You will find wide acceptance for this position. Perhaps the members of our group we are most proud to have with us are Cuban Americans. More than 20,000 Cuban Americans from Miami alone have signed a petition supporting the legislation, and much more support is gathering nationwide everyday. Also significant is major human rights groups' endorsement of the food and medicine legislation, such as Human Rights Watch. These groups argue that the U.S. cannot justify calling for respect for human rights in Cuba while violating international human right accords itself by prohibiting the sale of food and medical products to Cuba.
Attachments provide a list of our members and support groups.
And even in official meetings in Cuba arranged by the U.S. interest section in Havana, political dissidents across the board express little enthusiasm for the embargo but deep support for measures that would free the sale of food and medicine to the island. I firmly believe the reason for such widespread support is the recognition that continuing to deny the Cuban people the ability to purchase US medical supplies and food is doing nothing to further the foreign policy objectives of the United States. It was my privilege to travel to over 60 countries while serving as a member of the White House staff during the Reagan Administration, including the four years I served as chief of staff to Vice President Bush. During that time, while I rarely saw embargoes work, I never saw a situation where we denied people the opportunity to purchase food and medical supplies. To take this virtually unprecedented step with a country just 90 miles from our shores is certainly, at the present time, wholly unwarranted.