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What they have done is to inform the world that the
blockade stays in place, that they will try to foster
it, to convince others, to make more propaganda, while
they continue on that road doomed to failure

SPEECH GIVEN BY RICARDO ALARCON DE QUESADA, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PEOPLE'S POWER OF CUBA, ON THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT POLICY AGAINST CUBA, AIRED ON CUBAN TELEVISION AND BROADCAST ON RADIO HABANA CUBA, RADIO REBELDE AND RADIO PROGRESO, JANUARY 8, 1999, "YEAR OF THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORY OF THE REVOLUTION".

Ricardo Alarcon This is an issue I should analyze in depth. Ours is a cultivated and well informed people, a reasonable people with a long-standing experience accumulated throughout the Revolution when on more than once occasion we have had to confront the others' maneuvers and dirty tricks requiring from us to reflect and be well informed.

I should like to provide some background information which I think is important for a clearer understanding of the announcement made on January 5 that must be put in the right context.

First of all, it must be said that the US blockade which more than a blockade is a vicious economic, commercial and financial war waged at all levels against our country is being increasingly rejected by many people. It faces international opposition and a refusal by many governments expressed in different ways: through General Assembly resolutions that year by year show the US ever growing isolation and many more expressions proving that Cuba's international position is very sound, increasingly sound. Cuba is a respected country which sustains normal and cordial relations with the overwhelming majority of nations in the world.

Not only has international opposition to this US policy grown but also recently --and this is the issue I would like to draw your attention to-- opposition and criticism of this policy is gaining ground by the day even within the very United States.

I will very quickly go through a sort of chronology of the year 1998. On January 13 of that year, the inception of a broad coalition of US personalities and groups backed by the Chamber of Commerce was made public under the name of Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba, in other words, Americans who favor a humanitarian trade with Cuba. This group has been carrying out educational activities disseminating information on Cuba through chapters in practically every state of the Union. Likewise, it has supported a number of legislative initiatives aimed at eliminating restrictions and lifting the blockade in areas related to food and medicine.

Or course, the problems posed by the blockade could not be resolved even if they succeeded in its removal from these two areas because, given the conditions of the economic war imposed on Cuba, the exclusion of these two items from the blockade would not really be a solution, it would not even be significant in economic terms, nor would it make the blockade less callous and inhuman.

The fact is that the blockade denies us the resources needed for development and prevents normal trade with the United States while it attempts to sabotage normal trade relations with the rest of the world.

Anyway, these are people moved by generous and noble ideals who do not share their government's views and strategy against us. This group has been and continues to be very active. Throughout the past year it organized a number of very important activities which I will refer to later on.

Last year, on January --as we all recall-- His Holiness Pope John Paul II visited our country. On that occasion, thousands of journalists traveled to Cuba as well as numerous personalities from different parts of the world and the United States in particular, including some US Congressmen like Charles Rangel and others from the state of Massachusetts, and even members of US Senator Jesse Helms' staff.

As every one remembers, during his visit the Pope made a significant statement expressing that the blockade is unfair and ethically unacceptable. Obviously, this visit contributed to providing the world with a view of Cuba's reality as a civilized country, a united country which continues to advance in its struggle despite all difficulties. That image also reached the United States --many parts of the United States-- regardless of the fact that, as many will recall, the Pope's visit coincided with certain events in the United States that I will not mention here but which distracted part of the attention.

On March 20, 1998, a number of measures were announced by the US Administration --more or less like this time-- under the pretense of easing blockade restrictions. Actually, none of these measures were implemented --as I will explain later-- nor was this truly a significant modification of the blockade.

Basically, the measures included the resumption of direct flights between Miami and Havana so that people with roots in Cuba could visit their relatives on the island if they so wished. Actually, when the US prohibited such direct flights it did not prevent these people from continuing to visit Cuba. They had to travel through other countries but the flow was never really stopped, so the Administration was simply going back to what existed before in the face of something it was not able to remove since the visits had continued.

Once again they authorized Cuban Americans in the United States to send remittances to their relatives in Cuba and the same applied to the possibility of traveling to the island. Actually, they prohibited these remittances for some time until March 20 but they never ceased to enter the country because the Cuban Americans always found ways to help their relatives.

Everyone in Cuba knows that both the visits and the remittances continued throughout the period when President Clinton decided to suspend them.

At that moment, in addition to these two measures they announced their intention "to speed up the process for granting licenses for the sale of medicines to Cuba". This is a very important point which deserves to be elaborated extensively later on.

As for now, I will go on to categorically state without the shadow of a doubt that as of March 20 until today this country has not been able to purchase a single aspirin. Ten months have passed.

Of course, for several decades before March 20 we had neither been able to purchase a thing. But that was the date set for "speeding up" the process for granting licenses for the sale of medicines. Since then, Cuba has been making arrangements for the purchase of products from a number of US pharmaceutical companies but every time, without exception, either we did not receive a response or when we did it was a refusal, so in the past 10 months that "speed-up" has not been felt. Regarding the fourth item, it read more or less as follows: "We shall work together with Congress in order to achieve the transfer of food to Cuba".

The term "transfer" was used because at that moment, as all Cubans will surely recall, a bill had been introduced at the House of Representatives by Congressmen Charles Rangel and Esteban Torres and a similar one at the Senate by Senator Christopher Dodd. Both bills proposed lifting the blockade on medicines and food, that is, to authorize trade in theses two items.

On the other hand, the annexionist Miami mafia and Senator Helms --none other than Senator Helms himself-- to deceitfully confront the repudiation of this inhumane blockade as especially underscored by the Pope's presence in Cuba said that they would propose "donations" of food to Cuba.

By the way, according to Senator Helms' proposal such "donations" would be accompanied by funds to organize counterrevolutionary subversion within our country and the food as a means for bribery and internally undermining the country. Obviously, such a proposal was totally unacceptable to Cuba. This country does not accept blackmail nor handouts least of all from a hostile and insensitive person like Senator Helms, one of the designers of a policy aimed at the annihilation of our people.

President Clinton had these two options: on the one hand, Mr. Helm's rude maneuver and on the other, a proper and well intended proposal by Congressmen Dodd, Torres and Rangel. That is why the term transfer was used: the idea being to work with Congress because there were two versions there and to produce hypothetically implying the possibility of certain development in this area.

NOTHING WAS ESTABLISHED ON MARCH 20, NO
MEASURES WERE ADOPTED, JUST LIKE THIS TIME

I do not want to proceed without stating the following: nothing was established on March 20, just like this time no measures have been adopted. On March 20, 1998 as on January 5, 1999 the Administration announced and described a policy focused on administrative regulations to be issued later on.

It must be said that the policy was announced on March 20; however, the specific rules and regulations on the organization of direct flights and remittances --the other terms were left pending, in limbo where they had always been from the beginning because they had no intentions whatsoever to sell food or medicines to Cuba-- the procedures for direct flights and remittances and other regulations were not announced until May 13, consequently, the first direct flight to Cuba did not materialize until July.

It goes as follows: bureaucrats meet and draft an interpretation of the Presidential guidelines. Next come the procedures and whether or not to approve the request filed by an airline to fly directly to Cuba or a financial entity for sending remittances, etc. It was for these reasons that the first direct flight did not take place until July.

As for remittances, when I proceed with the chronology you will see that there are still people awaiting permission to travel to Cuba to set up a mechanism for sending remittances. But that doesn't matter because the money continues to flow.

I would like to say, though, in connection with remittances by Cuban Americans to Cuba that this is a universal phenomenon. Throughout history emigrants have always tried to help relatives back in their countries. Tens of billions of dollars leave the United States for Latin America thus becoming the main source of income for many countries in the region. They also leave for Europe, Africa and Asia because there are in the United States many emigrants from different parts of the world. The only emigrants, absolutely the only ones, who are subjected to control, who are told how much they can send are those of Cuban origin. They are absolutely discriminated against.

In this respect, the Federal Government does not interfere with what a national from another country does about his relatives in the country he comes from. This is entirely a private matter. The Cuban Americans are the only ones discriminated. For a time, they were also prevented from sending remittances and now they are allowed to send only a small amount under very strict control measures and regulations. This was restored on March 20, 1998. Later on I will refer to the present status resulting from the much-trumpeted announcement of January 5, 1999.

On March 31, 1998, a mobilization at the US Congress was promoted by the group initially mentioned. Many people went to the Washington Capitol to speak with the congressmen and demonstrate against the blockade and in favor of the initiative to remove sanctions on food and medicines.

Just to give you an idea of the dimensions of such movement I will say that on that occasion a document was presented in Washington with the signature of 20,000 people of Cuban origin living in Florida. In other words, 20,000 Cuban Americans signed --and this is duly registered-- a document demanding the end of the blockade policy against Cuba.

If we move on to April we will see that another important event occurred. On April 22, 1998, the Human Rights Commission in Geneva rejected the US defamatory proposal which is part of the their systematic campaign against Cuba to try to condemn our country for alleged human rights violations. This is proof of the growth and consolidation of world respect for Cuba and of the United States isolation.

On May 6, another interesting happening: a Pentagon report was made public urged by some anti-Cuban legislators as part of the efforts to create a hostile climate that would justify the virulence against Cuba. Well, the Pentagon produced a report stating the elemental which is a surprise to no one, namely, that Cuba poses no threat to the national security of the United States. This is one of the arguments brandished by Helms and the Cuban mafiosi as the basis of their policy against us. This was on May 6, 1998.

On May 7, 1998, the head of the Cuban Bureau at the State Department explained to a congressional sub-committee the implementation of Article 109 of the Helms-Burton Act which provides for material, financial and economic assistance to be delivered to the traitors they try to organize within Cuba who they intend to sustain as small counterrevolutionary groups. It was said there that 2 million dollars had been spent on this in the past year -that is, until the moment it was said-- and that they were already working on an additional 1,800,000 dollars grant. The money would be handed over to the International Development Agency which would then transfer it to US non-governmental organizations for financing programs against Cuba abroad or send it to their sponsors in Cuba.

As I said before, the regulations for traveling and sending remittances were finally announced on the 14th of that month but then something unusual happened. In his announcement on March 20, President Clinton had in fact said that the purpose was to restore direct travel between the two countries in order to facilitate that means of communications between Cubans, etc.

This time, however, there were aspects in the regulations which had not been there before, such as greater travelers control and greater efforts to enforce the limitations imposed on this sector of immigrants and only on this sector, the Cubans. Also a more rigorous control of what they carry and the number of times they travel because Cubans or people of Cuban origin are the only people in the United States who can only travel to their country of origin once in a 12 months period and this for reason of humanitarian emergency. According to these regulations they must have a very sick relative or some other dramatic personal situation.

Perhaps before someone might have come to Cuba without such a very powerful reason, however, after March 20 or more exactly after May 13 there begin to be cases of people searched at the airport, limitations, etc.

Take for example the case of Mrs. Victoria Hernandez who received a notification on September 2, 1998 --and this is not ancient history, this is now-- from the US Treasury Department, here is the letter (shows the letter) informing that a number of her things had been confiscated including specifically the money she had intended to bring on her trip to Cuba. They even opened an office in Miami to guarantee the enforcement of these measures. This is public matter, it is not a secret.

I have here the text (shows the document) of an interview by Michael Kozak, head of the United States Interest Section in Havana, to NBC Television. He explains, among other things, that a series of measures have been adopted to punish those who violate these regulations. He says: "During the past three years there have been nine cases of criminal indictment and two persons were sentenced for violating the travel regulations". He said this on US television, tat is, he was warning that this is no game and no joke, that "eased restrictions" can lead to jail or the imposition of a fine.

As I said before, the first flight did not take place until July.

June 10. Dr.D�az Vallina, Deputy Minister of Public Health, had a meeting here in Havana with that same US diplomat as part of our efforts to find out whether the bureaucrats who had drafted the May regulations were actually going to allow the sale of medications after President Clinton's announcement that the procedures for the sales of medications would be "speeded up". Three months had passed and no reply had been received, nor had we been able to purchase anything so they were having discussions to determine the real possibilities. They confirmed what we already knew: that it was actually impossible to purchase anything.

However, we are not discouraged although since then and, I repeat it, after 10 months of continuous efforts the results are still the same: absolutely no sale of medications or anything else to Cuba.

On July 2, 1998 it was announced that requests had been denied for indirect flights to Cuba by a number of US airlines that wanted to continue flying like they had been doing until then.

Remember that the possibility for direct flights was announced on March, the regulations explained on May and yet on July no one had flown directly to Cuba. On July, the license of those companies flying through indirect routes, since no one could fly directly, were also canceled. As a result, there would not be any more flights between Miami and other neighboring destinations and from there to Cuba, there would only be a direct flight which, in fact, was restored later on.

On July 15, Senator Christopher Dodd benefited from a debate in the Senate to introduce an amendment reflecting the same intent as his bill. If passed, Cuba would not have been among the countries subjected to a medical and food blockade. However, the amendment was rejected, it did not pass the Senate.

On July 21, something very interesting occurred. We are talking of the "speed up" process to sell medicines. On July 21, the Treasury Department refused PWN, a US company, permission to come to our country to take part in an exhibit of pharmaceuticals. Since they had said that they were going to expedite the sale of medicines, a company decided to take what is usually the first step to sell a product, that is, to advertise it; it may be of interest to a client, or not. They wanted to take part in the exhibit in Havana and so they requested the Treasury Department for permission to come and show their products. They wanted to attend the fair and see if anyone might be interested before asking for a license which the government would "speedily" grant.

I have here the letters exchanged between one of our public health enterprises and that company, all the details including the space they would have in EXPOCUBA, etc. However, on July 21, the Treasury Department replied that they could not travel to Cuba, not even to exhibit their products.

On August 3, 1998 the Secretary of State sent a letter to Senator Helms where she explained that the understanding between the United States Government and the European Union achieved their country's objective to internationalize the blockade. Obviously, that lady's capricious and arbitrary interpretation created an embarrassing situation for the European countries that do not accept the blockade and do not yield to it and who had reached an understanding with the United States, something we have discussed many times before.

In short, what did it consist of? Europe would not press its claim before the World Trade Organization where it had previously lodged a formal protest and asked for a panel to judge the violation of international law and of the WTO norms by the Helms-Burton Act and in return it demanded the United States to modify the aspect of the law pertaining to sanctions against European businessmen investing in Cuba denying visas to travel to the United States. That was in essence the barter.

However, that lady sent her interpretation to Mr. Helms, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a written notification which was actually insulting to their European allies and friends who had not adhered to the blockade policy.

Two days later, on August 5, a completely new event: Six US businessmen were detained in New York City for smoking Cuban cigars, not for importing or distributing them but simply because it was discovered that somewhere in New York there were people who, one way or another, had obtained the cigars and were arrested for the crime of smoking.

I am aware of the on-going campaign against smoking and that this is highly recommendable for health, however it seems somewhat disproportionate to arrest anyone for smoking a cigar from a certain country. I understand that they were later released and charges were dropped.

On September 13, something very revealing occurred. The Treasury Department denied Alamar Associates a license for a businessmen trip to Cuba it was organizing, consequently they were not able to travel. These businessmen were planning to spend a day in Cancun and then travel to Cuba, as had been the case on March 6, 1998.

Two weeks before the much-trumpeted "easing of restrictions" Alamar Associates had organized a trip of US businessmen who first met in Cancun and then traveled to Havana. I met with them precisely on March 6, here in Havana.

A few days later, the President announced the "relaxation" of the blockade. Put yourselves in the place of Alamar Associates. You would have thought: "Good, I'm going to organize another meeting! Now it's going to be easier than before." Imagine their reaction when they were told : "No, no, no, no. We are now "easing restrictions" and you cannot do what you could do before.

In fact, what was possible before the measures adopted on March 20, 1998, was no longer possible in September.

On September 28, Western Union was informed that it would not receive a license for one of its executives to travel to Havana to organize the famous remittances which had supposedly been authorized again on March. I draw your attention to the difference between rhetoric and facts which leads us to conclude that the policy regulations announced by President Clinton on March 20, 1998 to "ease restrictions" really meant the opposite. Still, we persisted in trying to obtain the medications and the famous licenses to purchase them.

On September 29, Fernando Remirez, head of our Diplomatic Mission in Washington, met with State Department officials. On October 1, 1998, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, director of the North America Department in Havana met, once more, with officials from the same Department to discuss, to explain, to tell them --because we always speak the truth, we do not lie-- that they talked endlessly about the alleged sales of medicines to Cuba, yet we were not able to bring in an Aspirin.

Not only have we made all efforts but we have done so unobtrusively. I think this is the first time we speak about this. I'm giving information on Diaz Vallina's meeting with Kozak and on our officials' meetings with the State Department because it shows our interest to determine whether they would actually permit us to buy some of those products.

Something more important still occurred on September 30. On that day a letter was made public by Lawrence Eagleberguer, former Secretary of State of the United States of America, endorsed by Henry Kissinger, also a former US Secretary of State, and two other former Secretaries of State --four in all, all Republicans, all worked in that capacity under Republican Administrations-- and other prominent personalities in this area, moderate and more or less conservative republicans, asking the President to set up a bipartisan Commission, that is, with people from both Parties, to review the policy towards Cuba.

PART II