Military

DATE=JUNE 5, 2003

TYPE=DATELINE

NUMBER=7-37521

TITLE=TRADING WITH THE ENEMY

BYLINE=REBECCA WARD

TELEPHONE=(202) 619-0720

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=CAROL CASTIEL

CONTENT=

DISK: DATELINE THEME [PLAYED IN STUDIO, FADED UNDER DATELINE HOST VOICE OR PROGRAMMING MATERIAL]

INTRO: More than four decades ago, the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, in response to the nationalization of U-S businesses and properties under the new revolutionary government of Fidel Castro. For years, the former Soviet Union had propped up the Cuban economy. Now however, the island nation of 11-million people is suffering through economic hardship that some say is worsened by the embargo. Others blame Cuba's economic woes on Fidel Castro's communist regime. But, as Rebecca Ward reports in this edition of Dateline, the controversy surrounding the embargo is not so much about whether or not it is hurting the Cuban economy as it is about whether or not it's an effective tool for bringing about change in the Cuban government.

TEXT: ///ACT ONE PRESIDENT BUSH IN SPANISH.establish then fade///

This year, on the 101st anniversary of Cuba's independence from Spain, President Bush sent a message to the people of Cuba on Radio Marti. Speaking in Spanish, the president said he hopes Cubans will soon be able to enjoy the same freedoms and rights as American citizens, adding that dictatorships have no place in the Americas.

Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba with an iron fist for more than forty years. And it was not long after he came to power that Washington imposed a number of measures against Cuba, using a World War One-era law against trading with the enemy. Even though these trade and travel restrictions remain in effect today, Fidel Castro has retained his grip on power.

In recent years, however, a number of politicians, businesses and human rights groups have begun to question the wisdom of the sanctions, charging that the embargo is ineffective and its consequences are inhumane.

Congressman Jeff Flake is a Republican from Arizona and the sponsor of a bill in the House of Representatives that aims to lift travel restrictions from the United States to Cuba. He says the recent arrests of dozens of Cuban dissidents illustrate the failure of the current U-S policy to reign in the Cuban dictatorship.

///FLAKE ACT ONE///

"We've seen our current policy has not stopped Fidel Castro from throwing people in prison or from executing hijackers. He's still very much the thug he always was. And if we want to change the situation there, we have to change our policy."

///END ACT///

That change in policy, according to Congressman Flake, should include lifting the ban on travel to Cuba, which he says is one of the best ways to promote democracy in the region.

///ACT THREE FLAKE///

"When individuals from America and elsewhere travel there, the argument is from the other side that more money flows to the regime and that's certainly the case. But also money flows to entrepreneurs on the street, people who've set up family businesses, people who are artisans or taxi cab drivers or bellhops. It's just something that Fidel Castro can't control. So, it's the right thing to do. We don't have travel controls on other countries. We acknowledge and we encourage that Americans should travel to China, to Vietnam, to North Korea because we export our values there. But in Cuba, we simply say hey it's not going to work there and there's no reason to think that."

///END FLAKE ACT///

Latin American expert Ian Vasquez is the Director of the Project on Global Economic Liberty at the Cato Institute, here in Washington. He agrees that sanctions against Cuba have been ineffective in dealing with Fidel Castro. As a matter of fact, he says, the Cuban leader has used the trade embargo to further his own agenda.

///ACT TWO VASQUEZ///

"I think that the embargo serves him very well as a source of something he can point to, as the source of problems in Cuba. And if the United States got rid of the embargo, he wouldn't have that crutch, that scapegoat anymore. So, it's quite likely that even though he rails against the embargo, calls it a blockade, he's the last person that wants to see that go."

///END ACT///

Mariela (mar-ee-el'-uh) Ferretti couldn't disagree more. As the spokeswoman for the Cuban American National Foundation, headquartered in Miami, she says the embargo has been successful in preventing Fidel Castro from gaining influence and spreading his brand of communism to other countries in the region. Ms. Ferretti says it's also important to note that the embargo did not fully take effect until after 1991, when the Soviet Union stopped funneling millions of dollars into Cuba.

///ACT 4 FERRETI///

"When you take a look at and see in terms of Castro's military apparatus, the kind of downgrading that has occurred, the fact that Fidel Castro doesn't have the amount of money, of funds, that he needs in order to continue to be a prime, subversive agent in Latin America. Those are the things we need to be looking at."

///END ACT///

Ms. Ferretti also takes exception with aid organizations that oppose the embargo on humanitarian grounds. She says that shows a lack of concern for the human rights of the Cuban people including what she calls prisoners of conscience that are denied medical care not because of the embargo, but because of Fidel Castro's policy.

///5th ACT FERRETA ///

"Humanitarian assistance, medical assistance has never been part of the embargo. So I don't see that there really is an issue there at all. And, in light of the recent changes under law, the United States can now sell goods to Cuba but it has to be on a cash basis only. And when you consider Fidel Castro's track record in terms of payment, in terms of what he owes, I think that's probably the wisest thing that anyone wanting to sell Castro goods can do."

///END ACT///

In the Senate, the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, Max Baucus, has also introduced a bill lifting the Cuba travel ban. In a statement, he says easing those travel restrictions is the best way to reach out to the Cuban people. In addition, Senator Baucus says by allowing business contacts to develop through travel to Cuba, agricultural sales could net another quarter billion dollars, creating thousands of new U.S. jobs. But, according to Mariela Feretti, that's exactly the problem. She says many legislators that support easing sanctions are more interested in promoting the business interests of their states, than they are in promoting democracy in Cuba.

///ACT SIX FERETTA///

"They're coming from sectors who have some agricultural problems in terms of diminishing markets. They're looking to export their goods and that in of itself is good thing. But when you consider who the purchaser again is, in Castro's case, you have to wonder if short term/long term, if this really makes any sense at all."

///END ACT

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas says that may be true, but it does not detract from the main argument that trade sanctions against Cuba have not worked.

///ACT SEVEN PAUL///

"That is the by-product---we should expect economic benefits. Matter of fact, if we had open trade, Florida would benefit as well. They're narrowed in on the fact that they don't believe in their own hearts that this would help get rid of Castro We believe it would help get rid of Castro and undermine the communist regime there."

///END ACT///

Congressman Paul says legislation to ease trade and travel restrictions is gaining more and more support among U-S lawmakers. But he admits President Bush has taken a strong-arm approach to dealing with Fidel Castro and that may not be so easy to change.

///ACT EIGHT PAUL///

"He doesn't stick to his guns all the time. When it becomes necessary, he becomes very political and if the sentiment is against his position, he bends. He said he wouldn't sign a tax cut that was smaller than he wanted, but he did. So, if the momentum is strong enough. (But) if this is really a big political problem for him in Florida and his brother, he may have a lot stronger determination not to cave in on this, at least before the election."

///END ACT///

A little more than a year ago, President Bush vowed to hold strong to the current embargo against Cuba during a speech to Cuban Americans in Florida. But, according to Congressmen Flake and Paul, support for lifting travel and trade restrictions to Cuba is growing. Still, it appears to be a highly charged political debate on Capitol Hill just as it was last year when former President Jimmy Carter made a controversial visit to Cuba and called for the embargo to be lifted. The move was a first for any U-S president since 1959. But, appearing on the PBS television network's Lehrer News Hour, Carter's fellow Democrat - Congressman Robert Menendez said he is unconvinced that the U-S policy on Cuba should be changed.

///ACT 10 MENENDEZ///

"There are efforts in Congress already, as it relates to trade issues. But to unilaterally get rid of the embargo without any commensurate response by the Castro regime on the human rights that President Carter spoke about, on the questions of free press, on the questions of releasing political prisoners, on the fundamental question of having free elections, would be a unilateral action that would not elicit the response that we want."

///END ACT///

Indeed, human rights in Cuba hit a low point in March of this year, when 75 dissidents and independent journalists were rounded up and sentenced up to 28 years in prison. The move prompted harsh criticism from the White House, which called it an appalling act of intimidation. Then in May, the Bush administration expelled 14 Cuban diplomats, accusing them of engaging in "inappropriate and unacceptable" activities a euphemism for spying.

All of this has only added to the already strained relations between the United States and Cuba, and it remains to be seen just where U-S policy is headed. Even if Congress passes legislation to ease travel and trade restrictions with Cuba, President Bush could use his veto power. Already, he has come under fire from anti-Castro groups in Florida, a key electoral state, for not taking an even tougher stance against Cuba. But, as support grows for easing the embargo on Cuba, the White House may find it more and more difficult to maintain the status quo. For Dateline, I'm Rebecca Ward.

MUSIC: CUBAN