Pained Cuba takes aim at tighter US sanctions
Friday, July 2, 2004
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuba's National Assembly
on Thursday struck back at tightened US sanctions aimed at toppling Fidel
Castro's communist regime, saying they amounted to an "apartheid" that hurts
Cubans living in the United States. The new
measures, which sharply restrict travel and money remittances to the Caribbean
island, were proposed by US President George W. Bush earlier this year in a
bid to expedite Castro's demise. They came into effect Wednesday.
"For Cubans in the United States, a kind of apartheid has been created," the
assembly lamented in a statement, because Cuban-Americans wishing to visit
family in Cuba are "faced with the threat of stiff fines and severe prison
terms for those who violate the blockade policy."
Under the new restrictions, Cuban-Americans can visit relatives in Cuba once
every three years, for only for 14 days, and are allowed to spend only 50
dollars a day, down from 165 dollars. The United States has imposed an embargo
against Cuba since 1961. "The most
significant thing about this freakish endeavor is its incredible and express
interventionist intent, its enormous cruelty and the clot of lies it uses to
paint a totally untrue vision of Cuban life," said National Assembly speaker
Ricardo Alarcon. The new measures angered the
estimated 1.5 million Cubans living in the United States, even though most
oppose the Castro government. "(Bush)
separates by decree the Cuban family," said assembly member Randy Alonso.
"They want to hijack affection and happiness."
There were long queues outside Western Union offices in Havana as family
members lined up to receive dollars wired by relatives in the United States
before the deadline. Money sent back to the
country of 11 million is one of the Cuban economy's three mainstays, along
with tourism and agriculture. The
Inter-American Development Bank said Cuban Americans sent 1.1 billion dollars
to Cuba in 2002. The Bush administration and
opponents of remittances note that much of the foreign currency entering Cuba
as support for relatives ends up in government coffers, ultimately benefiting
Castro, as supermarkets, stores and most restaurants where dollars are the
required currency are run by the government.
As the midnight Tuesday (0400 GMT Wednesday) hour neared for the measures to
take effect, one group of Cuban Americans staged noisy protests at the Miami,
Florida, airport, shouting: "We want to fly!" and "Cuba! Cuba!" Some 800,000
Cuban Americans live in the nearby US state.
"There was a difficult situation at the Miami airport," Castro said here
Wednesday, adding: "Incredible." "The
measures injure the sensibilities of Cuban families," Castro said, adding that
the US policy "was not well thought out."
"The least I can tell you is that Bush was ill advised," Castro said at the
Argentine embassy, where he met with a group of Argentine business leaders.
Castro, 77, said the new US restrictions on Cuba "could work against (Bush's)
efforts to be re-elected" in the November presidential election. Florida is
considered a key state in the election.
Despite Bush's hardening of the 42-year-old economic embargo on Cuba, Castro
said: "Mentally, we're ready for any measure -- either a message of peace or
war." The Cuban leader has repeatedly warned
that Bush is planning an invasion, a theme he has dedicated more time to since
the US invasion of Iraq. He recently vowed to "be the first in line to die for
my country."
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