Cuba Can Anticipate Major Aid Once Castro Gone U.S. Trying To Tempt Residents With Package Of Money, Trade Rules
Cuba can expect to receive substantial amounts of aid from the international community, including the United States, to promote its transition to democracy once President Fidel Castro is no longer in power, according to a Clinton administration report to be made public today.
The administration was required to prepare the report, titled “Support for a Democratic Transition in Cuba,” by last year’s Helms-Burton Act, which imposes U.S. sanctions against foreign companies operating in Cuba with assets of U.S. citizens that were appropriated by the communist government.
The report, which was drafted by the Agency for International Development with input from other agencies, says the administration will suspend longstanding trade sanctions and begin normalizing relations with Cuba after it becomes apparent that a transition government is in place and is committed to democracy.
The report estimates that the first six years of post-Castro transition would cost between $4 billion and $8 billion, with the “predominant” share coming from the United States, and the rest from international financial institutions, multilateral organizations and other governments.
Castro, who will be 70 in August, has been in power since 1959. Cuba’s communist regime is the only remaining non-elected government in the hemisphere.
“The United States doesn’t want to punish the Cuban people,” said Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. “On the contrary, it’s in solidarity with them. It wants to help them.”
As soon as Cuban authorities release political prisoners and call for internationally supervised elections within 18 months, “then we will begin to provide developmental assistance and maybe even some military adjustment assistance,” said Menendez. Cuba’s army, he said, “is way bigger than it needs to be.”
The plan predicts that once a democratic government is in place, the United States will begin negotiations to either return the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo to Cuba or renegotiate its presence at the southeastern tip of the island.
The plan also envisions U.S. assistance in the restoration of human rights, establishment of a modern judicial system and a democratic legislature and the rebuilding of Cuba’s dilapidated infrastructure.
A senior administration official, who asked not to be named, said the report would serve as reassurance to Cubans that they face “a less frightening transition than they’ve been led to believe.”
The report’s contents, he said, would be broadcast to Cubans in an intense campaign over Radio Marti, the U.S. government’s propaganda outlet aimed at Cuba.