Its time for Carter and Clinton to show the kind of professionalism and restraint we've seen from GWBush>
Like raffling off photos of himself at $150 a pop talking to Cheney while on AF 1 during 9/11. I would say that's pretty classy and restrained....oh, and professional, too.
As for Carter, I was impressed. He was the first American president to give an entire speech in the country's native language.
But what does that matter.......so you think that the Cubans duped him and they are manufacturing Anthrax and the like? The Bush admin. says yes but American intelligence says no.
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Carter Urges Reform in Cuba
Former President Also Calls for End to U.S. Embargo
By Anthony Boadle
Reuters
HAVANA (May 14) - Former President Jimmy Carter, in an unprecedented public critique by a visitor, encouraged Cuba's one-party communist state on Tuesday to allow a popular vote on internal reform in a speech delivered in the presence of President Fidel Castro.
Carter, the most prominent American to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution, also urged the U.S. Congress to lift a trade embargo that the United States has imposed on Cuba for 40 years to allow normal relations between the two Cold War foes.
His comments, read in halting but understandable Spanish, were broadcast on Cuba's state-run television and radio and followed closely by Cubans in their homes, as well as exiles across the Florida Straits in Miami, where the Hispanic television network Telemundo broadcast the speech live.
"Cuba has adopted a socialist government which does not permit its people to organize any type of opposition movement," Carter said in the address to students at Havana University.
"Its (Cuba's) constitution recognizes the right of freedom of expression and of association, but other laws deny these freedoms to those who do not agree with the government," Carter added.
Carter said Cuba's constitution allowed for a referendum on internal reforms and urged publication by the state-run media of the Varela Project, a proposal by dissidents who have gathered over 11,000 signatures to petition for a plebiscite on peaceful change.
The Cuban government maintains that its political system is fairer that Western-styled democracy and guarantees the rights of its 11 million inhabitants, with free access to public health and education.
During his six-day goodwill visit that began on Sunday, the former president has heaped praise on the health and educational achievements of Castro's revolution.
But in a question and answer session with students after his speech, Carter said democracy also meant the right to speak without fear of punishment, to elect one's leaders, organize opposition parties and confront the government in office.
"Those kinds of rights don't exist in Cuba," he said.
Carter, who has campaigned vigorously on human rights issues since his 1977-81 presidency, went to Cuba to try to end decades of feuding between the neighboring countries just 90 miles (140 km) apart.
CARTER SAYS NO 'EASY ANSWER'
In his speech, he said the time was right to overcome the "state of belligerence" in which the two nations have been trapped for 42 years. The United States, the most powerful nation, should take the first step by lifting the trade sanctions, Carter said.
"Some in Cuba believe that the answer is for the United States to end the embargo, and others in my country think that the answer is that the president of Cuba leave power and allow free elections," he added, as Castro, 75, listened in silence.
Carter added that there was no "easy answer" to the dispute, which also involves the claims of exiled Cubans to property which was confiscated after the 1959 revolution.
He proposed that the United States and Cuba set up a commission of notables to study each side's legitimate concerns.
In his speech, Carter said he hoped the U.S. Congress would lift restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba and revoke the trade embargo. The trade ban already is under pressure in Congress and U.S. business circles, but is firmly maintained by the Bush administration, backed by Cuban exiles in Florida who oppose any effort to "appease" Castro.
A GALVANIZED DISSIDENT MOVEMENT
Carter's encouragement of the Varela Project, which has never been mentioned in the Cuban media, was a boost for the small but growing dissident movement that has been galvanized by the referendum campaign.
"I thank President Carter for offering information to the Cuban people on the Varela Project," the campaign's leader Oswaldo Paya told reporters at his home.
Paya, who met Carter on Monday, said the dissidents would continue collecting signatures and demand that the state-run media publish their proposal so it can be debated.
The plan, which the government says would fail, seeks a referendum on freedom of expression and association, an amnesty for political prisoners, more openings for private business, a new electoral law and a general election.
Hours before Carter spoke at the university, President George W. Bush said in Washington that Carter's trip had brought no changes in U.S. policy, and denounced Castro as a repressive dictator.
The White House suggested that Carter should stick to a human rights agenda, saying Bush believed he "has an opportunity ... to do good things for the people of Cuba."
Carter's visit generated controversy in Washington after he said U.S. officials had told him in briefings that they had no evidence Cuba was developing biological arms, casting doubt on allegations by the Bush administration.
05/14/02 22:09 ET
Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. |
