16 April 2003
USAID Official Says Agency Will Continue to Assist Cuba's People
(On Capitol Hill, USAID's Karen Harbert describes outreach efforts)
(2010)
Although "many millions of people in another part of the world" have
now been released from the grip of a brutal dictatorship, "the Cuban
people are not yet free," says Karen Harbert, the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) deputy assistant administrator for
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Testifying April 16 before the U.S. House of Representatives'
Committee on International Relations, Harbert condemned the recent
"mass arrests and summary executions" of Cuban dissidents carried out
by the regime of Cuba's President Fidel Castro.
"One hundred peaceful Cuban citizens with courageous conviction that
freedom of thought and expression are fundamental human rights have
been charged as a threat to the regime," she noted. "Seventy-five now
face extended prison terms, while three others who sought a better
life elsewhere were executed by a firing squad at dawn. The Castro
regime defended these barbaric measures as necessary to protect
national security."
While President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, other prominent
figures, and numerous international organizations "have joined their
voices in collective denunciation" of Castro's actions, "denunciations
are not enough," Harbert said. Therefore, USAID, "through its Cuba
Program, pledges increased effort and support" to Cubans who are
trying to encourage democratic change and respect for human rights in
their country, she explained.
For several years, USAID has funded action programs "to build
solidarity with Cuba's human rights activists, give voice to Cuba's
independent journalists, help develop Cuba's independent libraries,
defend the rights of Cuban workers, and provide direct outreach to the
Cuban people," Harbert told legislators, adding: "These programs are
overt and transparent, as witnessed by our presence here today."
In accordance with President Bush's Initiative for a New Cuba, which
aims to "accelerate freedom's progress in Cuba in every way possible"
and to "offer scholarships in the United States for Cuban students and
professionals who try to build independent civil institutions in Cuba,
and scholarships for family members of political prisoners," USAID
officials "will strengthen our current efforts in support of Cuba's
human rights activists, independent journalists, independent
librarians, [and] independent labor unions, and to bring hope and
information to the Cuban people," Harbert said. She also pointed out
that USAID has "designed a scholarship program to make real the
president's vision for providing an educational leg-up for Cubans."
Since 1996, Cuba's human rights activists have developed national and
international networks "to press the Cuban regime for democratic
change," she observed. "The Castro regime's latest crackdown,
imprisoning scores of these activists, sought to silence the growing
call for change. But the regime cannot silence the Cuban people,
because thousands of new voices throughout the island now call for
democratic change, and their numbers are increasing every day."
In its attempts to stifle freedom of thought, "the Castro regime has
confiscated books, newsletters, videocassettes, video recorders,
laptop computers, short-wave radios and other materials the Cuban
people need to obtain independent information," Harbert said. She then
posed two rhetorical questions: "Why is the regime afraid of a
short-wave radio? What does it want to hide from the Cuban people?"
These actions by the Castro regime clearly demonstrate that "they are
desperate and afraid," Harbert concluded. Yet the regime "is gradually
losing its grip on the Cuban people," she said. "Some day soon, this
regime will end. It will end because the Cuban people will, with a
united voice, demand democratic change."
In the meantime, "we [at USAID] pledge to increase our efforts to
promote that change, as rapidly and as peacefully as the future
permits," Harbert said.
(begin text)
TESTIMONY OF KAREN A. HARBERT, USAID DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR
FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
FULL COMMITTEE HEARING ON CUBA
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 16, 2003
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify at
this important hearing on behalf of USAID. As you know, Assistant
Administrator Adolfo Franco wishes he could be here today. These are
historic times, when many millions of people in another part of the
world -- long subject to dictatorship -- have begun to taste the
fruits of freedom.
However, the Cuban people are not yet free. The latest Castro regime
atrocities against the Cuban people -- the mass arrests and summary
executions -- have awakened the consciousness of free people
everywhere. One hundred peaceful Cuban citizens with courageous
conviction that freedom of thought and expression are fundamental
human rights have been charged as a threat to the regime. Seventy-five
now face extended prison terms, while three others who sought a better
life elsewhere were executed by a firing squad at dawn. The Castro
regime defended these barbaric measures as necessary to protect
national security.
President George Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, USAID
Administrator Andrew Natsios, the U.S. Chief of Mission in Havana, Jim
Cason, and scores of U.S. political luminaries have all denounced, in
the strongest terms, these outrageous actions.
The European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,
international labor unions, Nobel Prize laureates, and newspapers
around the world have joined their voices in collective denunciation.
But denunciations are not enough. As President Bush has said, we must
greatly increase our efforts to promote a rapid, peaceful transition
to democracy in Cuba. The U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), through its Cuba Program, pledges increased effort and
support to these vital voices of freedom.
Authorized by Section 109 of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic
Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996, USAID has funded action programs --
by U.S. universities and non-governmental organizations -- to build
solidarity with Cuba's human rights activists, give voice to Cuba's
independent journalists, help develop Cuba's independent libraries,
defend the rights of Cuban workers, and provide direct outreach to the
Cuban people. These programs are overt and transparent, as witnessed
by our presence here today.
Since our first grant to Freedom House in the summer of 1996, USAID
has taken seriously the charge to promote a peaceful transition to
democracy in Cuba, by increasing the flow of accurate information on
democracy, human rights, and free enterprise to, from, and within the
island. These programs give voice and strength to the repressed and
provide moral support to the courageous.
On May 20th of last year, President Bush announced his Initiative for
a New Cuba. The president said, "Our plan is to accelerate freedom's
progress in Cuba in every way possible, just as the United States and
our democratic friends and allies did successfully in places like
Poland, or in South Africa ...." The president also said: "Our
government will offer scholarships in the United States for Cuban
students and professionals who try to build independent civil
institutions in Cuba, and scholarships for family members of political
prisoners ...."
USAID is proud to be part of this effort. Just as we did in Poland,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Chile, Nicaragua and elsewhere
-- we will strengthen our current efforts in support of Cuba's human
rights activists, independent journalists, independent librarians,
[and] independent labor unions, and to bring hope and information to
the Cuban people. We also have designed a scholarship program to make
real the president's vision for providing an educational leg-up for
Cubans, as articulated in his Initiative for a New Cuba. We will be
announcing that program in the coming weeks.
Over the past seven years, Cuba's human rights activists have
developed national and international-level networks to press the Cuban
regime for democratic change. The Castro regime's latest crackdown,
imprisoning scores of these activists, sought to silence the growing
call for change. But the regime cannot silence the Cuban people,
because thousands of new voices throughout the island now call for
democratic change, and their numbers are increasing every day.
USAID pledges to redouble our effort to build solidarity with Cuba's
human rights activists -- responding with alacrity to their requests
for books, videos, short-wave radios, and other means of information
and communication. Since 1997, USAID grantees have worked with
solidarity committees around the world to call for international
support for Cuba's peaceful activists. USAID has also provided more
than 120,000 pounds of food and medicine to the families of political
prisoners and other victims of repression inside Cuba. We will strive
to increase this support. For accepting this humanitarian assistance
(food and medicine), people deprived of jobs, income and medical care
are called by the Cuban government "the paid agents of imperialism."
Contrary to the Cuban government's allegations, USAID is not providing
cash payments to any activists, persons or organizations within Cuba.
The Castro regime last month imprisoned dozens of independent
journalists. But many will still find ways to send to the outside
world their reports of deteriorating economic conditions, human rights
violations and the conditions inside Cuba's prisons, and many others
will report from elsewhere on that imprisoned island. No one believes
that imprisonment will silence the voices of Raul Rivero and other
brave Cuban independent journalists. Over the past several years,
USAID grantees have published via the Internet more than 18,000
articles by Cuba's independent journalists. We will increase our
efforts to publish their reports, and to distribute them in hard copy
on the island. And we will continue to provide Cuba's independent
journalists with the books, videos, training materials, and other
information they request.
The Castro regime has imprisoned many independent librarians for the
alleged "crime" of lending books to their neighbors. Books by Martin
Luther King, Vaclev Havel, Jose Marti, and other alleged "subversives"
are the evidence. USAID has provided Cuba's independent libraries and
the Cuban people directly with more than 1.7 million books, brochures,
newsletters and other informational materials. We will increase this
flow of information to the growing numbers of independent libraries
throughout Cuba, and we will especially increase the circulation
inside the island by independent Cuban writers.
The Castro regime has also imprisoned independent Cuban labor leaders.
USAID will continue to work with free unions world-wide to put
pressure on the Cuban government to respect workers' rights and to
allow the development of independent unions inside Cuba.
The Castro regime has confiscated books, newsletters, videocassettes,
video recorders, laptop computers, short-wave radios and other
materials the Cuban people need to obtain independent information.
However, this will not deter courageous Cubans from expressing
independent points of view, nor will it dissuade USAID from increasing
its outreach efforts to the Cuban people. On the contrary, USAID will
increase its programs of outreach to the Cuban people, to provide them
with more books, videos, and short-wave radios with which they can
listen to international radio broadcasts from around the world,
including Voice of America, Radio Marti, the BBC, and Radio
Netherlands. USAID has already provided the Cuban people with more
than 7,000 short-wave radios. The Cuban government has denounced this
as a "violation of Cuban national sovereignty" and as "introduction of
contraband." Why is the regime afraid of a short-wave radio? What does
it want to hide from the Cuban people?
The actions of the Castro regime this past month, as well as over the
past decade, show they are desperate and afraid, and choose to resort
to practices and punishments unacceptable to civilized people in this
century. But the Castro regime is gradually losing its grip on the
Cuban people. Some day soon, this regime will end. It will end because
the Cuban people will, with a united voice, demand democratic change.
We pledge to increase our efforts to promote that change, as rapidly
and as peacefully as the future permits. Thank you for this
opportunity, and I know that news of the support of this Congress will
somehow penetrate Castro's prison walls and reach those who deserve it
most.
Mr. Chairman, with that I conclude my testimony and am pleased to
answer any questions that you and other committee members may have
this afternoon.
Thank you.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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