Bush steps up pressure on Castro

President Bush yesterday announced a new effort to weaken communist dictator Fidel Castro’s stranglehold on Cuba, vowing to step up enforcement of U.S. travel restrictions to the country and to increase the number of Cuban dissidents allowed into America.

In a Rose Garden event to commemorate the day Cuba celebrates the 1868 start of its quest for independence from Spain, the president said free nations have urged Mr. Castro to move toward democracy by holding “free and fair elections” for the good of his people, all to no avail.

“The dictator has responded with defiance and contempt and a new round of brutal oppression that outraged the world’s conscience,” Mr. Bush told about 50 Cuban Americans. “Clearly, the Castro regime will not change by its own choice. But Cuba must change.”

The president announced three initiatives “intended to assist the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom and to prepare the U.S. government for the emergence of a free and democratic Cuba,” the White House said in a statement.

The initiatives would:

• Curtail travel to Cuba by Americans by increased enforcement and inspections of travelers and shipments to and from the island.

• Increase the number of new migrants admitted from Cuba “through a safe, legal, and orderly process.”

• Create a new Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba to help prepare the U.S. government to provide effective assistance to a free Cuba.

The increased access to America comes after Havana cracked down on dissidents, imprisoning 75 Castro opponents in April, some for as long as 28 years.

Cuban exile groups, an influential voting bloc in Florida, have pushed Mr. Bush to take a more aggressive line on Cuba. They welcomed his moves to toughen policy on the communist-run island, with some saying their pressure had paid off.

“This is precisely what we have asked for, that the laws should be implemented,” said Ninoska Perez, leader of a hard-line exile group called the Cuban Liberty Council, which strongly opposes any easing of U.S. trade and travel restrictions on Cuba.

Cuban American National Foundation Chairman Jorge Mas Santos praised the creation of the presidential commission. “We have high expectations,” he said.

The new commission will be spearheaded by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez, a Cuban. The commission will develop a plan “to establish democracy and the rule of law, create the core institutions of free enterprise, modernize infrastructure and provide health, housing, and human services when Castro is out of power,” the White House said.

“The transition to freedom will present many challenges to the Cuban people and to America, and we will be prepared,” the president said.

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