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Sen.
Baucus Calls For End Of Ban On Travel To Cuba
April 27, 2005 3:34 p.m.
WASHINGTON -- The Bush Administration's policy of isolating Cuba's economy to
pressure President Fidel Castro to allow more political freedom has been a
failure, U.S. Senator Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Wednesday.
Baucus, who earlier this week helped sponsor legislation lifting restrictions on
U.S. travel to Cuba, said "good old-fashioned citizen diplomacy" would be more
effective in winning Cuban allies than the current practice of using taxpayer
dollars to broadcast radio messages. Baucus is the ranking Democrat on the
powerful Senate Finance Committee. Sens. Mike Enzi,
R-Wyo., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., also sponsored the
bill.
"The administration's transition plan for Cuba is nothing more than the usual
pandering to a strident minority," Baucus said in a speech at a forum on Cuba.
"We cannot credibly urge freedom for others if we don't even respect our own
citizens' most fundamental right to travel wherever they want."
Baucus also criticized U.S. Treasury regulations that require U.S. agriculture
exporters to be paid in cash before shipping goods to Cuba. In 2000, Congress
passed legislation that exempted sales of food and medicine from the
four-decade-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. In 2004, those sales totaled
$400 million.
The U.S. Treasury issued a rule stating the law's requirement of an upfront cash
payment means that goods must be paid for before shipping, rather before
transfer of the ownership title. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow has said that
rule was prompted by a request for clarification from U.S. financial
institutions.
Agriculture exporters say the rule effectively shuts down agriculture exports
because the final price of soft commodities with large
variations in quality are generally determined on inspection.
"The bureaucrats at Treasury have no right to close off what Congress
purposefully opened," Baucus said. "With our farmers and ranchers facing
mounting pressure from a shrinking ag
trade surplus and the budget axe, this is no time to be closing off promising
new markets."
Baucus again said he would block consideration of nominees for Treasury
positions "until I feel sure that ag
sales to Cuba can continue as they have for the past several years."
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