Bush Criticizes New Cuban Leader
Thursday, May 8th, 2008 by admin
“Until there is a change of heart and a change of compassion and a change of how the Cuban government treats its people, there’s no change at all,” Bush said at the State Department to the Council of Americas, a business group that advocates for democracy and open markets in the Western Hemisphere. “Cuba will not be a land of liberty so long as free expression is punished and free speech can take place only in hushed whispers and silent prayers. And Cuba will not become a place of prosperity just by easing restrictions on the sale of products that the average Cuban cannot afford.”
The White House also said Wednesday that the president spoke by videoconference this week with democratic activists in Cuba, an unprecedented move that may enrage the Castro government.
The developments are part of a stepped-up effort by Bush to talk about Cuba and press for political change since Fidel Castro officially stepped down in February after nearly a half-century ruling the island. Fidel’s brother, Raul, took over as president in the ailing leader’s place, and has unveiled a series of changes in Cuba since then, from raising salaries to dropping irritating limits on what Cubans can buy and sell.
For years, lawmakers of both parties have been trying to chip away at the United States’ Cold War-era trade, travel and home visit restrictions aimed at undermining a hostile government just 90 miles from U.S. shores. They contend the leadership change in Havana provides the opportunity to lift the embargo.
But Bush has stressed that a new Castro does not mean a new Cuba, and he did so again on Wednesday.
He said Cuba’s government must allow Cubans “to pick their own leaders in free and fair elections,” release all political prisoners and respect human rights “in word and deed.”
“This is the policy of the United States and it must not change until the people of Cuba are free,” the president said.
In the teleconference that occurred Tuesday, Bush spoke with Martha Beatriz Roque, one of the 75 pro-democracy activists arrested in a 2003 crackdown for offenses against the Castro regime; Berta Soler, the wife of an activist still jailed for treason, and Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, who was released last year after 17 years in prison.
Some of what Bush heard echoed the challenges to his Cuba policy that he hears from some at home. Roque asked Bush to make it easier for Cuban Americans in the United States to visit family members on the island and send money to their relatives here.
The U.S. Interests Section in Havana, where the activists went to participate in the conference, did not say what, if anything, Bush said in response to Roque’s request. But his speech gave a clue that he’s not open to change in the current U.S. approach.
Also on the videoconference were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Rice and Gutierrez, a Cuban American who left the island with his parents at age 6, chair the White House Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba.
Rice once said the commission was created to “accelerate the demise of Castro’s tyranny.” The Castros have dismissed it as an effort to destabilize Cuban society.
The activists said Bush congratulated them on their bravery.
“He’s a president who leaves power in 10 months, but he’s the head of state closest to the Cuban people,” Soler told The Associated Press later. “He is one of the few presidents worrying about Cuba’s problems.”
It was the first time Bush has spoken directly to opposition leaders on the island, the U.S. Interests Section said. The use of U.S. property in Havana to facilitate the conversation won’t please Cuba’s government, which tolerates no organized opposition and dismisses dissidents as U.S.-paid mercenaries trying to topple the communist system.
In March, Bush met at the White House with a former Cuban prisoner and his wife to mark the five-year anniversary of the 2003 arrests.
Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez contributed to this story from Havana.
