II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2080

To provide for the President to increase support to the democratic opposition

in Cuba, to authorize support under the Cuban Liberty and Democratic

Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 for the provision and transport

of increased humanitarian assistance directly to the oppressed people

of Cuba to help them regain their freedom, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 14, 1998

Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. LOTT, Mr. MACK, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr.

TORRICELLI, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. D’AMATO, Mr. REID, Mr.

LIEBERMAN, Mr. HATCH, Mr. ROTH, Mr. THURMOND, Mr. NICKLES, Mr.

GRASSLEY, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. FAIRCLOTH, Mr.

INHOFE, Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire, Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. DEWINE,

and Mr. THOMPSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To provide for the President to increase support to the

democratic opposition in Cuba, to authorize support

under the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity

(LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 for the provision and transport of increased humanitarian assistance directly to the

oppressed people of Cuba to help them regain their freedom, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cuban Solidarity

3 (SOLIDARIDAD) Act of 1998’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress makes the following findings:

6 (1) In spite of the historic visit of Pope John

7 Paul II to Cuba on January 21 to 25, 1998, the re8 gime of Fidel Castro Ruz continues an unrelenting,

9 systematic repression of freedom of expression, free10 dom of religion, and all other universally recognized

11 human rights, proving that continued pressure, not

12 unilateral concessions, is needed and justified to un13 dermine Castro’s tyranny.

14 (2) The vast majority of the American people

15 support the principled policy of political and eco16 nomic isolation of the Castro regime.

17 (3) The United States has a moral obligation to

18 increase its support to the democratic opposition in

19 Cuba, providing such assistance with the same inten20 sity and decisiveness with which it supported the

21 pro-democracy Solidarnosc movement in Poland to

22 defeat martial law and communism.

23 (4) The United States Government should re24 double efforts to overcome Fidel Castro’s blockade

25 on independent information in Cuba and about

26 Cuba, so that people on the island realize the oppor-
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1 tunities of fundamental change and people in other

2 countries recognize their obligation to support such

3 change.

4 (5) The visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba rep5 resents an historic opportunity for the international

6 community to support the Cuban people in their

7 quest for political and spiritual liberation.

8 (6) The regime of Fidel Castro Ruz denies the

9 Cuban people basic necessities of life as a means of

10 political control, compounding the hardship caused

11 by the mismanagement that is typical of all other

12 failed Marxist, centrally planned economies through13 out history.

14 (7) Augmenting humanitarian assistance to the

15 Cuban people will undermine the policies of Fidel

16 Castro Ruz by promoting their independence and

17 strengthening relief groups that operate independ18 ently of the regime, provided that such increased as19 sistance is delivered directly to victims of political

20 repression by genuinely independent nongovern21 mental groups.

22 (8) The regime of Fidel Castro Ruz requires

23 the Cuban people to pay United States dollars for

24 basic necessities, including food and medicine, as a

25 means of diverting hard currency into the coffers of
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1 the repressive state, imposing extraordinary hard2 ship on workers whom the state pays an average

3 hourly wage of 5 cents.

4 (9) The regime of Fidel Castro Ruz refuses to

5 import adequate medicine and medical equipment for

6 the Cuban people, despite the fact that Cuba can

7 purchase such material from many countries, includ8 ing the United States, which lifted the embargo on

9 medicines and medical equipment in the Cuban De10 mocracy Act of 1992.

11 (10) The people of the United States already

12 provide more humanitarian assistance to Cuba under

13 present United States law than all other nations of

14 the world combined, exceeding $2,300,000,000 since

15 1992.

16 (11) Increasing humanitarian assistance di17 rectly to the Cuban people is consistent with the

18 aims of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidar19 ity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 and the Cuban De20 mocracy Act of 1992.

21 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

22 The purposes of this Act are—

23 (1) to confront the unrelenting, systematic re24 pression of the Castro regime by requiring the Presi25 dent to provide increased, decisive support to the
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1 democratic opposition in Cuba and to take specific

2 measures to bring about fundamental political and

3 economic change in Cuba;

4 (2) to take advantage of the historic oppor5 tunity created by the visit to Cuba of Pope John

6 Paul II to assist the Cuban people to secure the

7 blessings of liberty;

8 (3) to ensure that expanded humanitarian as9 sistance is delivered directly to needy, oppressed per10 sons in Cuba, including political prisoners and their

11 families, in order to undermine the deliberate policy

12 of the Cuban government to deny food and medical

13 care as a means of intimidation and control;

14 (4) to strengthen increasingly independent non15 governmental organizations in Cuba, including

16 groups committed to the political and spiritual lib17 eration of the Cuban people; and

18 (5) to encourage increased donations of free

19 food, medicine, and medical equipment by individ20 uals, nongovernmental organizations, and private

21 companies in the United States to the oppressed

22 people of Cuba who are unable to buy these neces23 sities because of the failed economic policies of the

24 Castro regime.
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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

2 For the purposes of section 109 of the Cuban Liberty

3 and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22

4 U.S.C. 6039) and this Act:

5 (1) CUBAN GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Cuban

6 government’’ has the meaning given the term in sec7 tion 4(5) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Soli8 darity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C.

9 6023(5)).

10 (2) HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.—The term

11 ‘‘humanitarian assistance’’ means food, medicines,

12 medical supplies, and medical equipment donated by

13 individuals or private companies in the United

14 States to independent nongovernmental organiza15 tions or provided by the United States Government

16 through independent nongovernmental organizations.

17 (3) INDEPENDENT NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGA18 NIZATION.—The term ‘‘independent nongovern19 mental organization’’ means an internationally rec20 ognized nongovernmental organization that is not an

21 agency or instrumentality of the Cuban government

22 and that has been designated by the President as an

23 independent nongovernmental organization for pur24 poses of this Act. The designation of independent

25 nongovernmental organizations for purposes of this

26 Act shall be made in accordance with the procedures
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1 applicable to reprogramming notifications under sec2 tion 634A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22

3 U.S.C. 2394–1).

4 (4) VICTIMS OF POLITICAL REPRESSION.—The

5 term ‘‘victims of political repression’’ means any

6 Cuban nationals in Cuba, including political pris7 oners and their families, who are not officials of the

8 Cuban government or of the ruling political party in

9 Cuba, as defined in section 4(10) of the Cuban Lib10 erty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of

11 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6023(10)).

12 SEC. 5. EMERGENCY MEASURES TO SUPPORT DEMOCRACY;

13 REPORTS.

14 (a) EMERGENCY MEASURES TO SUPPORT THE

15 DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION IN CUBA.—Not later than 6

16 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Presi17 dent—

18 (1) shall instruct the heads of all relevant agen19 cies of the United States Government to increase

20 support for democratic opposition groups in Cuba;

21 (2) should instruct the United States Perma22 nent Representative to the United Nations to intro23 duce a resolution in the United Nations Security

24 Council calling upon the Cuban government to im25 mediately respect all human rights, free all political
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1 prisoners, legalize independent political parties, allow

2 independent trade unions, and conduct internation3 ally monitored and freely contested elections;

4 (3) shall initiate broadcasting of Radio Marti

5 and Television Marti from the United States Naval

6 Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or other suitable

7 sites in proximity to the island of Cuba;

8 (4) shall provide not less than $5,000,000 of

9 funds otherwise available for voluntary contributions

10 of the United States to the Organization of Amer11 ican States in fiscal year 1999, solely for the pur12 poses of establishing a fund for the deployment of

13 human rights observers, election support, and elec14 tion observation in Cuba, as described in paragraph

15 (1) of section 109(b) of the Cuban Liberty and

16 Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996

17 (22 U.S.C. 6039(b)(1));

18 (5) shall direct the Secretary of the Treasury to

19 increase the number of personnel of the Office of

20 Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the

21 Treasury having responsibilities with respect to the

22 economic embargo on Cuba in order to more vigor23 ously enforce the embargo and to expeditiously li24 cense lawful transactions involving Cuba;
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1 (6) shall take steps to secure a commitment

2 from the Cuban government to allow the direct deliv3 ery of mail from the United States to Cuba, as

4 called for in section 1705(g) of the Cuban Democ5 racy Act of 1992; and

6 (7) should instruct the Attorney General to

7 seek an indictment of Fidel Castro and/or other offi8 cials of the Cuban government under section 32 of

9 title 18, United States Code, for the willful, pre10 meditated attack on 2 unarmed ‘‘Brothers to the

11 Rescue’’ humanitarian aircraft on February 24,

12 1996, which resulted in the destruction of those 2

13 civil aircraft in flight within the special aircraft ju14 risdiction of the United States and the violence

15 against and incapacitation and murder of four indi16 viduals on such aircraft, Pablo Morales, Carlos

17 Costa, Mario de la Pena, and Armando Alejandre.

18 (b) REPORTS.—

19 (1) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION BY THE

20 PRESIDENT.—Seven months after the date of enact21 ment of this Act, the President shall prepare and

22 transmit to Congress a detailed written report on

23 steps taken to implement each of the measures set

24 forth in subsection (a).
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1 (2) PERIODIC REPORTS ON CUBA.—Not later

2 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this

3 Act, and every 6 months thereafter, until a demo4 cratic government is in power in Cuba, the Secretary

5 of State shall prepare and transmit to Congress, and

6 disseminate through all United States diplomatic

7 and consular missions, unclassified written reports

8 (with classified annexes as required) on the following

9 subjects:

10 (A) Exploitative labor conditions that exist

11 in Cuba (including the denial of rights of inde12 pendent trade unions as set forth in conven13 tions 87 and 98 of the International Labor Or14 ganization), accompanied by a list of foreign

15 companies taking advantage of such exploitative

16 labor conditions and a description of the efforts

17 of the international free trade union movement

18 to press the Cuban government and foreign

19 companies doing business in Cuba to respect

20 the rights of Cuban workers.

21 (B) The policy of the Cuban government to

22 coerce certain categories of poor, less educated,

23 and rural women to submit to induced abor24 tions.
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1 (C) The role of the Cuban government or

2 any of its agents in international narcotics traf3 ficking or money laundering.

4 (D) The impact on and threat to the na5 tional security or national interests of the

6 United States posed by—

7 (i) the completion by the Russian

8 Federation or other countries of the tech9 nically flawed nuclear reactors at Juragua;

10 (ii) efforts of the Cuban government

11 to produce biological weapons; and

12 (iii) any Russian intelligence facilities

13 in Cuba, including the intelligence facility

14 at Lourdes, Cuba.

15 (E) Measures of the Cuban government to

16 persecute, discourage, or restrict the spiritual

17 and charitable activities of churches and other

18 religious organizations in Cuba.

19 (F) The plight of political prisoners and

20 prisoners of conscience in Cuba, including—

21 (i) a list of all persons who are im22 prisoned or detained in Cuba and the

23 crimes, if any, with which they have been

24 charged;
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1 (ii) a description of prison conditions

2 and treatment of prisoners by Cuban au3 thorities; and

4 (iii) a list, to the extent practicable, of

5 all persons who have been imprisoned or

6 executed for political reasons by authorities

7 of the Cuban government at any time on

8 or after January 1, 1959.

9 (G) Actions taken by the Cuban govern10 ment to repress freedom of the press, including

11 persecution or exclusion of journalists, reprisals

12 against journalists or their sources, interruption

13 of mass communication or distribution of jour14 nalistic materials, or similar measures.

15 (H) Actions by other governments and

16 international organizations, including but not

17 limited to Canada and member states of the

18 European Union, taken during the preceding 6-

19 month period, to encourage a process of transi20 tion to pluralist democracy and respect for

21 human rights and fundamental economic and

22 political freedoms in Cuba, accompanied by a

23 list of commercial ventures and bilateral agree24 ments signed with the Cuban government dur25 ing such period.
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1 (I) Efforts by the Cuban government to in2 fluence United States policy toward Cuba

3 through espionage, other surreptitious means,

4 or lobbying.

5 (J) The issuance of visas to enter the

6 United States to Cuban officials or persons af7 filiated with the Cuban government during the

8 preceding 6-month period, accompanied by a

9 justification for issuing each such visa taking

10 into account section 102(e) of the Cuban Lib11 erty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (22

12 U.S.C. 6032(e)).

13 (K) The bilateral sugar-for-oil agreement

14 between Russia and Cuba, including an analysis

15 of the terms of such agreement and a deter16 mination of whether such terms provide any

17 economic subsidy to the Cuban government.

18 (L) The extent to which the Italian tele19 communications company STET International,

20 which is engaged in a joint venture with the

21 Cuban Telephone System, allows or refuses to

22 allow electronic eavesdropping and interruption

23 of telephone service for political reasons con24 ducted by the Cuban government against per25 sons in Cuba.
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1 (M) Cuban relations with states that have

2 repeatedly provided support for acts of inter3 national terrorism, as designated under section

4 6(j)(1)(A) of the Export Administration Act of

5 1979.

6 (N) Action taken by the Department of

7 Justice and the Cuban government to extradite

8 or otherwise surrender to the United States Jo9 anne Chesimard (also known as ‘‘Assata

10 Shakur’’), convicted in the United States for

11 the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper

12 Werner Foerster and wounding of New Jersey

13 State Trooper James Hooper.

14 (3) PERIODIC REPORTS ON IMPLEMENTATION

15 BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE.—Not later than 120

16 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and

17 every 6 months thereafter, the President shall pre18 pare and transmit to Congress a report on steps

19 taken by the Secretary of State to disseminate the

20 unclassified reports prepared pursuant to paragraph

21 (2) through all United States diplomatic and con22 sular missions.
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1 SEC. 6. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR HUMANITARIAN AS2 SISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF POLITICAL RE3 PRESSION IN CUBA.

4 (a) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts available

6 under chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance

7 Act of 1961 (relating to development assistance) and

8 chapter 4 of part II of that Act (relating to the eco9 nomic support fund) in any fiscal year, not to exceed

10 $25,000,000 may be available each fiscal year to

11 carry out activities under section 109(a) of the

12 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity

13 (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6039 (a)),

14 and to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of

15 political repression in Cuba.

16 (2) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION PROCE17 DURES.—Funds made available under paragraph (1)

18 shall be subject to notification of the appropriate

19 congressional committees in accordance with the

20 procedures applicable to reprogramming notifications

21 under section 634A of the Foreign Assistance Act of

22 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2394–1).

23 (b) INELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE.—Assistance

24 may not be provided under this section to the Cuban gov25 ernment, to any organization affiliated with the Cuban

26 government, or to any organization that has violated any
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1 law or regulation of the United States prohibiting or re2 stricting trade or other financial transactions with Cuba.

3 SEC. 7. AIR TRANSPORT FLIGHTS TO CUBA FOR THE DELIV4 ERY OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.

5 (a) AIR TRANSPORT OF HUMANITARIAN ASSIST6 ANCE.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date of en8 actment of this Act, the President may authorize air

9 transportation flights directly from the United

10 States to Cuba for a period of 6 months only if he

11 determines and certifies to Congress that—

12 (A) those flights are necessary for, and will

13 be used solely for, the delivery of humanitarian

14 assistance by independent nongovernmental or15 ganizations to victims of political repression in

16 Cuba; and

17 (B) adequate monitoring is in place to en18 sure that such assistance will be delivered by an

19 independent nongovernmental organization only

20 to the intended recipients and will not be di21 verted to ineligible persons.

22 (2) RESTRICTIONS.—The President may au23 thorize air transportation flights directly from the

24 United States to Cuba for additional periods of 6

25 months after the initial determination and certifi-
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1 cation of the President under paragraph (1), only if

2 he determines and certifies to Congress that air

3 transport flights to Cuba during the next period of

4 6 months are likely to satisfy the requirements of

5 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1).

6 (b) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES.—

7 Each determination and certification of the President

8 under this paragraph shall be subject to the procedures

9 applicable to reprogramming notifications under section

10 634A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.

11 2394–1).

12 (c) DELIVERY OF MEDICINES AND MEDICAL SUP13 PLIES SOLD TO CUBA.—The President is authorized to

14 permit the delivery, by air transportation flights otherwise

15 licensed under subsection (a), of medicines and medical

16 supplies sold to Cuba in accordance with section 1705(c)

17 of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 6004(c)).

18 SEC. 8. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

19 Nothing in this Act or in section 109 of the Cuban

20 Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of

21 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6039) may be construed as authorizing

22 the commercial sale or export of food to Cuba or any other

23 commercial transaction with Cuba that is not otherwise

24 authorized under law.

Æ