For Immediate Release Tuesday, July 17, 2001
Bush suspends Title III
* President Clinton's most recent six-month waiver of Title III of Helms-Burton expires today...Bush was required
to act in order to maintain status quo
* Tightening of anti-Castro restrictions last Friday and officially nominating hardliner Otto Reich, the day
before, were indications that Bush would issue a waiver on Title III but not turn to a policy of constructive
engagement. Bush is now set to continue the sterile policy of all of his modern predecessors
* With no signs of decline in the Castro regime, and with the 40-year-old embargo proving to be an abject failure,
continued suspension of Title III will pacify protests which would have come from business leaders in the U.S, the EU,
Canada, Latin America and elsewhere over charges of illegality and extraterritoriality
* Where is the illustrious Colin Powell?
President Bush has waived the application of Title III of Helms-Burton, continuing the longstanding policy of the
Clinton Administration, which suspended it ten times before, rather than allowing the extremely controversial provision
to automatically kick in. Title III allows Cuban-Americans and other U.S. claimants to sue current property owners or
lease-holders of any private property seized by Cuban authorities since the onset of Castro's rule in 1959. Along with
its decision on Title III, the White House would be wise to reevaluate its 40-year-old economic embargo that has been at
the core of U.S. policy toward the island nation since Castro first announced the Marxist character of his revolution in
1962. A policy of isolation was then devised by Washington to precipitate the fall of the new leftist regime. At the
height of the Cold War, Cuba was seen by successive U.S. administrations as a serious threat to this country's security
interests. Championed by Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) a self-styled gladiator against Castro's continued survival,
Helms-Burton (and especially Title III), enacted years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was denounced at the time by
its legion of critics as being wrong from humanitarian, legal, political and economic standpoints. There is little
disagreement that the embargo has failed to achieve its intended goals. It has been successful only in generating
suffering among average Cubans, and is being denounced worldwide on the grounds of basic decency. As President Clinton
acknowledged, "the U.S. stands alone" in its Cuba policy, with the EU, Canada and business leaders strongly opposing the
anti-Cuba sanctions.
Traditionally, American presidents have been strikingly ill-informed about Latin America, usually not even knowing the
capitals of a majority of the countries in the region. Of course, rhetorically, they are prepared to do anything for the
area except read a book on the subject or reflect on its profound social problems and the endemic obstacles to effective
governance. Moreover, there is a good reason to believe that President Bush is all but illiterate on the subject and
that he is being jockeyed into a position by those on the far right of the Republican party to appoint a series of
candidates who will further isolate him from the mainstream of current Latin American realities. Refusing to renew the
Title III waiver could have triggered a sequence of events which eventually could have cost the U.S. a
successfully-negotiated hemispheric free trade zone (FTAA) as well as having contributed to mobilizing an aroused public
opinion throughout Latin America. For sentimentality if nothing else, in any contest over their respected popularity
between Washington vs. Havana, the region's citizens might just as well choose Castro over the latest gringo bully,
Bush.
The Bush crack-down The U.S. President already has made clear his attitude towards U.S.-Cuba relations by announcing a
few days ago a new round of anti-Havana measures, which all but predicted that the Title III waiver would be maintained.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State barely has been heard from regarding Latin American policymaking. The fact that he
signed off on the Otto Reich and Roger Noriega nominations is shocking. The big question is whether the
ideological-driven regional policymaking, which is now being witnessed, is what Colin Powell wants to be identified with
if Bush aggressively implements his new policy. This includes cracking down on unlicensed travel by "enforcing the law
to the fullest extent to prevent unlicensed and extensive travel to Cuba" by U.S. nationals. Will the Secretary of State
also feel comfortable with the Bush initiative of funding opposition groups on the island, in effect, creating a
quisling presence tainted by its leaders receiving foreign funding? Moreover, to the apprehension of many area experts,
it is now disturbingly clear that the Bush White House, with Powell's apparent acquiescence, is lurching far more to the
right in staffing hemispheric-related offices than was the case when his father was president. This is reflected in the
appointment of an extremist policy-making triumvirate made up by radical right-wingers like Iran-Contra perjurer Elliot
Abrams to the National Security Council, his contra comrade-in-arms Otto Reich to be Assistant Secretary of State for
Latin America, and Senator Jesse Helms' protégé, Roger Noriega, to be the ambassador to the OAS. Added to this cluster
of ultra-conservative nominations is the name of John Negroponte, who served a highly tainted ambassadorship to Honduras
in the 1980s. He has been named to head the U.S. delegation to the UN. Also, Bush's brother, Jeb, hoping to be reelected
as governor of Florida, is now strengthening his links to conservative Miami Cubans, headed by the Cuban-American
National Foundation. This U.S. group played the principal role in last year's Elián González demonstrations and
single-mindedly promotes aimless hyper-hostility toward Cuba.
A policy motivated by blind rage In the early 1960s, the U.S. designed a "Two-Track Policy" aimed principally at
guaranteeing both economic denial aimed at asphyxiating Cuba's economy and its political isolation. But Washington was
also prepared to occasionally make very limited gestures of functional cooperation on issues of mutual concern, be it
trade, navigation or immigration. The embargo, established to eliminate the new regime's political and economic options,
serves as Washington's main foreign policy vehicle towards Cuba in providing consistency to its negativity. However,
U.S.-Cuba policy increasingly has been transformed into only a "One-Track Policy" constituted by a series of radical
measures explained best by being tied to domestic policy concerns, including the status of Florida's electoral votes,
than by diplomacy.
Clinton gives away the store The catalyzing event behind President Clinton's unexpected approval of Helms-Burton
occurred when a Cuban fighter jet shot down two civilian planes flown by members of the Cuban-American group, "Brothers
to the Rescue." Castro claimed (although this was contradicted by an investigation led by an international airline
industry panel) that the planes were flying over Cuban national waters. The group, which performed more than just
humanitarian missions, was known for its repeated violations of Cuban airspace when it would drop anti-Castro leaflets
denouncing the regime. In spite of repeated warnings by Cuban authorities to the State Department and their frequent
demarches objecting to these violations of sovereignty, as well as threats of possible dangerous consequences that could
follow, the incident provided Cuban-American hardliners with the necessary provocation to press for harsher sanctions
against Cuba. As a result, the White House, which was previously inclined to veto Helms-Burton, given that it would
offend Washington's overseas allies because of its extraterritorial reach, now reversed itself, with President Clinton
signing the measure on March 12, 1996. Of immense importance, the final version of Helms-Burton also included a
provision making the lifting of the embargo no longer a matter of only presidential discretion, but now required a
congressional majority.
The U.S. stands alone When Clinton again waived Title III last July, a State Department fact sheet declared: "The
President certified that a suspension is necessary to the national interest and will expedite a transition to democracy
in Cuba... He did so in order to work with our friends and allies to develop a multilateral approach to advance
democracy, human rights, and fundamental freedoms in Cuba." No other country, except Israel, supports the embargo, and
even Israel trades with Cuba. For Washington's European allies, Title III is an abomination and a violation of
international law. The EU went so far as to challenge its extraterritorial application before the World Trade
Organization, insisting that it violates that body's rules. Spain will be the most affected if Title III is enforced.
One Cuban-American has already drafted dozens of accusations against the Cuban holdings of the Spanish hotel chain Sol
Meliá, and would have sued if Title III had been untethered. The White House was also well aware that if Bush had not
emulated Clinton by waiving Title III, he could have anticipated unremitting recriminations from the EU, Canada and
Latin America. He also was mindful of the fact that a key funding source for his political campaign funds, America's
major corporations, were against Helms-Burton.
A case without much evidence Havana's supposed security threat against the U.S. can no longer be the cornerstone upon
which Washington legitimates its irrational gonzo policy towards the island. Teodoro Petkoff, a distinguished Venezuelan
journalist, argued at a recent Washington conference: "Any officer with common sense in the State Department knows that
Cuba is inoffensive. Fidel Castro is a Mickey Mouse; someone that you want to take a picture with, nothing more." The
Cuban Revolution lives on in part due to the protracted U.S. embargo, to which Castro attributes many of his regime's
failings.
Title III states that it will "bring democratic institutions to Cuba through the pressure of a general economic
embargo." Unfortunately, this language turns out to be a colossal bluff that depends upon an entirely unverified
hypothesis. If anything, the overwhelming consensus is that the democratization of Cuba will not be achieved through
isolation, but only through integration. Far more relevant for authentic U.S. national interests and much more likely to
be approved by the U.S. public, is the pending "Bridges to the Cuban People Act", sponsored by Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI). This measure would authorize the unrestricted sale of food, medicine and child-related
products to Cuba, remove travel restrictions on U.S. citizens and award scholarships for islanders to study here. A
humane and dignified outreach policy would saturate Cuba with pluralistic values and spawn a full spectrum of political
opposition (in contrast to Senators Helms and Lieberman's new pandering initiative to fund a paid Cuban opposition),
with the former vice-presidential candidate always finding it difficult to resist the lure of Florida's electoral votes
and Miami's campaign donations.
Popular opinion, often in the most unlikely of places, is convinced that the increasingly vermiculated embargo is
redundant. One poll indicates that 63.3 percent of all Americans and 54.1 percent of Florida Hispanics support lifting
the embargo, signifying fast changing times. The Elián González case established that extremist efforts to convince the
public of the Castro menace are being increasingly discounted. As for the embargo, it has been successful only in
generating poor diets among island school children and making medical supplies scarce (Cuban physicians have access to
only 50 percent of the new medicines available internationally). While island residents are the true victims of U.S.
policies, the aging government shows few signs of decline.
Moreover, the Cuban government has expressed a willingness on a number of occasions to discuss and resolve compensation
differences involving expropriated property with the U.S. and its claimants. Every other country that lodged claims
against Cuba has settled, but the White House, with far more pressing items on its policy agenda than settling a dispute
involving relatively small numbers, has no particular desire to really resolve the conflict and deflate an issue. To
Castro's experienced ears, the U.S. repeatedly has stated that once the Cuban leader meets certain pre-conditions, the
embargo will be terminated. But this game plan often has turned out to be an empty promise. In the past, the U.S. had
pledged to improve relations if Cuba withdrew help from Africa, stopped intervening in Central America and reduced
military relations with the USSR. In every case, the promise was not kept and the goal post had its location shifted.
This was because from Washington's perspective, the dispute had to be irreconcilable.
Making everyone happy, except Cuba By again waiving Title III, Bush felt his way to find a balance between two
contending forces- almost the entirety of U.S. civil society along with U.S.-based multinationals concerned over being
allowed to compete in the Cuban market, on one side, and an increasingly tiny minority of conservative Cuban-Americans
on the other. The decision was inevitably accompanied by additional measures that were meant to more than compensate for
the political damage inflicted on the interests of rightwing Cuban-Americans, who are unyielding in their insistence
that the embargo not be eased. In fact, the President's Friday announcement ordering stricter enforcement of the
embargo, may be only a first step in this unproductive direction.
Among the additional countermeasures that the administration may announce in the next few weeks is the enforcement of
Title IV, which allows for the denial of travel visas to the U.S. for officials of foreign corporations "trafficking" in
Cuban assets in violation of Title III. Other options include imposing harsher regulations on the legal sale of food and
medicine to Cuba, taking a personal role in pressing Congress to hasten confirmation of the controversial nominations of
Otto Reich as the top diplomat for Latin America, as well as Roger Noriega as the ambassador to the OAS, and pursuing
criminal proceedings against those responsible for the shoot-down of the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft. Bush might
even push for expedited hearings to be held on the Helms-Lieberman Bill in the Senate, which would grant $100 million to
Cuban dissidents over a period of four years.
More imperative and more difficult for the Bush administration, however, is to create a coherent policy towards Cuba
that could cast the President in the unlikely role of innovator, in the manner of Nixon in China. This may entirely be
wishful thinking, given his recent action in ordering a clamp down on travel to Cuba and other new restrictions. By
continuing to waive Title III, Washington has undertaken an essential first step towards ending an increasingly hollow
and reactive Cuba policy that has aimlessly staggered since the Kennedy administration.
COHA Research Group, Ana Maria Mini lead researcher.
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ENDS