U.S. Enacts New Measures Against Cuba

Continuing on the path to turn Cuba back into a colony of the United States, on May 6 U.S. President Bush announced new measures against Cuba. The announcement came following the release of a 450-page report by the American "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba". The report lists the following strategic tasks for the U.S. to hasten the overthrow of the Cuban government: increased support to international campaigns against Cuba; intensification of subversive actions and disinformation against Cuba; the adoption of new measures to undermine the Cuban economy; and attempts to "undermine the regime's succession plans".

The new measures specifically commit $59 million over the next two years to finance actions against Cuba, including the further development of a core of counter-revolutionaries outside Cuba who would provide funds and logistical support to anti-Cuban elements within the country. The money will also be used to establish a "scholarship" plan with the OAS to train counter-revolutionaries in U.S. and Latin American universities. Another measure targets the development of a "pro-democracy" movement among Afro-Cubans, an act which is the height of hypocrisy for a country in which discrimination against Afro-Americans is still rampant and the Ku Klux Klan still flourishes. The Bush administration also allocates $5 million to a propaganda campaign to discredit Cuba, including the organizing of conferences in other countries, particularly in Latin America.

In addition, the definition of family members in Cuba who can receive remittances of money from their American relatives is narrowed to include only immediate family members. Cuba is the first country for which the U.S. has defined who is family for this purpose. The measures also prohibit Cubans resident in the U.S. from sending remittances of any kind, be it money or goods, to any family member in Cuba who is a government official or member of the Communist Party.

Visits by Cubans resident in the U.S. to Cuba are further restricted from one every year to one visit every three years. A further requirement imposed is that each visit must receive specific permission from the U.S. government, and that only the defined narrow list of family members may be visited. Furthermore, the amount of money the visitors can spend is reduced drastically from $164 to $50 per day.

The Commission report also proposes a rigorous study of the section of the Helms-Burton Act which governs businesses from third countries trading and/or selling goods to Cuba. The implication is that such individuals could be tried in the U.S. even if they have never set foot there. This goes one step further than what happened to Canadian James Sabzali who was arrested and charged years later, while he was living in the U.S., with selling goods to Cuba from an American branch plant in Hamilton, Ontario. There is a further proposal to prohibit the granting of entry visas to the U.S. for any person who has invested in Cuba. The report also proposes the creation of a 'Coordinator for the Transition in Cuba' at the State Department level.

The report includes many more measures with the same intent. It also devotes many pages to describing what the U.S. would do in Cuba following its overthrow of the government. One of the most audacious suggestions is a proposal to vaccinate all Cuban children under the age of five against childhood diseases! This is either stated out of ignorance or more likely as part of the American campaign of disinformation, as it is well known that preventive healthcare is one of the greatest accomplishments of the Cuban society; Cuba's infant mortality rate is significantly lower than that of the U.S., where tens of millions have no access to health care at all.

The response of the Cuban government to Bush's announcement has been swift and clear. On May 7, it issued a statement pointing out that the report "constitutes a flagrant violation of the human rights of 11 million Cubans, whom it is trying to force to their knees through hunger and disease for the sole 'crime' of wishing to be free, independent and not subjected to imperial rule." It points out that these measures also violate the rights of citizens of Cuban origin resident in the U.S., and also go against the interests of the people of the U.S., many of whom have stated their desire for normal relations with Cuba including members of the U.S. Congress. The statement declares that Cuba will never return to "the horrible, merciless and inhumane condition of a U.S. colony."

On May 14, an estimated 1.2 million Cubans marched through the streets of Havana in protest against the American measures.