Published Friday, July 21, 2000, in the Miami Herald
House votes to ease sales, visits to Cuba
Legislation would end enforcement of bans on U.S. food and drug exports
By Ana Radelat. Special to The Herald
The legislation is intended to stop enforcement of bans on food, drug sales and visits to island.
WASHINGTON -- In a major victory for farm and business groups trying to ease the four-decade-old embargo against Fidel Castro's government, the House voted late Thursday, by an overwhelming margin, to prevent the government from enforcing the long-standing U.S. ban on the sale of food and
medicine to Cuba or on policing American travel to the island.
Two conservative Republicans won broad support for their efforts to strip the government of funds to enforce a ban on commercial food and agricultural sales.
The amendment that "prohibits funds to implement U.S. sanctions'' on the sale of food and medicine on the island was sponsored by Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, who argued that the embargo was an ineffective way of punishing Fidel Castro. It was approved on a 301-115 vote.
Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., won approval, on a 232-186 vote, of an amendment that would prohibit the government from spending money to enforce U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba. While some categories of Americans are allowed to spend money on travel to Cuba-such as journalists and Cuban
Americans -- many more travel illegally through third countries.
Earlier in the evening, the House rejected an effort by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., that would have lifted the entire 41-year old Cuba embargo.
The votes came during consideration of the $29 billion spending bill that funds the Treasury Department, the lead agency charged with enforcing the embargo, and other government agencies. The overall bill was approved by 216-202.
The ban on funding the enforcement of the embargo was interpreted by some as kicking open the door to sales and travel to Cuba.
"If you can't enforce the law, then the activity is allowed,'' a House aide said.
The Senate, meanwhile, passed an agriculture bill Thursday night that includes a provision to allow food and medicine sales to Cuba.
The $75.3 billion measure financing food and farm programs for next year passed the Senate on a 79-13 vote and now must be reconciled with a House version.
A major difference in the House and Senate versions is the Cuba provision. The House rejected the provision earlier but has agreed to add a more restricted version in conference.
The House-approved embargo provisions have not been considered by the Senate, which has yet to debate Treasury Department spending bill. Moreover, the White House is likely to oppose the measures on the grounds that they restrict the president's authority to use sanctions as a foreign policy
tool.
Nevertheless, the House votes reflect a change in attitude toward the Cuba embargo and indicates that many rank-and-file House Republicans are at odds with House leaders who oppose any opening to Cuba.
The votes seemed certain to strengthen the hand of Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., the leader of farm-state lawmakers who earlier this year tried to lift the food and medicine embargo against Cuba but ran into opposition by Republican leaders.
The two sides agreed to a compromise last month that House GOP leaders have promised to try pushing into law. Thursday's votes seemed to increase pressure on the leaders to at the very least make sure the compromise finds its way into law.
Anti-Castro legislators said allowing Cuba to receive more U.S. trade and tourists would help prop up Castro's communist government.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said the revenue Cuba would gain from easing the restrictions would help "the worst violator of human rights in all of the Western Hemisphere.''
But sponsors of easing the trade and travel embargoes said the result would be to accelerate the drive toward freedom in Cuba.
Ronald Reagan "allowed Americans with backpacks to travel in Eastern Europe, and it did help bring down the Berlin Wall,'' said conservative Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., chief sponsor of the language easing the travel restrictions.
"Personal freedom follows economic freedom,'' said Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who conceded that lifting the food embargo would help his farm-state constituents.
In Miami, Cuban American leaders reacted with caution.
"I've never been in favor of lifting the embargo. If we held steady, we would have had a better opportunity to force out the dictator,'' said South Miami Mayor Julio Robaina. "I'm totally for humane services -- getting food and drugs to the people -- but it will never get to their
hands. Castro controls the black market.''
Said José Basulto, head of Brothers to the Rescue: "This is not a tragic thing. Food and drugs should be in Cuba. If this does not imply that the U.S. is giving credits to Castro -- which he may use -- I have no problem with it.''
Under the compromise reached last month between House GOP leaders and Nethercutt, Americans could sell food and drugs to Cuba -- but only if the Cubans paid for them with cash or with credit from a third country.
The prohibition against financing by the U.S. government or U.S. banks was seen by many critics as meaning that little trade would actually occur as a result of the agreement.
That agreement would also write into law an existing ban on U.S. tourist travel to Cuba.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., has said he opposes the compromise, but President Clinton has said he would probably sign it.
Clinton administration decided a year ago to allow sales of food and medicine to Iran, Libya and Sudan but was barred by law from easing the embargo on Cuba.
Herald staff writer Charles Rabin contributed to this report, which was supplemented by the Associated Press.
Cuban ballplayer freed to pursue career in U.S.
By Andres Viglucci And Tere Figueras. aviglucci@herald.com.
After two days of questioning by federal anti-smuggling investigators, Cuban baseball standout Andy Morales was set free by immigration authorities to pursue his dream of playing in the major leagues.
Morales and his eight traveling companions, who were dropped off by smugglers Tuesday on the Marquesas islands off Key West, were bused out of the Krome immigration detention center in the late afternoon Thursday to an exuberant reunion amid hugs and high-fives with friends and relatives in
Little Havana.
Accounts that Morales and the others gave investigators of their arrival, meanwhile, suggest that smugglers who allegedly charged them $5,000 each for the trip left the group in a precarious spot.
The Border Patrol said the nine apparently spent more than 30 hours on an uninhabited island in the Marquesas with only a gallon of water and virtually no food.
In a sign of the interest that Morales' arrival has drawn in baseball circles, the athlete's agent fielded calls from three major league teams during the half-hour drive from Krome to a round of health screenings and routine processing in Little Havana.
"They wanted to know if it was true he was out, and they expressed an interest,'' agent Gus Dominguez said.
He declined to identify the teams.
When the 25-year-old Morales emerged from the white Immigration and Naturalization Service van outside a state clinic, he made the sign of the cross, kissed his fingers and pointed to the sky. He then bent down and pressed his hands against the asphalt of the parking lot.
Six weeks ago, Morales' first attempt to defect ended in repatriation by the Coast Guard.
Until they got their first glimpse of Morales as a free man, friends and relatives had feared the government would try again to send him back, in spite of assurances from the INS that he would be processed and released because he had reached dry land on the second try.
"It wasn't until that moment that I realized he was safe -- that it was all over,'' said Morales' childhood friend Justo Pozo.
Morales, looking tired but happy, made only a brief statement upon leaving the clinic an hour and a half later.
"I'm very happy to have arrived in the United States,'' he said. "You'll have to forgive me. This is the most tense and nervous I've been in my entire life.''
Morales, who was accompanied in the voyage by his brother-in-law, will live with his father-in-law, Carlos Castillo, in west Miami-Dade County.
"I'm so very proud. I finally have my sons here -- my two sons,'' Castillo said.
A hard-hitting former member of Cuba's powerful national team, the 25-year-old Morales starred in the squad's 12-6 defeat of the Orioles in Baltimore last year. But he was dropped from the team after he was spotted speaking to Dominguez in Baltimore.
QUIT LOCAL TEAM
Although Cuban authorities allowed Morales to rejoin his old local team, he soon quit. His father in Cuba said Morales was depressed, in part because he was followed constantly by state security agents.
It's unknown how he eluded them. But the Border Patrol is certain that Morales and his companions were smuggled into Florida and has launched an investigation. Joseph Mellia, an assistant Border Patrol chief, said several passengers admitted paying smugglers $5,000 each to bring them from Cuba
on a speedboat.
"We have the people talking, they're giving some information. We got some leads, and we're following up on them,'' Mellia said.
According to the Cubans, Mellia said, the group left from the coast west of Havana around midnight Sunday and arrived in the Marquesas, which are U.S. soil, around dawn Monday.
"They were told, `When you see a passing boat, just wave.' That is what they told us. Sometimes they're truthful, sometimes not,'' Mellia said.
LANDING REPORTED
The nine Cubans, all adult men except for one minor female, were picked up by the Coast Guard on Tuesday after someone -- it's unclear who -- called to report migrants on the island.
One member of the group, however, disputed the Border Patrol's account.
Alberto Gutiérrez, 26, said they left from Varadero, Cuba, around 6 p.m. Sunday, arriving at the Marquesas three hours later.
He also insisted: "We didn't pay any money to anybody.''
The Border Patrol interrogation, which a government source characterized as extensive, accounted for the unusually long delay in Morales' release.
Agents are also conducting an investigation into Morales' previous attempt to reach Florida, and two Hialeah men remain in INS custody as the suspected smugglers. Mellia said the passengers are not the target and will not be criminally charged.
Dominguez, the sports agent, said he regards Morales as a surefire major-league prospect. But he said he had not discussed plans with his client, who has several options. If he establishes residency in the United States, Morales would be subject under major-league rules to an amateur draft in
2001, which means he could negotiate only with the team that selects him.
RESIDENCY OPTION
He could also, as other defectors have done, establish residency in a foreign country. In that case, he would be free to negotiate with any interested teams and eventually sign a more lucrative contract.
Dominguez declined to discuss the Cuban government's treatment of Morales, noting that his wife and infant son -- who have received U.S. immigrant visas and are awaiting Cuban authorization to leave -- remained behind.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald |