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04/27/26 1:59:05am [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2] ]

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Date Posted: 02/26/04 4:20:03pm
Author: Joe Goustin
Author Host/IP: 141.153.153.238
Subject: More Pre-election Pandering

Bush Tightens Rules on Travel to Cuba

Feb 26, 6:53 PM (ET)

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush tightened U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba on Thursday, saying that Fidel Castro's government has taken steps to destabilize relations with the United States over the past year.

Bush signed an order to expand the government's authority to prevent the unauthorized departure of ships from U.S. waters bound for Cuba. He said U.S. authorities would be empowered to inspect any vessel in the territorial waters of the United States and take other steps if necessary

Bush's order would tighten enforcement of the U.S. embargo on Cuba by making it harder for unauthorized vessels to enter Cuban territorial waters.

He said Castro's government "has over the course of its 45-year existence repeatedly used violence and the threat of violence to undermine U.S. policy interests. This same regime continues in power today, and has since 1959 maintained a pattern of hostile actions contrary to U.S. policy interests."

Bush's move is likely to be welcomed by anti-Castro forces in the United States, particularly in Florida, a key state in Bush's re-election strategy.

Bush said that over the past year, Cuba has taken a series of steps to destabilize relations with the United States, such as threatening to rescind migration accords with the United States and to close the U.S. interests section in Havana. Further, he said that Cuba's top officials have repeatedly said that the United States intended to invade Cuba, despite explicit denials from the United States.

The president noted that the United States had warned Cuba last May 8 that any political moves that resulted in a mass migration would be viewed as a hostile act.

Bush directed Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to develop new rules to keep "unauthorized U.S. vessels" out of Cuban territorial waters.

The president said the passage of American boats into Cuban waters could bring injury or death to anyone on the vessels, "due to the potential use of excessive force, including deadly force, against them by the Cuban military." Crossing into Cuban territorial waters is already against U.S. law for unauthorized vessels, he said.

Moreover, such boats and ships bring money and commerce into Cuba, which runs contrary to U.S. policy aiming to "deny resources to the repressive Cuban government," Bush said. Castro's government may use such cash to support terrorist activities, he said.

Bush cited long-standing U.S. grievances against Cuba, calling it a state-sponsor of terrorism and saying that it has demonstrated "a ready and reckless willingness to use excessive force" against U.S. and Cuban citizens. He pointed to incidents in the 1990s, including the shoot-down of two unarmed U.S.-registered civilian aircraft, the use of force against U.S.-registered vessels and the sinking of an unarmed Cuban vessel that resulted in the deaths of 41 Cuban citizens in 1994.

He also said Castro's government had impounded U.S.-registered vessels in Cuban ports and forces owners to make payments - in violation of U.S. law - for the return of their ships.

"The entry of any U.S.-registered vessels into Cuban territorial waters could result in injury to, or loss of life of, persons engaged in that conduct, due to the potential use of excessive force, including deadly force, against them by the Cuban military, and could threaten a disturbance of international relations," Bush said.

The new rules governing American boats' movement to Cuba expand restrictions that have been in place for years. Those rules covered vessels originating in Miami, while Ridge's new rules will apply to boats leaving from anywhere in the United States, White House and congressional officials said.

Boat operators will have to work with the State, Commerce and Treasury departments to obtain permits to sail into Cuban waters.

Bush had warned last October that his administration would begin more vigorously enforce rules on the books, and develop additional, tougher ones. Officials said it had taken until now to draw up the new rules.

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