President ties lifting of ban to human rights, free elections

By G. ROBERT HILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – Dismissing Fidel Castro as a tyrannical "relic from another era," President Bush on Monday vowed to strictly enforce the economic embargo
against the communist island until the Cuban president changes his ways.

In a shift of policy that one supporter likened to switching from defense to offense, Mr. Bush challenged Mr. Castro to ensure certifiably free elections for the
National Assembly next year and to embrace democracy.

"Full normalization of relations with Cuba, diplomatic recognition, open trade and a robust aid program will be possible when Cuba
has a new government that is fully democratic, when the rule of law is respected and when the human rights of all Cubans are fully
protected," Mr. Bush said.

The president outlined his Initiative for a New Cuba in a speech to Cuban-Americans and other supporters at the White House on
Monday morning. Then, he flew to Miami to repeat much of it at a Cuban Independence Day rally and to attend a $2 million
fund-raising dinner for his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, who is seeking re-election.

The Cuban-American vote, normally heavily Republican, has become critical in Florida, where the president squeezed out a recount
victory in 2000 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 in his favor.

On Monday, he received a rousing ovation by the mostly Cuban-American crowd at the Miami rally and was hailed by supporters in Congress who want to
maintain the hard line against Cuba, though there was no expectation that Mr. Castro would ease his grip on the island even a notch.

"We've been on the defensive for so long, now it's time for us to go on the offensive and let Castro explain to the Cuban people why he is denying them the right
to have free elections, why he is denying them freedom for political prisoners and why he is violating their human rights," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

Others working in Congress to ease the sanctions, though, called the policy archaic.

"Much ado about nothing," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Throwing worn-out wallpaper on a cracked foundation just doesn't work."

Alfredo Duran, a veteran of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and president of the Cuban Committee for Democracy, which is seeking to normalize relations with Cuba,
agreed.

"Bush's speech was traditional Cold War rhetoric," he said. "What Bush fails to grasp is that the only way to bring about openness in society is to engage, and what
better way to engage than through trade and travel."

In Cuba, there was no immediate government response to Mr. Bush's new policy. But on the streets of Havana, some Cubans said they wished the United States
would leave the island alone.

"The blockade only hurts us regular people," said Rogelio Gomez, an unemployed restaurant worker. "We're not doing anything to the United States. Why doesn't
Bush let us live like we want to live?"

Isodoro Sanchez, a college student, said he understands that freedom has a different meaning in the United States. "But that doesn't give the Americans the right to try
to change what we're trying to do," he said. "Most of us support Fidel Castro. We're not looking to make any fast changes."

In the East Room of the White House, which aides had chosen as a formal backdrop to unveil the Cuba initiative, Mr. Bush said that, while he was continuing a tough
stand against the Castro regime, he was eager to help dissidents foster democracy.

The goal, he said, was not a permanent embargo against Cuba, but rather freedom for its people.

"Meaningful reform on Cuba's part will be answered with a meaningful American response," he said.

Pointing to Poland, among other countries where the United States has successfully nurtured democracy, the president pledged to "work to make life better for
people living and resisting Castro's rule."

"He is a dictator who jails and tortures and exiles his political opponents," Mr. Bush said, charging that Mr. Castro has "turned a beautiful island into a prison."

Trade, no matter how well intentioned, would "merely prop up this dictator, enrich his cronies and enhance the totalitarian regime," Mr. Bush said. "It will not help the
Cuban people."

On Capitol Hill in recent years, increasing congressional majorities have eased some travel restrictions to Cuba and exempted food and medicine from the sanctions.
In Miami, Mr. Bush told cheering Cuban-American supporters that he would use his veto, if necessary, to maintain the embargo.

"I will not allow our taxpayers' money to go to enrich the Castro regime," he vowed.

Under the major provisions of his new initiative, first released by the White House on Sunday, federally funded Radio and TV Marti broadcasts to Cuba would be
enhanced and direct assistance to religious and nongovernmental organizations would be increased.

The president also proposed direct mail to the island again. He advocated U.S. scholarships for Cuban students and professionals seeking to build civil institutions
and for the families of political prisoners, who, he said, should be freed and able to vote in the 2003 elections.

And the elections, he said, must be free, fair and open to outside, international monitors.

"Political and economic freedoms go hand in hand," Mr. Bush said, "and if Cuba opens its political system, fundamental questions about its backward economic
system will come into sharper focus."

Mr. Bush announced his new policy three days after former President Jimmy Carter finished a historic six-day visit to Cuba, but the president never mentioned Mr.
Carter.

Outside the White House, though, several of Mr. Bush's Republican supporters in Congress were quick to dismiss the former president's trip as unwarranted
meddling.

Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., said "it ill-behooves previous administrations" to continue setting foreign policy.

And Sen. George Allen, R-Va., went even further, ridiculing Mr. Carter's visit as "softball diplomacy."

"Ronald Reagan went to the Berlin Wall and said, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,' " Mr. Allen told reporters on the White House driveway. "Jimmy Carter
goes down to Cuba and tears down American policy."

Staff writers Alfredo Corchado in Washington and Tracey Eaton in Havana contributed to this report.