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“EASING UNITED STATES SANCTIONS TOWARD CUBA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S3602-S3603 on March 7, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
EASING UNITED STATES SANCTIONS TOWARD CUBA
Mr. PELL. Mr. President, as you know, I have spoken at length in this Chamber about the need to review United States policy toward Cuba. Therefore, I was very pleased to see reported in the Washington Post this morning that President Clinton is considering taking some modest steps toward altering the existing sanctions policy, in favor of more communication and contact between the Cuban and American people.
As I understand it, what is under consideration is the rolling back of last August's sanctions that were imposed during the Cuban migrant crisis--sanctions that have prohibited Cuban-Americans from sending money to family members in Cuba or visiting them, except in cases of dire emergency.
I believe that the President will find that there is a great deal of support for taking these steps within the Cuban-American community--
many of whom have been forced to sit back and do nothing to cushion the severe economic hardships they see their loved ones on the island enduring. I would urge the President to move forward with these measures, if for no other reason than on humanitarian grounds.
In addition to rolling back the August sanctions, the President appears to be considering whether to set forth a list of steps that the Cuban Government might take to elicit the calibrated easing of United States sanctions policy. This technique was contemplated a number of years ago when relations with Castro had temporarily thawed, but was overtaken by events before it was ever implemented. It is clearly worth exploring.
After more than 30 years of mistrust, confidence building measures on both sides will be needed in order to lay the groundwork for productive negotiations on issues of mutual concern to both countries. Someone must make the first gesture. I believe that if President Clinton acts affirmatively on the policy changes currently before him, he will be taking that very important first step. I would urge that he do so.
I would ask unanimous consent that an article entitled ``Clinton May Ease Sanctions on Cuba'' that appeared in the Washington Post on March 7, 1995 be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Clinton May Ease Sanctions on Cuba
(By Daniel Williams and Ann Devroy)
President Clinton's foreign policy advisers are recommending he take steps toward easing relations with Cuba by revoking some economic sanctions adopted against the nation in August, administration officials said yesterday.
The proposal, which has not yet been accepted by Clinton, would lift the ban that blocks Cuban exiles from sending cash to relatives on the island and would ease severe limits on travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens.
In addition, the advisers recommend issuing a list of steps that Cuban President Fidel Castro could take to qualify for a
``calibrated response'' by the United States. That could lead to talks on issues that have separated the two countries for more than 30 years, the officials said.
Any easing of restrictions would put Clinton into a confrontation with Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has drawn up legislation designed to tighten economic sanctions on Cuba.
Helms, other conservative Republicans, some anti-Castro Democratic legislators and the Cuban exile communities in Florida and New Jersey have long favored tougher treatment of Castro.
Senior foreign policy advisers have prepared a memo for Clinton to make the case that the August sanctions, which formed part of the U.S. effort to persuade Castro to stop the flow of Cuban boat people to America, succeeded and should now be removed.
During the summer, a relaxing of coastal surveillance by Castro ignited a massive exodus of raft people, 30,000 of whom took to the seas for Florida.
The outpouring caused Clinton to reverse longstanding U.S. policy and bar their landing on U.S. soil.
Since 1963, Cubans who arrived on U.S. shores had been all but guaranteed automatic political asylum.
But Clinton feared an immigration crisis at a time of a nationwide political backlash against newcomers.
So most of the Cubans were sent to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba's southeastern tip.
The decision not to admit the Cubans angered many in the Cuban-American community.
So, to mollify them as well as punish Castro, Clinton agreed to tighten the three-decade-old ban on trade with Cuba. The new sanctions included a bar on the sending of cash to relatives by Cuban Americans.
In addition, travel to this island was sharply restricted, as visits by relatives were curtailed and a Treasury Department permit was required for trips by educational researchers and other groups.
[[Page S3603]] At the time, the Clinton administration estimated that the ban on cash remittances and reduced travel would cost the Cuban economy an estimated $150 million per year. The new actions under consideration would not affect the rest of the trade ban.
Soon after imposing the tougher sanctions, the United States entered talks with Cuba aimed at easing the immigration crisis. The two sides reached a deal in which Cuba, in return for again blocking the outflow of raft people, received a guarantee of 20,000 visas a year for its citizens to go to the United States. The administration rejected a bid by Cuba to revoke the new sanctions as part of the immigration deal.
The time has come, some U.S. officials believe, to test whether Castro is willing to make deep economic and political reforms, a senior administration official said. The administration has engaged in a low-level debate over most of the past two years on whether to try to encourage political liberalization in Cuba by engaging Castro and loosening the overall trade embargo against the island nation.
Some mid-level State Department officials and others had proposed for months that Washington engage Castro either to help avert chaos surrounding a future succession or, in case of chaos, to establish a relationship that could avoid more refugee waves.
But the White House saw no political gain for easing relations. Last fall, Secretary of State Warren Christopher said Castro would have to make political reforms before the United States could engage on such issues as the embargo, eased travel relations and diplomatic relations.
The administration, before making a ``calibrated response,'' will be looking for wider economic reforms to establish a free market on the island as well as political reforms, including the stationing of human rights monitors on the island, the senior official said.
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