U.S. Plans To Fund Opposition Government in Post-Castro Cuba
From Pablo Bachelet at the Miami Herald, Reuters and other sources:
A report prepared for President Bush by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba — a commission that he created in 2003 — recommends that the U.S. move quickly within weeks of Fidel Castro’s death to support a transitional government in Cuba and move the country toward democracy.
The commission is an interagency group co-chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who is a Cuban-American. The report summarizes the work of more than 100 officials from 17 United States government departments and agencies.
A leaked draft of the commission’s report also recommends a major diplomatic effort to offset the ‘’Venezuela-Cuba axis'’ and identifies President Hugo Chávez as a key player whose oil wealth could help extend the communist system after Castro’s death. It also recommends creating an 80 million dollar fund to promote opposition to Castro and tightening economic sanctions on the island nation.
The recommendations must be approved by President Bush, although he approved virtually all of the items on the commission’s first report in May of 2004. That led to tighter restrictions on travel to Cuba, especially by Cuban exiles.
Unlike the 2004 report, the current set of recommendations include an annex that will remain classified ‘’for reasons of national security and effective implementation,'’ according to the text. There was no immediate indication of what the annex might contain.
No major changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba are recommended, and the text repeatedly underscores that it is the Cubans, and not the U.S. government, who will decide the future course of their transition.
Government officials confirmed that the copy of the draft obtained by The Miami Herald is legitimate, but cautioned that some of its figures could change before the final text is presented to Bush. A formal unveiling is planned for next week.
The new report focuses on U.S. actions in the months that will follow the death or incapacitation of Castro, and calls for the creation of a two-year $80 million “Cuba Fund for a Democratic Future.'’
The money is to “increase support for Cuban civil society, expand international awareness, break the regime’s information blockade, and continue developing assistance initiatives to help Cuban civil society realize a democratic transition.'’
After the initial two years, the commission recommends adding at least $20 million annually to the fund “until the dictatorship ceases to exist.'’
The draft recommends using $31 million of the fund to support ‘’civil society on the island'’; $10 million to finance academic exchanges and a new scholarship program for Cubans to study abroad; $24 million to break the Castro government’s “information blockade'’ by financing the transmission of anti-Castro broadcasts via satellite and distributing equipment on the island to receive international broadcasts; and $15 million to support international efforts to aid the opposition and plan for a post-Castro transition to democracy.
The report does not specify if the money is on top of the aid the U.S. government already provides for anti-Castro programs. Radio and TV Martí already get $35 million for their broadcasts to the island in 2006.
The draft also takes a conciliatory approach on hot-button issues such as the return of Castro-confiscated properties to their previous owners, many of whom live in the United States. The Cuban government criticized the 2004 report as a blatant disregard for Cuba’s sovereignty.
‘’It is a change in tone more than a change in substance,'’ said Phil Peters, a Cuba analyst with the Lexington Institute who has read the draft copy. Saying that the previous report suggested people would be evicted, Peters added, “This report tries to reverse the political damage by placing property decisions in the hands of the Cuban government and urging Cubans to consider property claims in the context of national reconciliation.'’
However, the text recommends ‘’vigorously'’ enforcing Title IV of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which gives U.S. officials the power to recall or deny U.S. visas to company managers whose firms invest in confiscated properties — a sanction that has been used only cautiously so far.
Companies investing in industries that provide the Cuban government with hard currencies like oil, tourism, nickel, tobacco and rum and will be especially targeted for sanctions, the report said.
The report also says there is growing evidence that ‘’senior elements of the regime'’ are hiding their financial assets overseas, including properties and bank accounts. It recommends tracking down these assets and returning them “for the benefit of a Free Cuba Government.'’
According to the text, Castro and his inner circle ‘’have begun a gradual but intrinsically unstable process of succession'’ working with “like-minded governments, particularly Venezuela, to build a network of political and financial support designed to forestall any external pressure to change.'’
Venezuela provides more than $1 billion a year in energy subsidies to the island, it said, and there are indications that Cuba is using money from Venezuelan President Chávez to “reactivate its networks in the hemisphere to subvert democratic governments.'’
Possibly Related Products:
Possibly Related Articles:
Possibly Related Links:
Tags: condoleezza rice, cuba, cuban embargo, cuban exiles, fidel castro, free cuba, hugo chavez, president bush
new articles
new comments
Don Surber
July 1st, 2006 10:51
Post Castro
Cigar Envy says, “U.S. Plans To Fund Opposition Government in Post-Castro Cuba. Good.
Don Blonde
August 13th, 2006 08:48
Sounds like the bay of pigs to me and what do we do when they ask for milatary help like the last time turn our backs on them and leave them to the communists to slauter no i think its gonna take a full commitment to bring about any change there i say save the cash give it to charity and just invade the island already thats the only way to bring change the people are scared and lack no motovation only threw positive action can we hope to promote change and get rid of the communist scum that control the island.