CUBA:
Dissidents Unimpressed by New U.S. Measures

Patricia Grogg


HAVANA,  (IPS) - New U.S. policy prescriptions aimed at ''hastening'' a transition to democracy in Cuba were received with scepticism or even outright disapproval by dissidents, while the government of Fidel Castro threatened to file a complaint in international forums.

''If the aim is to democratize Cuba, the effect will be the contrary,'' Manuel Cuesta, spokesman for Arco Progresista, a coalition of social democratic dissident groups, told IPS.

The plan, which will stiffen the four-decade U.S. embargo against this socialist island nation, was announced by President George W. Bush Thursday in Washington. A total of 59 million dollars will be allocated for its implementation.

The measures will limit family visits to Cuba to just one trip every three years, under a specific licence only valid for visiting immediate family members. In addition, it will reduce the amount that visitors from the United States can spend on food and lodging in Cuba, from 164 dollars a day to just 50 dollars a day.

Furthermore, it will promote the creation of an international fund, in collaboration with other countries, to help protect and develop civil society in Cuba and finance educational programmes for the children of dissidents.

At the same time, the Bush administration said it will step up enforcement and ''sting operations'' against ''mules'' who carry money or other supplies to Cuba illegally, while baggage limits will also be strictly enforced.

Cuesta said the measures would have a ''negative'' impact on dissident groups in Cuba, which were hit hard last year when 75 activists were given lengthy prison sentences for allegedly ''conspiring'' with the United States.

''The U.S. government's money and meddlesome support weakens the dissident movement, even those who have no traditional links with U.S. policy towards Cuba, as in the case of Arco Progresista,'' he argued.

In a statement issued Friday, the Cuban government said the new measures are ''unacceptable provocations that destroy the norms and principals of international law.''

The measures will thus have to be discussed ''in the most diverse global forums, including the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva,'' said the communique.

Vladimiro Roca, spokesman for the dissident coalition Todos Unidos, said he was grateful for ''anything that is done in favour of democracy'' in Cuba, and said foreign aid was ''necessary'' to make it possible for him and other activists to remain in the country, exercising their right to dissent.

''If the government feels that it has to throw us in jail, it will do so, whether or not (U.S.) support exists,'' said Roca, who completed a five-year prison term in 2002 on charges of ''sedition''.

He downplayed the importance of the travel restrictions proposed by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, which was created by the U.S. government last year to help focus efforts on achieving its objectives of ''hastening Cuba's peaceful transition to a representative democracy and a free market economy''.

The Commission was coordinated by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega.

''People will keep travelling, they'll just come in through third countries instead of using direct flights from the United States,'' said Roca, who added that the new programme differs from earlier initiatives in that it seeks international participation.

According to the Cuban government, the Bush administration has once more demonstrated its ''cynical and cruel'' nature through the new measures, which are especially aimed at reducing the flow of financial resources into Cuba at a particularly difficult time for the national economy.

The international prices of food and the cost of transporting foodstuffs have nearly doubled; the price fetched by sugar, one of Cuba's main foreign exchange-earners, barely covers production costs; and oil prices have risen to nearly 40 dollars a barrel, said the official statement.

Cuesta said the measures would initially have a psychological impact on Cubans, due to the prospect of a reduced inflow of money.

Many Cubans depend heavily on the dollars sent and brought home by relatives in the United States, to purchase basic items and consumer goods that are only available in the government's chain of stores that exclusively accept foreign currency.

After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which Cuba depended heavily on due to a privileged trade and aid relationship, the Cuban economy suffered a meltdown, and living standards in this nation of 11.2 million plunged.

The possession of dollars was legalised in Cuba in 1993, and there are now a number of channels, by means of expatriate remittances and the growing tourist industry, for example, for obtaining the coveted greenbacks, said Cuesta.

In the activist's view, Cuban society will suffer more from any possible reduction in the inflow of money brought about by the new U.S. measures than the government. ''People will seek new ways to get around the controls, and will turn even more to illegal activities,'' he said.

Elizardo Sánchez, president of another dissident group, the Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, was also sceptical about the results of the plan, and predicted an increase in tension between the United States and Cuba.

''I do not conceal my scepticism with respect to the practical results that these measures could have,'' he told IPS, in one of the first reactions by Cuba's dissidents to Washington's announcement.

Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, a Cuban dissident who returned from exile in the United States and is now living in Cuba without authorisation from the Castro government, said Bush's plan is aimed at ''placating small elite groups within the Cuban exile community in Miami.''

Gutiérrez Menoyo, a former commander of Castro's guerrilla army that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and seized power in 1959, spent 22 years in jail as a political prisoner until his release in 1986, when he went into exile.

He is an outspoken critic of Washington's Cuba policy. In his opinion, U.S. policy ''does not contribute to the democratisation'' of Cuba. ''More than 40 years of confrontation with Cuba have not brought about any results,'' he argues.