By Jim Burns. CNS Senior Staff Writer. 28 June, 2000
(CNSNews.com) - Even before the House of Representatives votes on a bill to relax US sanctions against Cuba, Cuba is complaining.
Ricardo Alarcon, the president of the Cuban parliament, is particularly upset about provisions in the proposed legislation that would restrict Cuba's ability to get the money and credit it needs to buy US food and medicine.
Under a compromise struck earlier this week, House Republicans agreed to allow the sale of food and medicine to Cuba for the first time in forty years. But the Cuban government would be denied access to US government loans and credit; it would be prohibited from bartering with US companies; and
it would not be allowed to seek private financing in the United States, or export any products to the United States.
In remarks broadcast on Radio Havana Tuesday, Alarcon said those financial restrictions would make the easing of sanctions meaningless - and even tighten the existing trade embargo.
Alarcon said the so-called "softening" of Washington's "blockade" is nothing more than a trick to fool public opinion, since practically speaking, Cuba still won't be able to purchase food and medicine from the United States.
The bill still awaits House action, but there's no guarantee that the House will vote on it before the Fourth of July recess.
The provisions gutting Cuba's ability to pay for US food and medicine came at the insistence of Cuban-American lawmakers, who bitterly oppose any US dealings with the Castro government. |