Date: 2003-09-09
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the number one policy objective of the Cuban dictatorship is. obtaining U.S. mass tourism and the billions of dollars it would generate for the dictatorship. Travel to Cuba is now legal. but with a license for humanitarian. educational or journalistic reasons. But mass U.S. tourism is the dream. the number one goal. of the dictatorship. The gentleman from Arizona and those who are pushing for this goal here in Congress say that Castro fears tourism. "Lets adopt a real gettough policy toward Castro. Lets send him tourists and their dollars." they say. If Castro fears U.S. tourism and its billions of dollars. then why is obtaining U.S. tourism his number one objective? His views are very public about this goal. What did he have to say just 1 year ago when these amendments passed this House? "The House of Representatives voted with determination and courage for three amendments that bring glory to that institution. We shall. always be grateful for that gesture." That was the statement of the Cuban tyrant 1 year ago. To say that granting the dictator his numberone policy goal is to get tough on the dictatorship. in my view. constitutes uncalled for cynicism. We have an embargo against the Cuban dictatorship. Mr. Chairman. because it is in the national interest of the United States for there to be a transition to democracy in a country 90 miles from our shores. It is in the U.S. national interest for there to be an end to a terrorist regime that has had the head of its Air Force indicted for murder 2 weeks ago. the head of its Navy indicted for drug trafficking. and which carries out aggressive espionage and infiltration opeations on all branches of the U.S. Government. including this Congress. over 15 Cuban spies having been arrested in the last years alone. with dozens more having been expelled from the U.S. The FBI confirms that there is no more aggressive. hostile intelligence service in the United States than Castros operation. It is in the U.S. national interest for there to be an end to a regime that harbors hundreds of international terrorists and a large number of felony fugitives from the United States. And just as Europe told the dictatorships in Spain and Portugal in the 19?0s that access to the European Economic Community. now the European Union. required democracy in those countries. and that requirement was fundamental to the democratic transitions in those countries once the dictator of 40 years. France. died in Spain and the dictator of even more time in power. Oliviera. died in Portugal. our policy of conditioning access to the U.S. market. including mass tourism. to the liberation of all political prisoners and concrete movement toward free elections in Cuba. in other words. retaining the embargo until the Cuban people free themselves from their chains. is absolutely fundamental. It is in the U.S. national interest. Mr. Chairman. for there to be an end to a regime that has systematically attempted to derail and hamper U.S. intelligence efforts against international terrorism in the postSeptember 11 era. a regime that harbors countless international terrorists. It is in the U.S. national interest for there to be an end to a regime that maintains a biological weapons program 90 miles from the shores of the United States. In the last 6 months. yes. the Cuban people have witnessed the most brutal crackdown on courageous prodemocracy leaders and independent journalists. leaders like Marta Beatriz Roque and Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (Antunez). all of them who agree that it is fundamental that we maintain the U.S. embargo. including the travel restrictions. As a consequence of this crackdown. the European Union has imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions on the dictatorships henchmen. Important newspapers. such as the Los Angeles Times. have changed their prior positions on sanctions. For example. the Los Angeles Times wrote. "After years of calling for liberalized relations with Cuba. this editorial page must now urge American policymakers to hit the brakes. Fidel Castro has thrown up a roadblock that cannot be ignored. He sicced his political police on about 90 independent journalists. political dissidents and union activists. Before Congress even thinks about loosening restrictions. it should demand that Castro free those rounded up and demonstrate that his nation is moving toward democracy and away from totalitarianism." Fl 1445 That change of position by the Los Angeles Times was a call to conscience. None of the political prisoners. either of the recent ones or those serving decades in the torture gulag. have been freed. Over a dozen are known to have begun hunger strikes to protest the inhumanity of their captivity. Some are near death. What this moment calls for. Mr. Chairman. is for this Congress to bring glory to itself. but not by spending more dollars to the Cuban tyrant. No. Not a tyrants kind of glory. But to insist on the release of all political prisoners and on concrete steps toward free elections before a single additional dollar is sent to the enslaved island. That is the glory that this moment requires. the glory characteristic of the American people. liberator of oppressed nations and their sovereign free institution. this peoples House. not the glory of a tyrant like the quote that we looked at before. a tyrant who dispatches his goons to terrorize and imprison unarmed men and women and who sends those who dare to dream of freedom to the firing squad after farcical sham trials. Mr. Chairman. I thank President Bush for his veto threat regarding these uncalledfor amendments. but I ask my colleagues here to not make it necessary for the President to carry out his threat. I ask my colleagues to defeat these sad amendments.