Posted on Mon, Jul. 18, 2005

Miami Herald
CORAL GABLES

Former official: Reduce Cuba tensions
BY BROOKE PRESCOTT
bprescott@herald.com

Wayne Smith, former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, spoke in Coral Gables on Sunday urging normal relations between the United States and Cuba.
During an event at the Biltmore Hotel, Smith called for a change in U.S. policy toward Cuba beginning with the easing of travel restrictions and, ultimately, ending the trade embargo on the island.
''We should reduce tensions, not aggravate it, making it clear to the Cuban government that we do not have hostile intentions toward them,'' Smith said during a 40-minute speech at a conference titled Cuba and the United States: Relations in Permanent Conflict, Causes, Effects and Solutions.
''I did not say lift the embargo without conditions,'' he said.
Many Cuban exiles support the embargo as a legitimate foreign policy tool to pressure the Cuban government into allowing changes that would bring democracy to the communist-controlled island.
The conference was sponsored by the Greater Miami Free Speech Coalition. Alberto Fernandez, a member of the group's steering committee, said the organization stands for the right of a community to speak freely about controversial issues.