STEPHEN McCLOSKEY,
Sir, - It was payback time for George Bush last Monday in Miami. In a speech spelling out his administration's position on Cuba, the president paid his dues to the Republican Party establishment in Florida which "secured" his election two years ago. The Miami Republicans, dominated by wealthy and powerful Cuban-Americans, have essentially vetoed any easing of the 40-year US embargo of Cuba - the most restrictive sanctions, including food and medicines, imposed by one country on another. Bush not only owes the anti-Castro lobby his "victory" in 2000 but is counting on their support to re-elect his brother Jeb as Governor of Florida.
Contrary to your report of May 21st ("Bush may lift US embargo"), the president has ruled out any change in US policy toward Cuba during this administration. Bush has raised the bar for normal US-Cuban relations by demanding moves in Cuba toward a free market economy. This would not only unravel the Cuban achievements in health and education which are the envy of the Third World, but also trap the Cuban economy in the clutches of the Washington-controlled IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation. Cuba would return to the US client status it "enjoyed" before the revolution of 1959, an era when it was beset by illiteracy, poverty and disease and ruled by a US-installed puppet dictator.
With stunning hypocrisy, Bush advocates the free market for Cuba while threatening fines and imprisonment for US companies and directors that do business with Havana. The embargo even extends, illegally, to foreign companies: if they trade with Cuba they can forget operating in the US. With a straight face, President Bush also demanded that Cuba facilitate "free and fair" elections.
With former President Jimmy Carter, recently returned from Cuba, urging a lifting of the US blockade - a view shared by a growing number of Congressmen - it is time for the current administration to reflect the desire of the silent majority of American people and end the embargo. President Bush is increasingly out of step with domestic and international opinion on this issue and should be persuaded to put human rights before party political interests. - Yours, etc.,
STEPHEN McCLOSKEY,
Cuba Support Group,
Lower Crescent,
Belfast 7.