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Bush vows to tighten sanctions on Cuba

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Oct. 11. With an obvious eye on the community vote bank in Florida for the elections of 2004 the U.S. President, George W Bush, has vowed to tighten measures against Cuba arguing that that country under President Fidel Castro "must change".

In an event at the Rose Garden that saw the participation of Cuban exiles and anti-Castro groups and activists Mr. Bush said, "Clearly the Castro regime will not change by its choice. But Cuba must change".

The President went on to list at three areas that his administration was going to tighten up — curtailing visits by Americans by a tougher enforcement and inspections mechanism; increasing the number of new immigrants by a "safe, legal and orderly process"; and in the creation of a new Commission for Assistance for Cuba for preparing the U.S. Government to provide effective aid for a Free Cuba. The Commission will be headed by the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the Cuban-born Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Mel Martinez.

In stressing that his administration will continue to allow visitation for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and conducting research, Mr. Bush insisted that the law in the books will be enforced strictly. Mr. Bush maintained that technically allowable visits to Cuba are being taken advantage of for carrying cash, for illegal business travel and tourism.

"We are cracking down on this deception...the U.S. law forbids Americans to travel to Cuba for pleasure. The law is on the books and must be enforced", Mr. Bush argued. The Departments of Treasury and the newly formed Department of Homeland Security will be involved in the tightening up.

Political analysts see in all this Mr. Bush eyeing the Cuban American vote bank in Florida, a state that the President is avidly eyeing to win in 2004 and one that he has been frequenting since 2001.The Cuban Americans are disappointed with the Bush administration's efforts against Cuba and were particularly upset this July when the United States returned 15 persons back to Cuba after receiving guarantees from Havana that they would not be executed for hijacking a government-owned boat which was intercepted in the high seas by the United States Coast Guard. The Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, the brother of the President, disagreed with the decision of the administration. If there are conservative critics who are saying that the new measures announced by the White House are not adequate, others are questioning whether these kind of policies help the people of Cuba at all.

Amnesty International has argued that the new proposals could end up hurting the people they were meant to help.

"At a time when the U.S. should put effective human rights strategies at the core of its Cuba policy, it may well have succeeded in doing the opposite", the Executive Director of Amnesty International said.

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