08 May 2003
Text: U.S. Pledges
Increased Support for "Voices of Freedom" in Cuba
(USAID official briefs Congress on aiding Cuban democratic activists)
(1760)
The United States has pledged increased support for activists in Cuba who
are working to bring about peaceful, democratic change on the island, says
Adolfo Franco, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean.
In a May 7 briefing about Cuba before the House Congressional Human Rights
Caucus, Franco said USAID will work with "all our partners throughout the
hemisphere" to encourage support for Cuban democratic activists "and
especially for Cuban political prisoners and their families."
Franco said denunciations of the regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro are
not enough to bring about change on the island.
Reiterating comments by President Bush, Franco said: "We must greatly
increase our efforts to promote a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in
Cuba" and support the "vital voices of freedom" that are working to bring
about that change.
In outlining USAID programs to help victims of repression in Cuba, Franco
said that "we will strive to increase that support by encouraging our
grantees to place greater emphasis on private fund-raising and private
donations here in the United States."
USAID, he said, will increase its programs of outreach to the Cuban people
with more books, videos, and short- wave radios with which they can listen
to international radio broadcasts from around the world, including the BBC,
Radio Netherlands, the Voice of America, and Radio Marti.
The Castro regime is "gradually losing its grip on the Cuban people," Franco
said. "Some day soon, this regime will end. It will end because the Cuban
people will, with a united voice, demand democratic change."
Following is the text of Franco's prepared remarks:
(begin text)
TESTIMONY OF ADOLFO A. FRANCO, USAID ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR LATIN
AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
CUBA BRIEFING FOR MEMBERS
HOUSE CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 7, 2003
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for the opportunity to participate in this
briefing on behalf of USAID. USAID Administrator, Andrew Natsios, sends his
best regards.
These are historic times, when many millions of people in another part of
the world -- long subject to dictatorship -- have begun to taste the fruits
of freedom.
However, the Cuban people are not yet free. The latest Castro regime
atrocities against the Cuban people -- the mass arrests and summary
executions -- have awakened the consciousness of free people everywhere. One
hundred peaceful Cuban citizens with courageous conviction that freedom of
thought and expression are fundamental human rights have been charged as a
threat to the regime. Seventy-five now face extended prison terms, while
three others who sought a better life elsewhere were executed by a firing
squad at dawn. The Castro regime defended these barbaric measures as
necessary to protect national security.
President Bush, Secretary of State Powell, USAID Administrator Natsios, and
our U.S. Chief of Mission in Havana, Jim Cason, as well as scores of US
political leaders have all denounced, in the strongest terms, these
outrageous actions.
The European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, international
labor unions, Nobel Prize laureates, and newspapers around the world have
joined their voices in collective denunciation.
But denunciations are not enough, Mr. Chairman. As President Bush has said,
we must greatly increase our efforts to promote a rapid, peaceful transition
to democracy in Cuba. I am pleased to announce today that the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID), through its Cuba Program, pledges
increased support for these vital voices of freedom. We will work with all
of our partners throughout the hemisphere, through all of our programs, to
encourage their commitment and support for Cuban democratic activists and
especially for Cuban political prisoners and their families.
Authorized by Section 109 of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity
(LIBERTAD) Act of 1996, USAID has funded action programs -- by U.S.
universities and non- governmental organizations -- to build solidarity with
Cuba's human rights activists, give voice to Cuba's independent journalists,
help develop Cuba's independent libraries, defend the rights of Cuban
workers, and provide direct outreach to the Cuban people. These programs are
overt and transparent, and are notified individually to the Congress.
Since our first grant to Freedom House in the summer of 1996, USAID has
taken seriously the charge to promote a peaceful transition to democracy in
Cuba, by increasing the flow of accurate information on democracy, human
rights, and free enterprise to, from, and within the island. These programs
give voice and strength to the repressed and provide moral support to the
courageous.
On May 20th of last year, President Bush announced his Initiative for a New
Cuba. The President said, "Our plan is to accelerate freedom's progress in
Cuba in every way possible, just as the United States and our democratic
friends and allies did successfully in places like Poland, or in South
Africa ...." The President also said "Our government will offer scholarships
in the United States for Cuban students and professionals who try to build
independent civil institutions in Cuba, and scholarships for family members
of political prisoners ...."
USAID is proud to be part of the president's Cuba initiative. Just as we did
in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Chile, Nicaragua and
elsewhere -- we will strengthen our current efforts in support of Cuba's
human rights activists, independent journalists, independent librarians, and
independent labor unions, to bring hope and information to the Cuban people.
We also have designed with Georgetown University a new scholarship program
to help implement the President's vision for a New Cuba. Under that program,
U.S. community colleges will offer full scholarships for Cuban students to
study economics, political science, and technical subjects for two years in
here in the United States.
Inside Cuba, over the past seven years, Cuba's human rights activists have
developed national and international level networks to press the Cuban
regime for democratic change. The Castro regime's latest crackdown,
imprisoning scores of these activists, sought to silence the growing call
for change. But the regime cannot silence the Cuban people. Thousands of new
voices throughout the island now call for democratic change, and their
numbers are increasing every day.
We at USAID will continue our efforts to build solidarity with Cuba's human
rights activists -- responding quickly to their requests for books, videos,
short-wave radios, and other means of information and communication. Since
1997, USAID grantees have worked with solidarity committees around the world
to call for international support for Cuba's peaceful activists. USAID has
also provided more than 120,000 pounds of food and medicine to the families
of political prisoners and other victims of repression inside Cuba. We will
strive to increase that support by encouraging our grantees to place greater
emphasis on private fund-raising and private donations here in the United
States.
For accepting humanitarian assistance (food and medicine), Cubans who are
deprived of jobs, income and medical care are called by the Cuban government
"the paid agents of imperialism." Contrary to the Cuban government's
allegations, USAID does not provide cash payments or any other financial
assistance to any persons, groups, or organizations inside Cuba. I want to
be clear on this point.
The Castro regime last month imprisoned dozens of independent journalists.
But many will still find ways to send to the outside world their reports of
deteriorating economic conditions, human rights violations and the
conditions inside Cuba's prisons, and many others will report from elsewhere
on that imprisoned island. No one believes that imprisonment will silence
the voices of Raul Rivero and other brave Cuban independent journalists.
Over the past several years, USAID grantees have published via the Internet
more than 8,000 articles by Cuba's independent journalists. We will continue
to publish their reports, and to distribute them in hard copy on the island.
And we will continue to provide Cuba's independent journalists with the
books, videos, training materials, and other information they request.
The Castro regime has imprisoned many independent librarians, for the
alleged "crime" of lending books to their neighbors. Mr. Chairman, books by
Martin Luther King, Vaclev Havel, Jose Marti, and other alleged
"subversives" are the evidence. USAID has provided Cuba's independent
libraries and the Cuban people directly with more than 1.7 million books,
brochures, newsletters and other informational materials. And, with the
increased budget we expect next year, we will increase this flow of
information to the growing numbers of independent libraries throughout Cuba,
and we will especially increase the circulation inside the island by
independent Cuban writers.
The Castro regime has also imprisoned independent Cuban labor leaders. USAID
will continue to work with free unions world-wide to put pressure on the
Cuban government to respect workers' rights, and to allow the development of
independent unions inside Cuba.
The Castro regime has confiscated books, newsletters, video-cassettes, video
recorders, laptop computers, short-wave radios and other materials the Cuban
people need to obtain independent information. However, Mr. Chairman, this
will not deter courageous Cubans from expressing independent points of view
nor will it dissuade USAID from increasing its outreach efforts to the Cuban
people. On the contrary, USAID will increase its programs of outreach to the
Cuban people, to provide them with more books, videos, and short-wave radios
with which they can listen to international radio broadcasts from around the
world, including the BBC, Radio Netherlands, Voice of America, and Radio
Marti. USAID has already provided the Cuban people with more than 10,000
short- wave radios. The Cuban government has denounced this as a "violation
of Cuban national sovereignty" and as "introduction of contraband." Why is
the regime afraid of a short-wave radio? What does it want to hide from the
Cuban people?
The actions of the Castro regime this past month, as well as over the past
decade, show they are desperate and afraid, and choose to resort to
practices and punishments unacceptable to civilized people in this century.
But the Castro regime is gradually losing its grip on the Cuban people. Some
day soon, this regime will end. It will end, because the Cuban people will,
with a united voice, demand democratic change.
Mr. Chairman, with the increased Cuba program budget we have requested for
next year, we pledge to increase our efforts to promote that change, as
rapidly and as peacefully as the future permits. Thank you for this
opportunity and I know that news of the support of this Congress will
somehow penetrate Castro's prison walls and reach those who deserve it most.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) |
