SOURCE: Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba. Wednesday May 24, 4:12 pm Eastern Time. Company Press Release
WASHINGTON, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The following letter to US House of Representatives Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-CA) was released today by the Americans For Humanitarian Trade With Cuba (AHTC):
Dear Chairman Dreier,
Americans For Humanitarian Trade With Cuba (AHTC) represents a broad cross section of Americans who believe that the US unilateral embargo on food and medical sales to the people of Cuba goes against the basic principles of our great nation.
We call upon you and members of your Rules Committee to stand firm against efforts by a small but vocal group of Representatives to avoid at all costs a free and fair House vote on the simple question of whether US produced food and medicine should be available for sale to Cuba. A clear majority
of Representatives, 222 to be exact -- most of them Republican -- have already signed a letter asking Speaker Dennis Hastert to allow a floor vote on this issue this year. Manufacturing a questionable procedural maneuver to avoid a fair vote on Cuba clearly undermines the democratic process so
precious to all Americans.
Lawmakers have an obligation to the American people to adhere firmly to principles and to lead by example. Arguing for free trade with China while opposing the sale of the most basic necessities of human sustenance to a small country like Cuba violates fundamental logic, especially when by all
expert accounts the human rights situation in China is far worse than in Cuba. There is a spotlight shining on this issue in the media right now: Avoiding a vote on humanitarian sales to Cuba while pushing for unfettered trade with China would send an unmistakably cynical message to the American
people.
For our country to continue to deny Cuba the food and medicines needed to sustain life achieves nothing. Forty years of the strongest embargo in our history has resulted in increased misery for the people of Cuba while in fact increasing sympathy and support for the Cuban government. Political
dissidents and religious leaders in Cuba say lifting food and medical sanctions would send the Cuban people a clear message of support.
Former US Trade Representative under President Bush and AHTC member Carla Anderson Hills said it best: ``Moving Cuba toward a market economy serves US interests. The Nethercutt Amendment, if passed, would help do that by forcing Cuba to deal normally on the open market to procure basic goods for
its people. If we end the food and medicine embargo and these basic items are still scarce, the Cuban people will know where to put the blame.''
Our entire nation was transfixed by the fate of one six year old Cuban boy. Many embargo backers argued he should not be returned to Cuba because children over seven years of age do not get milk rations. We as Americans need to ask ourselves how our policy is affecting not one but millions of
Cuban children who need milk and might get more of it if we allow food and medical sales to Cuba. We urge you to consider all the above, but especially the children, as you consider whether to block a vote on food and medical sales to Cuba.
Advisory Council
Carla Anderson Hills
Former U.S. Trade Representative
Dwayne Andreas
Archer Daniels Midland Company
Phil Baum
American Jewish Congress
Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr.
Former Treasury Secretary
Reginald K. Brack, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus, Time Inc.
Dr. Joan Brown Campbell
Former General Secretary
National Council of Churches
Frank C. Carlucci
Former NSC Chief
A.W. Clausen
Former President World Bank
Francis Ford Coppola
Producer / Director
Michael C. Dow
Mayor of Mobile AL
Thom White Wolf Fassett
Methodist General Board of
Church and Society
Richard E. Feinberg
Former NSC Chief for Latin America
Craig L. Fuller [AHTC Co-Chair].
Former Chief of Staff VP Bush
Sam M. Gibbons [AHTC Co-Chair]
Gibbons & Co.
Former 34-year Congressman
Larry Gold, PhD
NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mark O Hatfield
Former Senate Appropriations Chair
Grazell Howard
Coalition of 100 Black Women
Bruce Josten
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
David G. Kay
American Rice, Inc.
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Dr. Paul McCleary
For Children, Inc.
Bob Odom
Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture
George Sturgis Pillsbury
Sargent Management Company
Julius B. Richmond, M.D.
Former Attorney General
Dennis Rivera
1199, National Health & Human
Service Employees Union
David Rockefeller
Rockefeller Center Properties
James Rodney Schlesinger
Former CIA Director
Former Defense Secretary
Kurt L. Schmoke
Former Mayor of Baltimore MD
General John J. Sheehan (retired)
Former Supreme Allied
Commander, Atlantic (NATO)
Sargent Shriver
Special Olympics International
Oliver Stone
Producer / Director
Paul A. Volcker
Former Chair Federal Reserve Board
Malcolm Wallop
Former U.S. Senator, Wyoming
John Whitehead
Former Deputy Secretary of State
Silvia Wilhelm
Executive Director
SOURCE: Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba
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