| CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Hundreds in D.C. call for fewer limits
on travel to Cuba
About 600 people gathered
in Washington to support fewer Cuba travel
restrictions. Also, lawmakers formed a group
to weaken Fidel Castro.
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Thu, Apr. 28, 2005.
WASHINGTON - Some 600 activists from Miami
to Alaska rallied in Washington Wednesday
to show support for congressional moves
to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba.
Among the participants in the Cuba Action
Day were politicians, business leaders and
Cuban Americans, including an Army reservist
who fought in Iraq and now complains that
he cannot visit his two sons in Havana until
2006 because of Bush administration tightenings
of restrictions.
''I have fulfilled my duty as a citizen
and as a soldier,'' a uniformed Sgt. Carlos
Lazo, 40, told a packed ballroom at a hotel
near Congress. "All I ask is to be
allowed to fulfill my duty as a father.''
Lazo, a rafter who was rescued off the
coast of Key West in 1992, is among thousands
of exiles who find themselves in a quandary
because of regulations imposed last year
that restrict family travel to Cuba to once
every three years, instead of once a year,
and limits those visits to immediate family,
leaving out relatives such as cousins.
NEW RULES, OLD DEBATE
The new regulations have refueled the always
heated Washington debate on whether the
four-decade-old U.S. trade embargo helps
or hinders efforts to propel democratic
change on the communist-ruled island.
Efforts to ease the trade and travel sanctions
have gained momentum over the past several
years, especially among lawmakers who represent
farm states hoping to sell exports to Cuba.
But each year such efforts are eventually
defeated in Congress.
Already winding its way through Congress
this year is a bipartisan bill that would
allow direct U.S.-Cuba bank transfers so
that Havana can pay for American imports.
The bill would undercut new U.S. Treasury
Department regulations that now prohibit
American exports to the island from leaving
U.S. ports until Havana pays cash. On Wednesday,
two new pieces of legislation on Cuba were
announced: Embargo opponents unveiled the
''Export Freedom to Cuba Act,'' spearheaded
by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., which calls
for an end to all travel restrictions. And
in the Senate, Florida Democrat Bill Nelson
and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., announced
they would soon introduce a bill authorizing
the U.S. government to send $15 million
in aid directly to dissidents on the island.
NEW GROUP
Also Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers
officially announced the creation of the
Cuba Democracy Caucus, aimed at weakening
the Castro government. The caucus is likely
to gain the support of the White House,
since President Bush has threatened to veto
any legislation that would soften the U.S.
sanctions on Cuba.
''The caucus will help bring more attention
to the issues surrounding a transition to
a free Cuba in Congress,'' Florida Republican
Sen. Mel Martinez said in a statement. "It
will give us the opportunity to educate
our colleagues about the severity of the
oppressive Cuban government and the human-rights
violations that are keeping the Cuban people
from being free.''
For Lazo, the political battle makes no
sense: "No one should interfere with
our right to support and help our family
in Cuba. This is about love, love for our
country, love for Cuba, love for our families.''
Caucus wants firm pressure on Castro
Demonstrating the growing
clout of Cuban-American lawmakers in Washington,
a group of legislators is creating a new
caucus to toughen sanctions against Fidel
Castro. Another group wants to ease U.S.
travel restrictions to Cuba.
By Oscar Corral, ocorral@herald.com.
Posted on Wed, Apr. 27, 2005.
In a show of the growing clout of Cuban-American
lawmakers in Washington, a bipartisan group
of legislators is forming a caucus to strengthen
measures designed to weaken Fidel Castro's
regime and to promote Cuba's civil society
and pro-democracy movement.
The Cuban Democracy Caucus had yet to
finalize its agenda and membership late
Tuesday. But a draft of a 10-point agenda
obtained by The Herald shows the caucus
may push for aggressive new tactics to undermine
Castro.
Among the moves being pushed:
o Support current U.S. law behind the embargo
and fight legislation that would allow U.S.
tourists to visit and spend money in Cuba;
o Insist that U.S. interests be allowed
to lobby the Havana government as much as
Washington allows lobbying by the Cuban
government;
o Demand accountability for crimes committed
by the Cuban government against U.S. citizens,
such as the shoot-down of the Brothers to
the Rescue planes in 1996, which resulted
in four U.S. civilian deaths.
The formation of the caucus will be announced
today, just as groups that want to ease
the U.S. embargo of Cuba gather for a conference
in Washington to call for an end to travel
restrictions.
DUELING EVENTS
Today's dueling events in the capital show
that debate over how best to speed up democratic
reforms on the island remains vibrant.
''It's a clear sign that momentum has shifted
and now there is an offense,'' said Mauricio
Claver-Clarone, a lobbyist in Washington
for the conservative Cuba Democracy Advocates.
"Enough is enough. These groups that
are getting together on the other side [to
loosen the embargo], it's pretty extreme.
You can see that their movement is in decay.''
But U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican
who is calling for an end to travel restrictions
to Cuba, argues that increasing travel to
the island will do more to bring about democratic
change. He and other legislators plan to
announce legislation today to lift the travel
ban as part of Cuba Action Day, a conference
organized by groups opposed to the U.S.
embargo.
''Travel has a corrosive effect on tyrannical
regimes,'' Flake said in an interview Tuesday.
'Forty-five years later, we still have Fidel
Castro in charge. Ordinary Americans have
to look back and say, 'What are we accomplishing
with denying travel?' ''
President Bush has threatened to veto any
legislation that would ease the U.S. embargo.
Caucus members will include Sen. Mel Martinez,R-Fla.,
Sen. Bill Nelson,D-Fla., U.S. Reps. Mario
and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, U.S. Rep.
Kendrick Meek, D-Miami and U.S. Rep. Debbie
Wasserman Shultz, D-Weston.
Nelson and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., are
also planning to introduce a bill in the
Senate that would authorize the U.S. government
to send $15 million in aid directly to dissidents
on the island, much like the United States
did to support dissident groups in Eastern
Europe during the Cold War. Today, the United
States does not send aid directly to dissident
groups.
The bill also would fund a new position
in the State Department to oversee a transition
to democracy in Cuba.
A YEAR OF WORK
Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban
American National Foundation, said the foundation's
lobbyist, Camila Ruiz, has been working
for a year to create the caucus, which got
a major boost in the Senate when Martinez
was elected in November. The foundation
has long pushed for the Ensign-Nelson bill.
Wasserman Shultz said she was contacted
by Cuban-American lawmakers to join the
caucus and gladly agreed because she wanted
to show solidarity with the cause for a
free Cuba.
''I will work with other members in trying
to help spread the word that there are reasons
to continue the embargo and keep pressure
on Castro,'' she said.
Not all caucus members agree with all 10
points on the agenda. For example, Meek
said he disagrees with the Bush administration's
crackdown on travel to the island, arguing
that it hurts families. The agenda says
the caucus will work to "support current
U.S. law and prevent passage of legislation
that provides U.S. tourism subsidies to
the Castro regime.''
Under current law, Cuban Americans can
visit the island only once every three years
to visit family members.
''I do not support travel restrictions
for Cubans who want to visit family members,''
Meek said. "But I don't think that
makes me an outcast in the pro-democracy
movement. It should be about what we can
do together to promote democracy.''
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