From: David Sangurima <sangu@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Date: 28 Sep 92 21:55 PDT
Subject: Nicaragua Network on Toricelli
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1473800324:000:3148
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!sangu    Sep 28 21:55:00 1992


From: David Sangurima <sangu>
Subject: Nicaragua Network on Toricelli

/* Written 11:01 am  Sep 28, 1992 by crosenberg in cdp:cuba.activismo */
/* ---------- "Nicaragua Network on Toricelli" ---------- */
From: Charlie Rosenberg <crosenberg>
Subject: Nicaragua Network on Toricelli

From hrcoord Mon Sep 28 10:33:15 1992
Received: by igc.apc.org (4.1/Revision: 1.29 )
	id AA28472; Mon, 28 Sep 92 10:33:14 PDT
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 10:33:14 PDT
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Message-Id: <9209281733.AA28472@igc.apc.org>
To: crosenberg
Subject: Weekly News Update #139, 9/27/92
Status: R

/* Written  5:33 am  Sep 28, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua */
/* ---------- "Weekly News Update #139, 9/27/92" ---------- */

14. US CONGRESS APPROVES NEW RESTRICTIONS ON CUBA 
The "Cuban Democracy Act of 1992"--also known as the Torricelli
bill for its principal author, Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ)--
passed the House of Representatives on Sept. 24 by a vote of 276
to 135. Virtually identical legislation passed the Senate by
voice vote (24 to 61) on Sept. 18. The legislation, described by
its supporters as "a mixture of carrots and sticks," strengthens
the 30-year old US trade embargo against Cuba by asking that the
President encourage foreign countries to restrict trade with
Cuba, and by effectively preventing US companies from trading
with the island through their foreign subsidiaries. The bill also
promises aid for dissidents inside Cuba who are working to oppose
the Castro government. The bill is almost assured of becoming
law, since it is supported by both President George Bush and
Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton; Rep. Charles
Rangel (D-NY) said the bill "is not being concerned so much about
the future of people living in Cuba as it is an appeal to the
Cuban Americans in Dade County [Florida]." Florida, according to
the Washington Post, is one of the keys to the November election.

The bill in the House was supported and even co-written by the
far-right Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, headed
by Jorge Mas Canosa. [WP 9/25/92] But not all Cuban dissidents
approve of tightening the embargo; dissidents Elizardo Sanchez
and Gustavo Arcos, who still live on the island, asked that the
embargo not be reinforced, saying that it would lead inevitably
to a worsening of repression in Cuba. [ED-LP 9/25/92] And four
dissident groups inside Cuba sent a joint message to the Congress
and US government on Sept. 24, advising against approval of the
bill. "The policy of strengthening the embargo removes the
possibility of a peaceful solution of the bilateral disagreement
and of the grave domestic crisis that we Cubans are suffering,"
the message said. It was difficult to believe, added the message,
that "the policy of economic strangulation is inspired in the
desire to better the situation of human rights in Cuba."

"The most just, wise and urgent thing is to open all the channels
of collaboration with Cuba that are possible with the end of
normalizing and stabilizing the domestic and foreign situation of
our country," continued the dissidents' message. [ED-LP 9/25/92
from AFP]