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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (4049)	8/7/2002 6:48:28 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Bush's Cuban conflict A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL 8/7/2002 PRESIDENT BUSH has signaled his intention to veto legislation passed by the Republican-dominated House of Representatives last month that would ease restrictions on trade with and travel to Cuba. Bush claims that isolating Cuba is the only way to bring democracy and support for human rights to the island. His thinking is outdated. He ought to follow the lead of Congress and relinquish his grasp on a 40-year-old policy that is little more than symbolic. On July 23 the House voted 262-167 to allow US companies to sell their goods more easily and US citizens to travel to the island without fear of retaliatory action by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, said he believes there will be strong support for the easing of sanctions in the Senate, where legislation is expected to be introduced following the August recess. Clare Buchan, a spokeswoman for President Bush, was quoted in The New York Times saying, ''The president's Cuba policy is part of his overall foreign policy of promoting freedom and democracy around the world.'' Yet Bush allows trade with such countries as North Korea and Iran, nations the US government considers lacking in basic democratic and human rights. With countries other than Cuba, Bush makes US economic interests the priority. Cuba's unique treatment stems from the political power of a small group of Cuban-Americans in southern Florida, a population President Bush considers essential to his own political future and that of his brother, Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida. Democrats have also been reluctant to cross this group. While President Bush clings to symbolic sanctions, numerous GOP lawmakers have begun to recognize Cuba's vast potential as a food and agricultural market. The House vote to ease restrictions included 73 Republicans. Since 2000, when the US government authorized limited sales of US food and agricultural products to Cuba, 30 states have been directly trading with the island. According to data compiled by the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States, Alimport - the import department of Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Trade - purchased $109 million worth of agricultural products from the United States in 2001. That number is expected to increase to $165 million this year. As for human rights, opening travel and trade to the island would improve the monitoring of human rights abuses and expose more Cubans to American values. Bush ought to put the interests of both Cubans and Americans before his domestic political needs. US sanctions against Cuba have done little but deny Cubans goods made in the United States while denying Americans potential business in Cuba. It is time for the president to focus on improved relations with our neighbor 90 miles to the south. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. boston.com