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Posted on Wed, May. 15, 2002 in
The Miami Herald
Carter calls for an end to the embargo on Cuba
Island must allow democratic shift, ex-president says
By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com
In an unprecedented address to the Cuban nation, former President Jimmy
Carter on Tuesday called for an end to the United States' four-decade-old
embargo against Cuba, but also called on the Cuban government to open space for
democratic changes.
''Our two nations have been trapped in a destructive state of belligerence
for 42 years and it is time for us to change our relationship and the way we
think and talk about each other,'' Carter said.
Employing words and arguments rarely, if ever, heard on Cuba's
state-controlled media in the more than 40 years since the advent of the Cuban
Revolution, Carter called for the government to allow the sort of democratic
political activity that would bring about democratic change.
He endorsed the so-called Varela Project, a grass-roots petition drive that
calls for a referendum to change some of Cuba's basic laws and declared: "When
Cubans exercise this freedom to change laws peacefully by a direct vote, the
world will see that Cubans, and not foreigners, will decide the future of this
country.''
The 20-minute speech was delivered in Spanish, laced with a thick Southern
accent, at the University of Havana and broadcast live on Cuban television and
radio. The event represented one of the few times that a prominent figure from a
democratic country has been able to speak directly to the 11 million Cubans on
the island.
The 77-year-old former president used the opportunity to chastise the Cuban
government, softening his tone by endorsing some of Castro's favorite programs
such as free healthcare and universal education. He also called for an end to
the U.S. embargo of Cuba, thus endorsing a fundamental position of Cuban foreign
policy.
Carter said that ''because the United States is the most powerful nation,''
it should take the first step toward reconciliation and the U.S. Congress should
act soon to lift travel restrictions, establish open trading relationships and
repeal the embargo.
RIGHT TO CHOOSE
Citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Cuba signed in 1948,
Carter called on the Cuban government to offer its citizens "the right to
choose their own leaders, to define their own destiny, to speak freely, to
organize political parties, trade unions and nongovernmental groups, and to have
fair and open trials.''
Cubans on the island reached by phone welcomed the speech, but not all
agreed with Carter's premise that democracy is nonexistent in Cuba.
''He has his ideas as an American, and we have ours,'' said Clara Radillo,
58, of Havana.
Said her father, Arcadio Radillo, 94: "He had the freedom to say what
he wanted, and we also have the freedom to say what we want: First of all, the
embargo should be lifted in order for us to be able to establish a friendship.
It is not just for a country to meddle in the affairs of another.''
Cuban Americans in the United States had mixed reactions.
Republican Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart called Carter's presence in Cuba
''a shame,'' but Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National
Foundation, called it a "courageous speech.''
SEVERAL SURPRISES
Within his first two days, Carter has lobbed surprises with an unscheduled
meeting with prominent dissidents and suggestions that U.S. officials sought to
undercut his landmark visit with baseless charges that Cuba was involved in the
development and transfer of technology that could be used for weapons of mass
destruction.
NO POLICY CHANGE
President Bush also remarked about Carter's visit, saying he will urge
Cubans to ''demand freedom'' during a speech he is scheduled to deliver in Miami
on Monday.
He also said that the visit "doesn't complicate my foreign policy,
because I haven't changed my foreign policy -- and that is Fidel Castro is a
dictator and he is oppressive and he ought to have free elections and he ought
to have a free press and he ought to free his prisoners and he ought to
encourage free enterprise.''
Despite the apparent warmth between the two elder leaders, a cordial debate
also has emerged between Carter and Castro, 75, over the meaning of human rights
and democracy.
ABSOLUTE FREEDOM
On the eve of the speech, Carter, a longtime civil liberties advocate, told
students at a social workers school that Americans "feel that it is very
important to have absolute freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.''
''We take pride in our freedom to criticize our own government and to change
our government when we don't like it by voting in elections that are
contested,'' Carter said.
"Our people are completely free to form our own businesses, to hire
other people to work and to make a profit.''
CASTRO RESPONSE
Later, Castro responded by saying that the concept of democracy was born in
ancient Athens, with fewer than 20,000 citizens ruling 50,000 noncitizens and
80,000 slaves.
He said Cuba was striving for ''a society with justice'' and equal
opportunity.
Today Carter is to meet with Ricardo Alarcón, the president of Cuba's
National Assembly.
Carter will likely push the Varela Project once again. Organizers turned in
11,020 signatures last week in hopes of getting the National Assembly to act on
the request when it convenes this summer. The signatures were delivered with a
bold letter addressed to Alarcón demanding that the government publicly
recognize the initiative as a legal tool -- as outlined in the Cuban
constitution.
CIVIL LIBERTIES
The letter also admonished security forces for allegedly stealing signatures
and detaining or intimidating those involved in the project.
The letter also requested a meeting with government officials and access to
state-controlled media outlets for exposure of the referendum on civil liberties
such as free speech, amnesty for political prisoners, the right to start
businesses and an electoral overhaul.
Most Cubans know very little if anything of the Varela Project because
mention of it has been virtually banned on state-controlled media.
Following the speech, Carter attended a baseball game between all-star teams
comprised of top players from eastern and western Cuba.
He said he wants the people of the United States and Cuba "to share
more than a love of baseball and wonderful music.''
Herald intern Larissa Ruiz Campo contributed to this
report.
S. Florida exiles warm to message
By Tere Figueras, Carolyn Salazar znd Luisa Yanez.
tfigueras@herald.com
Watching from her Miami home as Jimmy Carter began his speech to the Cuban
people -- with Fidel Castro sitting nearby -- exile activist Bettina Rodriguez
Aguilera confessed she was ''a little wary'' that the former president seemed to
be resorting to softball diplomacy.
''I was a little upset at first,'' said Rodriguez Aguilera, founder of the
nonpartisan New Generation Cuba, who called Carter's initial praise of the
island's accomplishments "naive.''
''But then he brought it around and honeyed it up at the end,'' she said.
The ''honey'' she referred to was Carter's widely anticipated inclusion of
human rights issues, involving political prisoners and dissidents' efforts on
the island to push broad changes. Many South Floridians who watched the speech
on television said they were pleasantly surprised with Carter's words.
''It's the first time that someone has told the truth to Fidel's face
without being killed or sent to jail,'' said Rodriguez Aguilera, whose group
began as an alternative to hard-line exile politics after the Elián González
custody case in 2000.
IMPORTANT POINTS
References to ''prisoners of conscience,'' the need for Cuba to join the
''family'' of democratic nations and mention of the Varela Project -- a peaceful
grass-roots attempt that has 11,020 signatures asking for a referendum on
political and economic issues -- earned Carter high marks from other exile
leaders.
''I'm satisfied,'' said Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American
National Foundation. "The Cuban regime will not be able to erase this from
the minds of the Cuban people.''
Mas Santos, along with other CANF members, had met with Carter before his
trip to offer advice.
''It put the government on the defensive,'' Mas Santos said. "It was
tremendous.''
Carter's speech, preceded by both the Cuban and American national anthems,
was not without criticism.
Rafael Peñalver, head of the San Carlos Institute in Key West, also
called some of Carter's statements ''naive'' -- including Carter's suggestion to
create a blue-ribbon commission to address claims on property lost by companies
and citizens during the Cuban Revolution.
''Our motivation is more noble, I think, than property. For him to say that
is kind of naive,'' Peñalver said. But overall, he said, Carter's speech
was "balanced. And probably more powerful because of that.''
Gov. Jeb Bush, commenting on a Tampa television station, said Carter should
leave foreign policy to the current White House.
He called Castro a ''master of manipulation'' who could be fooling Carter.
''He brings down these congressmen and a former president, in this case, and
others and wines and dines them and they think all is well,'' the governor said.
"But inside his prisons are political prisoners who do things that in our
wildest dreams we would never imagine putting people in prison for.''
MIXED RESPONSE
At Latin American Cafeteria in Hialeah Tuesday, only one of four TV screens
aired the former president's speech.
''His speech didn't make an impact, and I didn't think it would,'' said
Moises Kaba, 65, watching the speech on Telémundo. "It's not going
to solve anything.''
Patron Jesus Mejias, 64, lauded the speech, however. ''He did the right
thing by saying a change is needed in that country, because Cuba can't go on the
way it is,'' he said.
Waitress Barbara Aguilera, 31, disagreed. She said Carter should have been
more blunt.
''He was too soft on the Cuban government and the communist regime,'' she
said. "He needed to be more direct and demand that the situation over there
should not continue.''
Carter's rush-hour speech appeared to generate little interest at Miami's
Latin American Cafeteria. Several people casually glanced at the TV sets on an
outdoor patio.
One person watching intently: Miguel Saavedra, head of the Vigilia Mambisa,
an active exile protest group, who said he doesn't agree with ''the closeness
with Cuba'' Carter is promoting. But as Saavedra heard Carter voice criticism of
Castro's regime, he raised his fist in triumph.
''Yes!'' he said.
Herald Capital Bureau chief Peter Wallsten contributed
to this report. | 
