On October 18, the United States Senate approved legislation that will tighten the blockade against Cuba. The legislation was passed by the US House of Representatives last week. Claims that the bill has relaxed the blockade are untrue.
For the past 15 months, the clear majority of members of the US Senate and House of Representatives have voted in favour of the sale of food and medicines to Cuba. The public backlash against the US Cuban right-wing over the kidnapping of Elian Gonzalez provided a political opportunity for members of Congress from farming states to push for change.
Initially, the Agriculture Appropriations Bill looked like the vehicle for this but backroom operators from the Republican Party took control of the bill in the committee phase.
While formally permitting the sale of US foodstuffs to the Cuban government for the first time in 38 years, the bill introduces conditions which in practice make such sales impossible.
Cuba is not allowed to raise loans from any government or private institutions in the US and must pay for purchases in cash. It cannot export anything to the US in return. Ships that visit Cuban ports to deliver the food purchases will continue to be refused permission to dock in the US for the following six months, making a mockery of claims of "relaxation".
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairperson Jesse Helms and the right-wing Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) are under no illusions. They boasted that they have defeated the campaign to ease US economic sanctions and that the status quo has been maintained.
Cuba has made it clear that the bill's conditions are unacceptable. As a result, US farmers stand to lose US$7 billion worth of sales.
Some US sugar growers, such as the Fanjul brothers, and processors of one of sugar derivatives, such as the Bacardi family, do well from blocking the importation of Cuban sugar. The Fanjuls and Bacardis are big contributors to the CANF and were involved in drafting earlier legislation which intensified the blockade (the Helms-Burton Act).
It was revealed in 1997 that the CANF-allied sugar growers manipulate US farm policy. Through the Congressional Amendment on Sugar, for example, US consumers are overcharged by 18 cents for each kilogram of sugar. For the Fanjuls alone, this represents US$64 million a year. The CANF donates an average of US$16,000 to the 49 members of the House Agriculture Committee. Joseph Lieberman, Democrat presidential candidate Al Gore's running mate, is a one of those. During 1996, CANF spent $2 billion to elect its allies.
The new legislation also tightens travel to Cuba. Many of the 160,000 Cuban Americans who made humanitarian visits to Cuba in 1999 are elderly, but under the new regulations they will be denied medical evacuation facilities. US defence attorneys will not be able to travel to Cuba to take depositions. Contractors cannot even travel to Havana to repair equipment at the US mission there. US citizens are threatened with fines and jail terms if they travel to Cuba in violation of the legislation.
Violations of the US blockade of Cuba are criminal offences. A grand jury in Philadelphia recently indicted four executives of the Pennsylvania-based Bro-Tech Corporation on 77 counts of conspiracy to engage in trade with Cuba, making false statements and violating the Trading With the Enemy Act. The executives could face 10 years in prison for selling, through their offices outside the US, $2.1 million worth of ion-exchange resins to Cuba.
Nevertheless, this is the first time in 38 years that the US Congress has even made noises about easing the blockade. The legislation passed narrowly, by 214 to 201 votes, after the Republicans used the spectre of the elections to enforce party disciple.
Once farmers realise that nothing has changed, the debate is likely to reopen. Already, leaders of 12 prominent think tanks and non-government organisations have urged US President Bill Clinton to remove the travel restrictions.
That the US right has to use deceit, talking about "easing" the blockade while they tighten it, could be a sign of their long-term weakness. Meanwhile, the Cuban people will have to continue to suffer the blockade's criminal effects.
BY STEPHEN MARKS