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The Miami
Herald, March 22, 2002.
Cuban President Fidel Castro suddenly departs U.N. summit, hints at U.S.
snub
By Eloy O. Aguilar. Associated Press Writer.
MONTERREY, Mexico - (AP) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro suddenly withdrew
from a U.N. summit and returned home, and Cuban officials indicated someone --
possibly the United States -- had offended the leader.
Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, told The Associated
Press after Castro's departure Thursday afternoon that Castro left because of "a
situation that for a self-respecting country like Cuba, was unacceptable.''
Alarcon, who took Castro's place as head of Cuba's delegation to the U.N.
International Conference on Financing for Development, indicated that the
incident involved the United States, but would not elaborate.
Alarcon wouldn't specify whether the Cuban leader's departure was related to
the arrival about 30 minutes earlier of President Bush, or whether the United
States had exerted pressure to avoid the two running into each other.
Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said earlier that Bush
and Castro would not cross paths, and Alarcon said: "She knew why she was
saying that.''
''In the final analysis it is a problem with the United States. That doesn't
mean that someone from the United States talked to us or asked us to do
something,'' Alarcon said.
''We had to say something so people would understand that something had
happened, something that forced Cuba to take this decision. We have acted with
moderation and in a constructive spirit,'' he said.
Castro, who arrived in Monterrey on Wednesday night, addressed the
conference Thursday morning, calling the international financial system ''a
gigantic casino'' and lashing out at rich nations for blaming poverty on the
developing world.
''You can't blame this tragedy on the poor countries. It wasn't they who
conquered and looted entire continents for centuries, nor did they establish
colonialism, nor did they reintroduce slavery, nor did they create modern
imperialism,'' he said. "They were its victims.''
According to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the U.S.
delegation had been instructed to leave the designated U.S. seat when it was
Castro's turn, and they did. No reporters were allowed into the session, and the
television feed showed only the podium.
Castro, still addressing the gathered leaders, excused himself and said he
had to return immediately to Cuba, citing only "a special situation created
by my participation in this summit.''
Mexican officials said they had no idea why Castro was leaving, as did his
close friend Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
''I really don't know why Fidel is leaving today,'' Chavez said.
Dismantling sought of Cuban embargo
By Tim Johnson. March 22, 2002.
WASHINGTON - An unusually diverse and bipartisan group of 34 legislators on
Thursday announced that they had formed a congressional bloc to seek
step-by-step loosening of the trade embargo of Cuba and permit U.S. citizens to
travel to the island.
''We all agree that the current policy has failed,'' said Rep. Jeff Flake,
an Arizona Republican and ardent free-trade proponent who is a leader of the
bloc.
The group's members asserted that the four-decade-old embargo is a relic of
the Cold War. They said the Bush administration should abandon attempts to
isolate the Fidel Castro regime in favor of the openness it shows toward
communist regimes in China and Vietnam.
Creation of the bloc foreshadows a showdown between Congress and the Bush
administration this spring over policy toward Cuba. The White House, eager to
please Cuban-American voters in Florida who play an outsized role in national
politics, plans soon to announce moves to tighten the embargo. An increasingly
significant number of legislators, in contrast, say heartland farm interests are
hurt by the embargo, and that many U.S. citizens oppose current policy.
'FEW' IN FLORIDA
''Most people in America think we should change our policy. It's a few
people in Florida who do not,'' said Rep. Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat.
Leaders of the group, comprised of 17 Democrats and 17 Republicans, said
they would seek freedom for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, and to allow U.S.
companies to sell agricultural goods to the island on credit. The bloc may also
seek greater counter-drug cooperation with Cuba, which straddles sea lanes from
South America.
Castro, one of the world's last stalwart communists, has ruled through eight
U.S. presidents since taking power in 1959. At 75, he still firmly controls the
island.
Flake, a member of the House International Relations Committee, said the
U.S. government should stop levying fines against U.S. citizens traveling to
Cuba.
''This is an issue of freedom,'' Flake said. "Every citizen ought to
have the right to see firsthand what a mess that man has made of that island.''
GAINING STEAM
Moves in Congress to relax the travel ban have gained steam. Last year,
legislators voted 240-186 to stop enforcing the ban, but action was later
derailed by the Republican House leadership working with the White House.
'It's rather ironic that Americans today can travel to Iran, can travel to
North Korea. By my calculations, that's two-thirds of the 'axis of evil,' ''
said Rep. William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat who is a leader of the
bloc, referring to President Bush's remarks in January about nations that
sponsor terrorism. Bush also fingered Iraq.
A conservative Republican from Washington state, Rep. George Nethercutt,
said the legislators are not blind to the kind of regime Castro leads.
But Nethercutt said U.S. farmers are losing out on a $1 billion agricultural
market with the boycott.
An advisor to the legislative bloc, Philip Peters of the Lexington
Institute, a policy research group in Arlington, Va., said Congress and the
White House are on ''a collision course'' over the direction of Cuban policy.
As Cuba trade backers gain numbers, opposition gains strength
Libby Quaid. Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON - With another fight simmering over travel to Cuba and trade with
the communist nation, two Missouri lawmakers remain key players on opposite
sides of the debate.
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., joined lawmakers from both parties Thursday in
announcing a new "House Cuba Working Group" that will push for private
financing for sales of rice and other farm commodities to the island, as well as
lifting the ban on travel to Cuba.
"We all know embargoes only end up hurting our own farmers," she
said during a news conference, adding that Cuba until 1961 was the top importer
of U.S. rice and has since purchased $3 billion worth elsewhere.
Her fellow Republican, Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, said Thursday he and fellow
GOP leaders expect to prevail in scuttling efforts to relax the embargo. Blunt
is chief deputy to the House Majority Whip, Republican Tom DeLay of Texas.
"The House leadership and the president will both oppose any change in
Cuba policy this year," Blunt said. "I guess we'll take this one year
at a time, but I don't see any substantial change in policy happening as long as
Castro is in control in Cuba."
The Bush administration is insisting on the restrictions, arguing that
relaxing the limits on travel and trade would aid the Cuban economy and extend
Fidel Castro's reign. While farm-state lawmakers see Cuba as a potential $1
billion market for U.S. commodities, the administration says the island nation
is too broke to be a major market.
The two Missouri Republicans represent most of southern Missouri, with
Blunt's district in the west and Mrs. Emerson's in the east.
Mrs. Emerson, a member of the Appropriations Committee panel on farm
spending, has visited Cuba twice, most recently in January on a trip with Rep.
William Lacy Clay, a freshman Democrat from St. Louis, and four other lawmakers.
The group dined for six hours with Castro, and Mrs. Emerson said she detected a
growing desire to do business with the United States.
She and supporters of ending the embargo pushed successfully to allow cash
sales of food starting in 2000, but financing by the U.S. government or private
entities were barred. Since a hurricane devastated the island last fall, Cuba
has purchased an estimated $70 million in U.S. commodities.
Mrs. Emerson said an executive of a company that sold food to Cuba told her
the State Department had asked whether Cuba had actually paid the company.
"There's an attitude change that needs to take place," she said.
And on the travel restrictions, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said Americans
deserve to see Castro's legacy for themselves.
"Every American should have the right to see first hand what a mess he
has made of that island," Flake said.
Rep. William Delahunt pointed out that while the United States prevents most
Americans from visiting Cuba, it allows travel to Iran and North Korea.
"By my calculation, that's two-thirds of the axis of evil,"
Delahunt said, referring to the controversial label President Bush gave Iraq,
Iran and North Korea in his State of the Union address.
But Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart, who leads embargo supporters, said Thursday it
was "inconceivable that in the midst of a U.S. war on terrorism, a war that
has cost American lives, members of Congress would actually propose that we
become business partners with a terrorist dictatorship."
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