Leading dissidents say Bush's continued hard line against
Cuba won't advance
democracy
By Anita Snow
Associated Press
May 28, 2002
HAVANA - Communist officials said Monday that President Bush's new Cuba initiative
marked no real change in hard-line policies toward the island, while leading
dissidents feared that continued U.S. trade sanctions could harm their efforts
to force a democratic opening.
"Changes have to be made but changes have to be made on both sides,"
said Vladimiro Roca, who was released from prison earlier this month just
two months short of his five-year sentence.
"Dialogue, negotiation and reconciliation" will help more than continued
tough U.S. policies, Roca said, reacting to Bush's speech Monday in Washington
on Cuba policy. "The prickly relationship between the two countries ...
can hurt our hopes for advancing a transition to democracy." Cuban officials
slammed Bush's statement. "This initiative is not new," Rogelio
Polanco, editor of the Communist Youth daily Juventud Rebelde, said during
the government's daily "Round Table" television program. The Cuba
policy that Bush described on Monday is "politically obsolete,"
he said. "It is more of the same of the old and failed political toward
Cuba," Polanco said.
Roca and veteran human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez, both of whom watched
coverage of the president's speech on CNN, said that Bush's address was more
moderate than they originally expected. They said they found several parts
of it positive, especially Bush's call for a resumption of postal service
between the two countries and his reference to the Varela Project reform referendum.
Former President Jimmy Carter also mentioned the Varela Project last week
in an unprecedented live speech to the Cuban people. It was the first time
that most Cubans had ever heard of the petition drive, which has gathered
more
than 11,000 voters' signatures.
The proposal seeks a national vote on guarantees of civil rights
such as freedom of speech, as well as the right to own a business, an amnesty
for political prisoners and electoral reform. Cuban officials have given little
hope for its success.
"The rest of (Bush's) speech was more of the same, the same prickly rhetoric
from the time of the Cold War that has characterized the relationship between
the countries for 40 years," Sanchez said. Sanchez added that Bush's
address "remained far behind" Carter's. "Carter's speech reflected
the point of view of the great silent majority in both countries who want
better relations," he said.
Both dissidents said they worried that Bush's promise to increase U.S. government
funding for non-governmental groups working with the Cuban people could undermine
their efforts in Cuba. "Any kind of financial help from any government
for our work is unacceptable," Sanchez said. "That's especially
true of a government such as Washington which has such very bad relations
with Cuba."
The Cuban government often tries to discredit human rights and other groups
on the island by accusing them of receiving U.S. government funds, a charge
that opposition groups here regularly deny.
In his address, Bush said he won't heed calls to lift the Cuban trade embargo
unless Fidel Castro (news - web sites) releases political prisoners, conducts
independently monitored elections and accepts a list of tough U.S. conditions
for a "new government that is fully democratic."
Bush's speech, which aides said has been in the works since January, came
a week after Carter traveled to Cuba and urged the communist government to
embrace democracy and called on the United States to lift the 40-year-old
trade embargo and restrictions on American travel to the island.
Carter and other critics argue that the restrictions have failed to force
a change in Castro's government while making life tough on ordinary Cubans.
