Coalition backs Cuba measure
By Frank Davies. fdavies@herald.com. Published Wednesday,
June 13, 2001. Miami Herald
WASHINGTON -- A coalition of liberals and farm state members introduced a
measure in Congress on Tuesday designed to ease the sale of food and medicine to
Cuba -- a cause that gained partial success last year.
The Bridges to the Cuban People Act, authored by Sen. Christopher Dodd,
D-Conn., a leading critic of the embargo on Cuba, has 14 cosponsors, including
three Republicans -- Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana, former chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Pat Roberts of Kansas and Lincoln Chafee of
Rhode Island.
The companion House bill, with about 80 cosponsors, was introduced by Jose
Serrano, a Bronx Democrat and one of the Houses most liberal members, and Jim
Leach, an Iowa Republican who once chaired the Banking Committee.
Congress adopted a spending bill last fall that allowed the sale of food to
Cuba for the first time in four decades -- a prime goal of agribusiness -- but
added tough restrictions on financing and travel to the island.
Cuba denounced the measure.
This year, Dodd said, the time is right to eliminate restrictions on travel
and sale of foodstuffs. With Democrats taking over the Senate leadership, Dodd
has become chairman of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of Foreign Relations
that has jurisdiction over Cuba legislation.
Other key Democrats favor lifting some limits on trade with Cuba, including
Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Tom Harkin of Iowa, who chairs the Agriculture
Committee.
'GOOD STARTING POINT'
"This legislation is a good starting point for a serious debate about
how we can change U.S. policy in order to foster a peaceful transition to
democracy on the island while alleviating the hardship that our current policy
has caused,'' Dodd said.
Roberts said current sanctions on trade "only benefit our trade
competitors at the expense of the American farmer and businessman.''
The Dodd bill would also allow the importation of some Cuban pharmaceutical
products, provide scholarships for Cuban students to pursue graduate work in the
United States and repeal parts of the Helms-Burton Act that codified the
embargo.
'MORAL STATEMENT'
But embargo supporters are confident that the political landscape has
changed in Washington -- in their favor. President Bush, unlike the Clinton
administration, has been firm in support of sanctions on Cuba, calling the
policy a "moral statement.''
"The politics has shifted against us in the Senate, while at the same
time the White House is clearly on our side,'' said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a
Miami Republican. "And the White House bully pulpit will win in the end.''
Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, said recently that the
backing of the administration has allowed him and others on Capitol Hill to
worry less about threats to the embargo and concentrate on new initiatives, such
as funneling U.S. aid directly to dissidents.
Farm interests continue to push for sales to Cuba despite restrictions in
U.S. law and Cubas professed policy of making no deals until the embargo is
totally lifted. In April, leaders of the USA Rice Federation traveled to Cuba,
which they see as a $60 million-a-year export market, and began talks with
officials.
The embargo issue has divided both parties. Lugar and several other farm
state Republicans in the Senate have consistently opposed all unilateral
sanctions.
"There are many voices in the Republican Party who strongly believe
that,'' said Sally Grooms Cowal, who heads the anti-embargo Cuba Policy
Foundation. "At some point the balance will shift from support for the
Cuban Americans in the party to the position of many Senate Republicans.''
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