The Cuban Women and Humanitarian Relief Act

January 29, 1998

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of Senator Dodd's legislation, the `Cuban Women and Children Humanitarian Relief Act.'

This bill, which is long overdue, authorizes the President to permit the sale of food, medicine, and medical equipment to the Cuban people. One would think that this would not be necessary. The United States has a long history of providing humanitarian assistance to needy people even when we differ with their government. North Korea is an example. Yet, because of our obsessive antipathy toward Fidel Castro, we have applied a different standard to Cuba. Unfortunately, it is the Cuban people who have suffered as a result, not their government. In fact, it has given Fidel Castro a convenient excuse to blame the United States for whatever goes wrong there.

The American Association for World Health reports that malnutrition, deterioration of water quality, and serious deficiencies in medicines, equipment and medical information have resulted from American restrictions severely limit the sale of medicines they actually prohibit the sale of food. Not even the sanctions against Libya, Iran, and Iraq contain such extreme measures. This outright ban on food has been especially harmful to women and children, contributing to nutritional deficits among pregnant women and low birth-weight babies, as well as a high incidence of neurological disease.

I have long believed that the way to encourage democratic reforms and respect for human rights in Cuba is not through isolation of this tiny island nation, but through the normalization of our relationship by relaxing the embargo. One would think that after thirty-seven years, with Castro still in power, we would try another approach. Many Americans share this view. Over $60 million in medicine and medical supplies have been donated by U.S. citizens over the past five years. Unfortunately, this great display of generosity represents only a tiny portion of the over $400 million in medicines and food that Cuba imported from the United States prior to the passage of the restrictive 1992 Cuban Democracy Act.

I urge all Members of Congress to reconsider the reasons behind our embargo against Cuba. The Cold War ended years ago. Easing the restrictions on the sale and donation of medicines and food to Cuba will not, in any way, compromise our nation's security. While Pope John Paul's visit may not signal a political change in Cuba, it does illustrate a new opening by the Castro regime for religious expression that the United States should encourage. Passage of the Cuban Women and Children Humanitarian Relief Act would not only ease the suffering of the Cuban population, it would reaffirm to the world that the United States is the humanitarian nation we hold ourselves out to be.