Foreign Policy

The terrorist Cuban regime is attempting a totalitarian succession. It is clear that dictator Fidel Castro's health is failing and that sooner or later he will die. However, the transfer of titles from one dictator to the next does not change anything for the Cuban people. Even from his death bed, this terrorist thug is still oppressing the Cuban people and calling the shots for his totalitarian regime.

What we must continue to demand is real change in Cuba.

Real change comes when political prisoners like Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and others are freed, political parties and labor unions are legalized, freedom of the press is allowed and the process of free and fair elections begins.

Real change comes when the Cuban people are allowed to visit their own beaches and hotels, when they can walk down the street and talk to their neighbor without fear of repression, and when they can receive the same medical attention and healthcare that is now available only to tourists and high-level communist party officials.

Until there is real change in Cuba, the United States must continue its support for liberty by keeping pressure on this terrorist totalitarian regime.

The U.S. embargo keeps billions of dollars from funding the terrorist regime, money which would only help this terrorist tyrant in repressing freedom and allow him to fund anti-American hostilities.

The Castro brothers have spent years supporting and strengthening their ties with terrorists around the world. Their agents have infiltrated our intelligence community, and they harbor terrorists, cop killers and cold-blooded murderers who hide in the shadows of the totalitarian regime. In 1996, the Castro brothers admitted to ordering the shoot down of two unarmed, U.S. civilian aircraft. The planes were shot down in international airspace during a humanitarian search and rescue mission in the Florida Straits by Cuban Air Force war planes. The attack resulted in the deaths of a Vietnam War Veteran, two Americans and a legal U.S. Citizen. More recently, Fidel Castro has actively engaged the Iranian regime, has taken Venezuela's tyrant, Hugo Chavez, under his wing and has strengthened his deeply rooted ties with the FARC.

Many in the International community like the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have already demonstrated their solidarity with the Cuban people and I urge all democracies to do the same. President Bush has been a steadfast supporter and a friend of the Cuban people and their struggle for democracy, and the U.S. Congress has maintained the embargo and repeatedly expressed its solidarity with the Cuban people on the enslaved island.

Fidel Castro's iron hand rule has turned what used to be one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere into one of the poorest. He has destroyed a country, murdered countless thousands and denied the Cuban people their most basic and fundamental rights; but he has failed to destroy their spirit. The peaceful opposition on the island is positioned to assume leadership roles and help form the government that the Cuban people deserve: one of democracy and respect for human rights and social justice.

The opportunity for Cuba to once again be free is near and the U.S. and all free and democratic free nations across the globe must stand in solidarity with the Cuban people in this critical time.

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