Yahoo! May 24, 2000
GOP Working To Preserve Cuba Embargo
By Philip Brasher, Ap Farm Writer.
WASHINGTON, 23 (AP) - Republican congressional leaders have been trying to preserve the trade embargo on Cuba at the same time they have been rounding up support to grant China permanent normal trade relations.
Legislation that would allow sales of food and medicine to Cuba is attached to agricultural spending bills that have been approved by the House and Senate Appropriations committees. But House GOP leaders, led by Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, have delayed action this week on the House version
of the spending bill while they try to strip it of the Cuba provision.
``American farmers are being asked to provide indispensable support for the China trade deal at the very moment that House leaders are trying to stab agriculture in the back, by preserving for a few more months the obsolete and ineffective food and medicine embargo against Cuba,'' said Steve
Hilton, a spokesman for Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo.
In addition to easing the embargo, the legislation would prohibit the president from including food and medicine in future embargoes of other countries without congressional approval.
The Senate overwhelmingly approved a similar trade measure last year, and supporters say they're confident it could pass the House as well. The House Appropriations Committee approved the measure 35-24 earlier this month over DeLay's objections.
``Fidel Castro has built a dictatorship that allows no existence of private property and economic freedom. Consequently, trade with that kind of government will only serve to strengthen Fidel Castro,'' DeLay spokesman Jonathan Baron said Tuesday.
``By contrast, the People's Republic of China has seen fit to allow significant free-market activity and commerce among its citizens,'' he said.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., has voiced similar concerns.
The issue is complicated by election-year politics. Some of the legislation's most ardent supporters, such as Ashcroft and Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., face tough re-election races. At the same time, the Cuban American community is a powerful force in Florida, a key state in this year's
presidential campaign.
``I've told them (House leaders) it's important to the people of my district,'' said Nethercutt.
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican and Cuban American, said he believes he could stop the trade provision by raising a parliamentary objection on the House floor. But supporters say they have enough votes to send the entire appropriations bill back to committee if Diaz-Balart does
that.
As an alternative, House GOP leaders have discussed removing the trade measure from the appropriations bill and attaching a weakened version to a popular crop-insurance bill nearing final action in Congress.
``I feel confident that we can prevail at the end of the day,'' said Diaz-Balart, but he declined to rule out a compromise. ``I never close the door off to improving legislation.''
The Clinton administration has not taken a stand on easing the embargo but has objected to the provision in the legislation that would give Congress a say in future embargoes.
Trade sanctions ``have not worked,'' said Audrae Erickson, a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation. ``These markets should be restored to us rather than handed to our foreign competitors.''
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The House bill is H.R. 4461; the Senate bill is S. 2536
On the Net: The American Farm Bureau site: http://www.fb.org
Vote on Food, Medicine Sales to Cuba in Limbo
By Charles Abbott
WASHINGTON, 23 (Reuters) - As Congress prepares to vote on the hotly contested issue of normalizing trade with China, lawmakers said on Tuesday they may not take up a controversial bid to ease U.S. sanctions against another Communist nation -- Cuba -- until early next month.
Farm and business groups have turned up the pressure on House and Senate Republican leaders to hold the first-ever floor votes on allowing sales of food and medicine to Cuba.
They contend economic engagement would encourage democracy on the island and boost weak grain prices at home. Similar attempts died in 1998 and in 1999 in the face of arguments by conservative lawmakers that trade would embolden Fidel Castro.
The American embargo was adopted by Congress four decades ago to oust Castro.
So far, proponents enjoyed the strongest start in three years of debate on the issue. Language to exempt food and medicine from unilateral U.S. embargoes was approved in recent weeks by committees in both chambers.
``I think there would be over 300 votes in the House to lift sanctions on food and medicine,'' said Republican George Nethercutt of Washington state, the lead sponsor in the 435-member House.
Supporters also claim a sizable majority in the Senate.
``We're pretty confident we'll win,'' said an aide to Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who views Cuba as a potential buyer of wheat and other commodities from his state.
They see little philosophical difference between easing sanctions on Cuba and a landmark vote set for Wednesday on normalizing trade with China. That bill, backed by Republican leaders, appeared to be headed for passage by a narrow margin.
Republican leaders, however, have maneuvered to sidetrack the Cuba provision or rewrite it to nullify its effect on Havana. Although the focus has been on Cuba, the exemption also would apply to Libya, Iran, Sudan and North Korea.
Bitter opposition from Cuban-American groups and conservative Republicans to any easing of the longstanding embargo makes the fate of the legislation far from clear. The Clinton administration has said little about the measure, except to express concern that the language might hamstring future
presidents from declaring economic sanctions.
Lott Says ``Castro Is The Problem''
Senate Republican leaders said the chamber might not debate the food and medicine exemption this week.
``In Cuba, Fidel Castro is the problem... He's very oppressive,'' Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, told reporters. ``He hasn't indicated any real desire to change and to become more free-market oriented, or more democratic.''
Nethercutt said he did not expect a House vote this week either, which means it could be early June before lawmakers proceed. Congress adjourns in a few days for a week-long Memorial Day holiday.
U.S. farm groups say Cuba would be a natural customer for their food exports, located just 90 miles from Florida in the Caribbean. Havana spends about $700 million a year to buy food, much of it purchased on credit.
Nethercutt has been engaged in negotiations with House Republican leaders for more than a week in hopes of getting the exemption cleared for a floor vote. He told reporters he might have to accept unsatisfactory language on Cuba in order to get a vote on the overall exemption.
``If I can get four of the five (countries) into law, I think that's a great start,'' he said, but added he believed there would be stronger support if Cuba was part of it. ``The question will be, does the House want to put Cuba back in.''
House Speaker Dennis Hastert called a meeting of key Republicans from both chambers in his office late Tuesday to discuss the sanctions issue. Hastert represents Illinois, where agribusiness has clamored for a change in the sanctions.
Under the proposal pending in both chambers, food and medicine trade would be exempt from unilateral U.S. sanctions unless Congress agreed to a ban. There would be six months to decide whether to continue existing sanctions.
The amendment was tacked on to the annual $75 billion spending bill for the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Testimony in Alleged Cuban Spy Case
By Meg Richards, Associated Press Writer.
MIAMI, 23 (AP) - A senior INS official charged with passing classified information to a suspected Cuban agent testified Tuesday that he didn't believe his friend was a spy and was discussing doing business in Cuba, not U.S. secrets.
The FBI accuses Mariano Faget, 54, of passing information to Pedro Font, Faget's business partner and longtime friend. The FBI suspects Font is a Cuban spy, although he has not been charged.
Faget, who could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, said he told agents during a six-hour interview that Font is not a spy. He also testified that he cooperated with investigators during the interrogation.
``They had a fixation that I was not telling the truth,'' Faget said. ``I admit, at the beginning there might have been some doubt, but when confronted with all that (evidence), how can you lie?''
Faget was referring to FBI surveillance tapes that showed him meeting with Cuban officials, and phone taps that revealed his conversations with Font.
In a videotaped FBI sting, Faget was shown classified documents related to Cuban diplomat Luis Molina, and told that the Cuban official was about to defect. Faget called Font about 12 minutes later.
Faget said he knew that Font, a Cuban citizen who works in New York, was meeting with Cuban diplomat Jose Imperatori that day, and Faget was concerned for his safety. Faget testified that he never intended for Font to pass the information on to Imperatori.
Faget testified that he met with Imperatori once, and either saw or spoke to Molina four times. He said the only topic ever discussed with either official was the potential for doing business in Cuba after the U.S. trade embargo is lifted.
The FBI has since identified Molina as an intelligence agent.
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