Summary
I. Repeal the travel
ban - The Cuba travel ban is an unwarranted intrusion on the
rights of American citizens; it criminalizes normal and constructive activity
by American citizens, and it closes off a powerful source of American influence
in Cuba.
II. Allow normal,
unsubsidized exports of agricultural and medical products - Far from
focusing attention on Cuba's failed domestic policies, U.S. restrictions send
the signal that American wants to use economic deprivation as a tool for
political change.
III. End
restrictions on remittances - Remittances make a crucial difference in the
well being of many thousands of Cuban families and help free them from
dependence on the government. They also
enable many Cubans to acquire the modest resources with which to start small
enterprises, further expanding independent sectors of the Cuban economy.
IV. Sunset
Helms-Burton in March 2003 - The Libertrad Act of 1996, also
known as “Helms-Burton,” was enacted on the premise that it would disrupt the
Cuban economy and topple the Cuban government, by tightening aspects of the
embargo. We support passage of
legislation to sunset Helms-Burton seven years after enactment in March 2003,
to allow a debate on the merits of reauthorization provisions of this law.
V. Repeal Section
211 - Section 211 constituted an improper intervention in a
private trademark matter in favor of a foreign interest, the Bermuda-based
Bacardi Corporation. It breaches U.S.
obligations to honor Cuban trademarks under the Inter-American Convention on
Trademarks and was judged by the WTO to be in violation of U.S. obligations to
protect intellectual property under the TRIPS Agreement. As a result, it frees Cuba of its legal
obligation to honor the more than 5,000 U.S.-owned trademarks registered in
Cuba.
VI. TV/Radio Marti
- The U.S. government has spent over $400 million in taxpayer
money on radio and television broadcasts directed at Cuban citizens. In principle, this is a worthy
effort but in practice its record has been mixed. Radio Marti’s audience has declined to five percent of the total
population, according to the latest survey by the U.S. government’s
Broadcasting Board of Governors, and serious questions exist about the quality
of its broadcasts and the administration of the station. TV Marti reaches no audience in Cuba and is
therefore utterly without purpose.
VII. Scholarships -
In place of the failed communication effort of TV Marti, the United States
should promote educational programs with a proven track record that will
achieve real communication between Americans and Cubans.
VIII. Expand
security cooperation - Cuba and the United States share some common
hemispheric security and environmental protection interests. Cuba and the United States already cooperate
in a limited fashion in controlling migration and combating drug
trafficking. Cuba has expressed a
desire to negotiate a broad security agenda with the United States. We urge the Administration to enter such a
discussion to determine whether additional agreements can be reached to serve
U.S. interests.
IX. Certified
Property Claims - Progress in economic and political relations
eventually will require the settlement of claims for expropriations of
$1.2 billion in U.S. property by the Cuban government 1959 and 1960. We urge the Administration to consider
creative approaches to a resolution of the claims issue.