estadou-
sey, Bob Menendez
ha mostrado el me-
nidense, con el propósito, por
se siente esceptico
El informe aboga. entre otras
nor interés en restau-
con el aumento de
otra parte, de fortalecer la so-
cosas, por aumentar los contac-
rar las libertades al
ciedad civil en desarrollo. tan
las ventas de ali-
tos entre ciudadanos de ambos
pueblo. "AI contra-
importante en una transición a
mentos y productos
paises; por eliminar el limite de
rio", dijo la Secreta-
la democracia.
agrícolas a Cuba,
viajes a Cuba y al dinero que se
ria, "las autoridades
por los beneficios
puede enviar a familiares; por
han sido sumamente
potenciales que po-
Un vocero del gobierno de Cu-
levantar la mayoría de las res-
fuertes en aplastar
Einzestat
drian representar al
ba declaró a la CNN sobre el
tricciones a la venta de alimen-
esfuerzos para expre-
gobierno de Castro.
anuncio que se iba a hacer, que
tos y medicinas y ayudar a or-
sar discrepancias 0 para movi-
"No quisiera que los alimèntos
la única medida de EE.UU. que
ganizaciones
no
lizar apoyo a los derechos hu-
enviados al pueblo de Cuba se-
aceptaría seria la del levanta-
gubernamentales a asistir al
manos".
an racionados por el régimen.
miento incondicional del embar-
pueblo de Cuba; por aminorar
La única organización no gu-
go.
las restricciones para que ven-
Además de las medidas anun-
bernamental (ONG) en Cuba
gan de Cuba a EE.UU. acadé-
ciadas por el Presidente Clinton,
es Caritas; no existen virtual-
El senador de más antigüedad
micos, artistas, atletas y funcio-
y la Secretaria Albright. el Sub-
mente otra organizaciones in-
de la Florida, demócrata Bob
narios del gobierno cubano. El
secretario de Estado Stuart Ei-
dependientes en la Isla capa-
Graham, dijo que las medidas to-
informe del CFR fue redactado
zenstat dijo a DIARIO LAS
ces de hacer tales compras.
madas por el gobierno nortea-
por Bernard W. Aronson y Wi-
AMERICAS que el gobierno nor-
Desde el momento en que estas
mericano son saludables y con-
lliam D. Rogers, este último uno
teamericano descartó la crea-
medidas no incluyen el aumen-
sistentes con las leyes actuales
de los proponentes de la comi-
ción de una comisión bipartidis-
to de elementos para forzar el
que rigen las relaciones entre
sión bipartidista que fue recha-
ta para revisar la política de
cumplimiento del embargo, la
EE.UU. y Cuba. Graham se unió
zada por Clinton.
EE.UU. hacia Cuba. La razón
posibilidad de ONG creadas
a los legisladores de la Florida
para ello. dijo. es que la política
por el gobierno para adquirir
V New Jersey que aplaudieron
norteamericana en relación con
esos alimentos. particular
la decisión de la Administración
The New York Times inicia su
Cuba es sana. clara y goza de
mente productos agricolas. es
Clinton, de no nombrar una co-
información sobre el anuncio di-
respaldo bipartidista".
muy real"
misión especial para revisar la
ciendo que "Estados Unidos está
politica hacia Cuba. Graham
listo para que más personas y
Informó asimismo que la Ad-
La Fundacion Nacional Cuba-
concluyo diciendo que "estas
más dinero afluyan a Cuba". Y
minsitración pedirá al Congeso
no Americana objeto tambien la
medidas sirven para separar al
esto naturalmente hace pregun-
aumente los fondos a Radio Mar-
idea de "vender" alimentos y
pueblo cubano del gobierno bru-
tarse a unos si las nuevas me-
ti y TV Marti. A Radio Marti por
equipo agricola a grupos no gu-
tal y autoritario".
didas debilitan 0 no el embargo,
la gran penetración que tienen
bernamentales mal llamados
y afirmar a otros, por un lado,
sus transmisiones a Cuba como
"negocios privados". ya que en
que se trata de maniobras que
fuente diaria de información cla-
Cuba no existen los negocios pri-
El congresista republicano
concluirán en confrontación con
ve al pueblo de la Isla, y a TV
vados, que son emblema del libre
por la Florida Lincoln Diaz-
el Congreso por parecerse cada
Martí para vencer la interferen-
mercado democrático. y lo que
Balart, había objetado previa-
vez mas a una normalización de
cia que mantiene el régimen de
sólo se refuerza con ello es la
mente que se permitiera la
relaciones con Cuba: y por el
Cuba para que no entre su señal
percepcion de que lo que mueve
venta y financiamiento de ali-
otro, que este aumento de con-
en Cuba.
la política exterior de EE.UU
mentos y productos agricolas
tacto y de afluencia de dinero
es la codicia y servir los inte-
entre particulares de aquí y de
ayudará, en efecto, a promover
Otra de las medidas autoriza-
reses corporativos.
allá, por violar claramente la
la democracia y el respeto a los
das de acuerdo con las anuncia-
ley del embargo, ya que habría
derechos humanos.
das por el Presidente. es la de
Para el sociólogo del Miami-
celebrar dos juegos de pelota de
Dade Community College. Dr
exhibición en marzo, uno en Cu-
Juan Clark, el conjunto de me-
ba y otro en EE.UU.. entre los
didas anunciadas por el gobier-
Orioles del Baltimore y una se-
no son una mezcia de querer
lección nacional cubana, cum-
quedar bien con la comunidad
pliendo ciertas condiciones. Es-
cubano-americana, y debilitar
ta medida ocupa el primer
por otro lado el embargo "Son.
cintillo del Washington Post de
como se dice. una de cal y otra
este martes.
de arena", dijo.
DIARIO AMERICAS
Cuba
Edición del 5 de Enero, 1999
Orioles de Baltimore
aún no quieren hacer
declaraciones sobre juego
de exhibición en Cuba
Declaraciones del Departamento de Estado
Por VIVIAN CRUCET
"Aún no podemos anunciar nada.
En cuanto podamos, le haremos sa-
La organización del equipo de
ber a la prensa", dijo Behan
pelota Orioles de Baltimore de
la Liga Americana Profesional
Sin embargo, funcionarios del
no emitió un comentario sobre
equipo Orioles han estado hablando
la propuesta del Departamento
con la Administración Clinton des-
de Estado de EE.UU. de que ju-
de 1995 para hacer posible estos par-
garan dos partidos de exhibición
tidos. Peter Angelos, propietario de
entre los orioles y la Selección
los Orioles es uno de los grandes
Nacional Cubana, ganadores de
contribuidores al Partido Demócra-
la medalla de oro olímpica, co-
ta. La gestión cesó con el derribo
mo parte de un nuevo tratado de
de las avionetas de Hermanos Al
relaciones con la Isla.
Rescate en febrero de 1996 por parte
de pilotos de la fuerza aérea cu-
Kevin Behan, vocero de infor-
bana.
macion pública para los Orioles,
en la oficina de Baltimore dijo
Al preguntársele la fuente de
que la organización emitiría sus
comentarios pronto.
(Pasa a la Pág. 10-A Col. 3)
Orioles de Baltimore aún no
quieren hacer declaraciones
sobre juego de exhibición en Cuba
(Viene de la pág. 1-A)
donde se habia derivado el es-
durante la temporada de exhi-
coger a los Orioles entre los 28
bición que comienza en marzo.
equipos profesionales en las Li-
Uno de los asuntos a tratar es
gas Nacional y Americana, Be-
que, como parte del embargo ha-
han dijo que sabía, pero no podía
cía Cuba, el gobierno de Fidel
decir nada. "Siento ser tan vago
Castro no se beneficie moneta-
en las respuestas, pero. aun no
riamente de estos partidos y que
podemos dar comentarios ni sa-
las ganancias monetarias de las
bemos cuando hablaremos con
ventas se destinen a organiza-
la prensa"
ciones o agencias de caridad que
a su vez ayudaran a ciudadanos
Por parte del Departamento de
cubanos.
Estado, se anunció que los Orio-
les y el equipo cubano jugarían
Al cierre de esta edición, la Se-
dos partidos de béisbol, uno en
creatria de Estado, Madeline
Cuba y otro y otro en la ciudad
Allbright, se encontraba hacien-
de Baltimore. La organización
do declaraciones específicas so-
de los Orioles ha recibido incluso
bre la nueva política de la Ad-
permiso de Washington para via-
ministración Clinton hacia Cuba
jar a La Habana a finales de esta
en la que se plantea el juego de
semana y discutir las posibilida-
béisbol.
des de llevar a cabo los partidos
Diario las Amelicas
5 de enero, 1999
Clinton
dice que
no
a
misión cubar
Aumentará la
Por LUIS MARIO
Se trata de la proposición que hicieron trece
Clinton se apresta a aumentar layayudara
ayuda para
senadores y tres ex secretarios de Estado, en-
las emisoras Radio y TV Marti querdesde
Según informa la oficina de la congresista
tre ellos Henry Kissinger, que estaría enca-
el territorio nacional transmiten hadia Gu-
Radio y TV
federal por la Florida, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
minada a revisar las medidas de Estados Uni-
ba y, finalmente, los viajes comerciales a
Marti y
la administración del presidente Bill Clin-
dos hacia el país caribeño dominado por el
ese país se ampliarán hacia otras/cludades
ton se apresta a informar este martes por
comunismo castrista. Había una gran preo-
además de La Habana, Con ellorse les ifa
ampliarán
la tarde sobre la decisión de no darle luz
cupación de que esa Comisión estaría enca-
cilita a los cubanos en el exterior que Visite
los vuelos
verde a la creación de una Comisión Bipar-
minada a beneficiar al gobierno castrista.
su país de origen. Estados Unidos permitira
tidista sobre Cuba, conocida como "Comi-
también el traspaso de fondos no guberna
comerciales a
sión Warren", que estaría encaminada a re-
Entre otras decisiones que se informarán
mentales desde este país hacia organiza
otras ciudades
visar la política de Estados Unidos hacia
oportunamente el martes, también se dará
ciones no gubernamentales dentro de Cuba
el gobierno de Fidel Castro.
a conocer que el gobierno del presidente
cubanas
El Nuevo Herald Digital: Primera Plana
Page 1 of 2
Actualizado a las 4:19 p.m., hora del este, el lunes, 4 de enero de 1999
Casa Blanca rechazó crear comisión para
revisar política hacia Cuba
WASHINGTON, Ene 4 (AFP) La Casa Blanca rechazó la
propuesta de crear una comisión destinada a revisar la política de
Estados Unidos hacia Cuba y Washington se dispone a anunciar en
cambio una serie de medidas para favorecer los contactos con la isla,
indicaron este lunes fuentes del Congreso.
La creación de esa comisión implicaba un cuestionamiento del
embargo aplicado por Estados Unidos a la isla desde hace casi
cuatro décadas.
Varios influyentes senadores republicanos y demócratas, apoyados
por los ex secretarios de Estado republicanos Henry Kissinger y
Laurence Eagleburger, habían recomendado su creación en octubre
pasado.
Su objetivo sería ``conducir un análisis objetivo, reflexivo y racional
de la política estadounidense actual hacia Cuba y sus consecuencias
sobre el resto del continente", según los autores de la propuesta.
El Gobierno del presidente Bill Clinton descartó esa opción pero
decidió en cambio adoptar una serie de medidas hacia Cuba dentro
del estrecho margen que le permiten las leyes norteamericanas,
indicaron las fuentes del Congreso.
"La decisión de no crear la comisión es una buena noticia, pero
necesitamos saber más detalles sobre estas nuevas iniciativas, para
asegurarnos de que verdaderamente ayudarán al pueblo de Cuba, y
no al tirano", dijo a la AFP Juan Cortiñas, portavoz de la
representante republicana Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Florida).
Según las fuentes, a pesar de rechazar la propuesta, el Departamento
de Estado se dispone a anunciar una serie de medidas para
incrementar los contactos con el pueblo de Cuba, en particular a
través del envío de más alimentos y de una expansión de vuelos
desde Miami a La Habana y también a otras ciudades de la isla.
Se anunciará además un incremento de los servicios de correo hacia
Cuba, así como nuevos esfuerzos para impulsar el respeto de los
derechos humanos en la isla y un aumento de los fondos destinados
a Radio y TV Martí, emisoras anticastristas financiadas por el
Gobierno norteamericano que transmiten sus programas desde
Miami.
Los congresistas norteamericanos del sector anticastrista se
opusieron en bloque a la eventual creación de la comisión,
afirmando que la misma estaría integrada por cabilderos de grandes
empresas que buscan levantar el embargo y negociar con Castro.
En noviembre pasado, la secretaria de Estado norteamericana,
http://www.elherald.com/docs/080412.htm
1/4/99
El Nuevo Herald Digital: Primera Plana
Page 2 of 2
Madeleine Albright, se entrevistó con tres legisladores opuestos a la
comisión para intercambiar ideas, entre ellos Ros-Lehtinen.
Asistieron además a la reunión el demócrata Robert Menéndez, de
Nueva Jersey, y el representante republicano Lincoln Díaz-Balart, de
Florida.
Los partidarios de la comisión estimaban en cambio que ésta debería
ser creada siguiendo el modelo de la ``comisión Kissinger" sobre
América Central, establecida por el presidente Ronald Reagan en
1983 para poner fin a los conflictos en la región.
La política estadounidense hacia Cuba no ha sido revisada desde la
instrumentación del embargo contra la isla en 1962, reforzado por la
ley Helms-Burton, aprobada en 1996.
Una buena parte de la opinión pública estadounidense y medios
empresariales denuncian regularmente las consecuencias del
embargo, mientras que en el plano internacional, el aislamiento de
Estados Unidos hacia Cuba se hace cada año más patente.
Copyright © 1999 El Nuevo Herald
Contactos
http://www.elherald.com/docs/080412.htm
1/4/99
Lawmakers oppose
any study of easing
sanctions on Cuba
By Anthony Boadle
whether a bipartisan commission
Reuters
could promote U.S. goals of protect-
ing human rights and helping demo-
WASHINGTON - Three Cuban-
cratic change on the island.
American members of Congress met
The 15 senators, led by John
with Secretary of State Madeleine
Warner, R-Va., said in their Oct. 13
Albright on Tuesday in a bid to head
letter to Clinton that many Ameri-
off a proposal they say could bring
cans are concerned about the effects
closer ties with Cuba and ease 36
of Washington's Cuba policy on U.S.
years of economic sanctions.
interests and on the Cuban people.
"The Clinton administration would
The senators, mostly from farm-
be sending (Cuban President) Fidel
ing states, include such conservative
Castro a very nice Christmas pre-
Republicans as Rick Santorum of
sent, one he does not deserve, if it
Pennsylvania and Chuck Hagel of
creates this commission," Rep.
Nebraska.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said af-
Another six senators have signed
ter almost an hour with Albright.
on to the proposal since the letter to
The idea was proposed by 15 sena-
Clinton, including Richard Lugar, R-
tors, mostly Republicans, who wrote
Ind., chairman of the Agriculture
to President Clinton a month ago sug-
Committee and a leading advocate
gesting a bipartisan national com-
of changing U.S. sanctions policies.
mission to review sanctions against
The senators said in the letter the
Castro's island state.
commission should include repre-
Three former secretaries of Signe-
sentatives of the U.S. business com-
in Republican administrations -
munity, human rights groups, the
Henry Kissinger, George Shultz and
military, churches and the Cuban-
Lawrence Eagleburger - backed
American community.
the idea.
Many Cuban-Americans staunchly
"They are seeking nothing more
oppose any relaxation of the U.S. em-
and nothing less than to end the eco-
bargo against Cuba.
nomic sanctions against Castro,"
But critics say it is a Cold War relic
Ros-Lehtinen said.
that has failed to oust Castro and
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.,
needs reviewing.
said the policy review was being
urged mainly by U.S. agricultural
and pharmaceutical firms and oth-
ers wanting trade with Cuba.
Diaz-Balart, who is related to Cas-
tro, said U.S. laws since 1962 have
banned lifting the economic sanc-
tions until Cuba frees its political
prisoners, legalizes political parties
and labor unions and schedules dem-
ocratic elections.
Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the
only Democrat among the three Cu-
ban-American lawmakers, said Al-
bright assured them the administra-
tion had not made up its mind.
But State Department spokesman
James Rubin said the proposal has
"some merit."
"We are giving every consider-
ation to this proposal, which is
backed by a sizable group of senators
and former senior officials," Rubin
said. "We are considering questions,
such as the composition and man-
date of the commission."
Given Cuba's reluctance to under-
take political reforms, Rubin said,
the State Department was looking at
USA TODAY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1998
By Jill Lawrence
wonders if even a Bush or a McCain
USA TODAY
could tame a backlash some Republi-
cans privately term devastating.
NEW ORLEANS - California
Private research shows nearly
Gov. Pete Wilson is leaving his state
eight in 10 Hispanics in California
sound and for the most part satisfied.
have a negative impression of Wil-
But his legacy to the Republican Par-
son. He is not, however, the only rea-
ty is something else again.
son the GOP is often perceived as
Wilson rode to a second-term vic-
anti-immigrant. Among the others:
tory in 1994 as the champion of a
Protectionism and walling off
proposal to deny government ser-
the
Mexican border were hallmarks
vicesto illegal immigrants, including
of commentator Pat Buchanan's
education for their children. The Cal-
1992 and 1996 presidential bids.
ifernia GOP, and to some extent the
Mixed messages to Hispanics
In 1996 the party endorsed a
national party, have yet to recover
constitutional amendment ending
from the consequences.
automatic citizenship for children of
"Ever since then they've turned
illegals born in the USA.
off Latino voters," says Mark
Rep. Bob Dornan, R-Calif.,
DiCamillo, director of the nonparti-
charged that stolen votes gave Dem-
exposes Republican rift
san Field Insti-
ocrat Loretta Sanchez her 1996 vic-
tute Poll. "You
tory and forced a fraud investigation
can see it in
that alienated Hispanics.
their registra-
"The Republican Party has a face
tion numbers
of intolerance," acknowledges GOP
and you can
analyst Leslie Goodman, former
see it in every
deputy chief of staff for Wilson. How-
subsequent
election."
ever, she says it's born of GOP stands
Wilson de-
on social issues such as abortion and
fended his re-
equal rights for gays - and that Wil-
cord and did
son "embodies tolerance" because
AP
Wilson: 'Turned
not rule out a
he supports legal abortion.
off Hispanic voters
second run for
Wilson said he has taken princi-
the presidency
pled stands on difficult issues. In the
in an interview last week at the Re-
case of Proposition 187, he said, tax-
publican Governors' Association
payers were footing a $3 billion an-
meeting in New Orleans. He accused
nual bill for services to illegal immi-
California Democrats of "a con-
grants. "You have to recognize real
scious, deliberate campaign of well-
problems and deal with them. By
poisoning" to turn Hispanics against
ducking them you avoid the respon-
Republicans, and said he felt "damn
sibility of leadership," he said.
good" about decisions he's made as
Some observers see more oppor-
governor.
tunism than leadership in his actions.
Yet all around Wilson were signs
Virginia Muller, a political scientist
of his party moving in a different di-
at the University of San Diego, said
rection. Governors and lawmakers
the California economy was shaky in
talked of diversity and inclusion. Mi-
1994 and voters were anxious about
nority politicians were showcased.
people they perceived as costing
Rising stars boasted of their appeal
money and taking away jobs: "Wil-
to Hispanic voters.
son understood that resentment and
The leading Republican presiden-
fear and articulated an anti-immi-
tial prospect, Texas Gov. George W.
grant agenda."
Bush, drew nearly half the Hispanic
Still, Wilson is rated a good gover-
vote in his election sweep this month,
one exit poll showed. "It's very im-
nor who improved education, re-
portant for the Republican Party not
duced crime and presided over a
to be seen as anti-Hispanic," Bush
boom economy. A recent poll found
70% of Californians think the state is
said in an interview last spring. He
said he and Wilson "disagree on edu-
headed in the right direction.
cating the children" of illegals.
That is why associates fully expect
a man who mounted a short, discour-
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, anoth-
er potential White House candidate,
aging campaign in 1996, and now
got more than half the Hispanic vote
finds himself a symbol of much his
last month, an exit poll found. He
party wants to disavow, to explore
called the GOP showing among His-
another national race. "I can't imag-
USA TODAY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1998
ine that he wouldn't," Goodman said.
panics in California "disastrous.".
Many analysts trace the decline to
"You don't know unless you try."
1994 and Proposition 187, the propos-
al to end services to illegal immi-
grants. Wilson later reinforced the
image by pushing to end affirmative
action and bilingual education.
GOP natorial candidate Dan
Langren opposed the anti-bilingual
plan and had, his Spanish-speaking
wife make ads for him Still, he got
only willispanic votes and Sen-
ate candidate Matt Fong drew 23%.
The trend dims the party's national
prospects as well. In 1996, GOP presi-
dential nominee Bob Dole attracted
just 21% of the Hispanic vote in Cali-
fornia. DiCamillo estimates the
newest Hispanic voters in the state
are registering 5-to-1 Democratic and
01/26/99 TUE 06:12 FAX
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Nominee
for envoy
job quietly
agents had sensitized her to future
contacts that might involve Cuban
influence.
bowed out
According to the officials, Miss
Aponte said she had no evidence
test after some of her answers to
Mr. Tamayo was a Cuban agent,
the FBI's questions showed minor
but told him after the FBI inquiries
inconsistencies, the officials said.
that she wanted no further con-
Reports surfaced
The FBI questioning began a
tacts with his "friends" in the Cu-
short time after a 1993 story in Mi-
ban Interests Section in Washing-
of link to Cuba
ami's Diario Las Americas news-
ton.
paper reported that a Cuban intel-
Mr. Tamayo's regular contacts
ligence officer had defected and
with the FBI apparently allayed
By Bill Gertz
revealed how the DGI was plan-
Miss Aponte's concerns about any
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
ning to target Miss Aponte at the
ties to Cuban intelligence. How-
White House for recruitment.
ever, Miss Aponte said she had sus-
President Clinton's nominee for
The FBI believed Miss Aponte
picions about Mr. Tamayo's intelli-
ambassador to the Dominican Re-
was targeted because of her close
gence connections after she was
public quietly withdrew last fall
personal relationship from 1986 to
contacted by the FBI in late 1993.
amid questions about a Cuban in-
1994 with Roberto Tamayo, a
She arranged a meeting between
telligence scheme to recruit her as
Cuban-American with close ties to
Mr. Tamayo and FBI agents inves-
a spy within the White House.
Cuban government and intelli-
tigating the spy recruitment effort,
Mari Carmen Aponte, a His-
gence officials. Miss Aponte broke
the officials said.
panic community activist who
off her relationship with Mr.
Miss Aponte said she confronted
helped raise funds for Mr. Clinton
Tamayo after he traveled to Cuba
Mr. Tamayo about the ties to Cuban
and the Democratic National Com-
in 1994.
mittee in 1996, withdrew her
intelligence and he denied any re-
White House National Security
nomination in October after prob-
lationship with the Castro govern-
Council spokesman David Leavy
ment, the officials said.
lems surfaced relating to her past
said Miss Aponte withdrew her
Retired FBI Agent Ed Joyce said
relationship with a Cuban-Amer-
nomination Oct. 25, six months
ican who the FBI said had close
that while working as a counterspy
after the president nominated her,
ties to Cuba's intelligence service.
he questioned Mr. Tamayo reg-
for "personal reasons." He de-
ularly about his contacts with
The president is still consider-
clined to comment when asked
Cuban officials in Cuba and at
ing Miss Aponte for a position on
about any Cuban spying scheme.
Havana's Interests Section in
the Federal Housing Finance
"There is still a strong belief
Washington during the late 1980s.
Board, a regulatory agency. The
within the administration that she
But he said he did not believe
post also requires Senate confir-
could be an asset and a productive
Mr. Tamayo was a professionally
mation.
public servant in the future," Mr.
trained intelligence officer work-
While working as a volunteer in
Leavy said.
ing for the DGI.
the White House Personnel Office
Miss Aponte, a lawyer who
in November 1993, Miss Aponte
helped raise funds in the Hispanic
"Roberto was a fellow who had
was questioned by FBI agents
community for the Clinton cam-
interests in all camps," Mr. Joyce
about a plot by agents of the Cuban
paign in 1996, could not be reached
said. Mr. Joyce said "the Cubans
intelligence service, known as the
for comment. A woman who an-
knew Roberto was talking to me"
DGI, to recruit her as a spy. ac-
swered the telephone at her resi-
and he was wary of doing anything
cording to officials who spoke on
dence said Miss Aponte was in Ar-
that would anger the Cuban gDV-
the condition of anonymity.
gentina and could not be reached.
ernment and prevent him from
Mr. Tamayo also could not be
making visits to the island.
One State Department official
said Miss Aponte had trouble re-
reached for comment.
The former FBI agent said Mr.
ceiving a top-secret security clear-
Miss Aponte's withdrawal from
Tamayo was a valuable source of
ance required for the diplomatic
consideration for the Dominican
information about some of the per-
post because of questions about
Republic post came after she was
sonalities within the Cuban Inter-
her reliability. But a department
questioned by the Senate Foreign
ests Section in Washington and
spokesman said she eventually re-
Relations Committee about her
that he assumed Mr. Tamayo spoke
ceived the clearance as part of the
contacts with Cuban government
to Cuban agents about his conver-
nomination screening process.
employees or agents.
sations with the FBI. "I was getting
Miss Aponte has denied know-
She told the panel that her expe-
information that I couldn't get
ing about the recruitment effort.
rience with Mr. Tamayo and Cuban
other places," Mr. Joyce said.
However, in April 1994 she refused
FBI requests to take a polygraph
The Washington Times
MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1999