By Randall Mikkelsen
ReutersJanuary 5, 1999
President Clinton Tuesday further relaxed the U.S. embargo against Cuba and proposed a round of ''baseball diplomacy'' aimed at bringing the people of the two nations closer together. The incremental steps were an alternative to a proposal rejected by Clinton for a full-scale review of the U.S. policy of isolating communist-ruled Cuba, which greeted the news with skepticism.
``These steps are designed to help the Cuban people without strengthening the Cuban government,'' Clinton said in announcing the measures, which expand on a previous easing last March of the nearly 37-year-old embargo.
The steps announced by Clinton included:
-- Increasing charter passenger flights to and from Cuba by allowing them to serve cities other than Miami and Havana;
-- Allowing any U.S. resident, not just family members of Cubans, to send payments to Cuban families. The payments can total $1,200 per year;
-- Permitting the sale of U.S. food and agricultural supplies to non-governmental bodies including private restaurants and farmers.
-- Establishing direct mail service.
The president also authorized members of the popular U.S. Baltimore Orioles baseball team to arrange exhibition games with the Cuban national team in both countries that would benefit charities working in Cuba. This would be part of a plan to expand exchanges of athletes, scientists and others.
``We gave the green light to them (the Orioles) to move forward,'' a U.S. official said. ``Obviously baseball is a special part of the Cuban culture, just as it is a special part of American culture.''
The proposed exchange evokes the ``ping-pong'' diplomacy of 1971, in which China's hosting of U.S. table tennis players helped pave the way for renewed U.S.-China relations. But Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made clear in a news conference that Tuesday's actions were not meant as an opening to the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro, which she called a ``repressive and backward-looking regime''.
``These steps are neither designed nor expected to alter our relations with the Cuban government,'' Albright said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina said his country would take a wait and see attitude toward the U.S. steps. ``The root of the problem is still a blockade that is unjust,'' Robaina told Reuters during a visit to Haiti.
U.S. officials said Clinton was willing to improve relations with Castro's government if he made ``significant steps'' toward democracy and respect for human rights. But rather than wait for Castro, Clinton was trying to support a ``democratic transition'' in ways that did not aid the Cuban leader, they said.
Clinton, in deciding on the new steps, rejected a proposal by a primarily Republican group of U.S. senators who wrote to him in October 1998 asking that a bipartisan commission take a fresh look at U.S.-Cuba policy. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart called the proposal ''constructive,'' but said Clinton decided the moves announced Tuesday were the best way forward.
The proposal of the 15 senators was championed by business interests with eyes on the Cuban market, but had been criticized by politically powerful Cuban-Americans opposed to Cuba's communist government as a precursor to ending the embargo. U.S. officials said that by allowing more flights, increased payments to Cuban families, and more exchanges, the United States could help slowly build and strengthen Cuba's non-governmental sectors.
``Our goal is to encourage the development in Cuba of peaceful, civic activities that are independent of the government and that will help the Cuban people prepare for the day when their country is once again free,'' Albright said.
The United States also plans to bolster information and ''public diplomacy'' efforts aimed at encouraging change in Cuba, including a strengthening of Radio and TV Marti broadcasts into Cuba, Clinton said.
A spokesman for Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms of North Carolina, one of the most powerful voices on Cuban policy in the government, endorsed Clinton's announcement and hailed his rejection of a policy review.
``We are very pleased with strong reaffirmation of our bipartisan policy,'' the spokesman said.
``There was an effort by opponents of the Cuban embargo to sign up to a commission, which was essentially a Trojan horse for lifting the embargo. What's important is that now that the embargo lifting has been taken off the table, (the administration) can work with Congress to take bolder steps in breaking Castro's embargo on his own people,'' he said.
Cuban exile leaders interviewed in Miami offered wary interpretations of the Clinton announcement. Some said the relaxation would provide little meaningful help to the Cubans who needed it, while others said the Clinton still appeared determined to normalize relations with Castro's government.
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