Bush Panders to Drooling Gusanos Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Bush on the Miami Worm Circuit [That's fine, Smirk. Pander to your gusano voters and contributors. Veto away. If you keep creaming the economy and lying to everyone and flapping your wings about terrorist wars that result in more terrorist alerts, the congress might just stand up on its hind legs and override your veto.] Reuters via Yahoo - May 20, 5:39 PM ET Bush Vows to Veto Cuba Liberalization Measures By Randall Mikkelsen MIAMI (Reuters) - President Bush sought on Monday to thwart efforts by big business and free-trade Republicans to ease U.S. sanctions on Cuba, vowing to veto any such moves in Congress until Cuba adopts free markets and democracy. "I want you to know what trade means with a tyrant. It means we will underwrite tyranny, and we cannot let that happen," Bush said in a speech commemorating Cuban Independence Day. "And I also want you to know I will not allow our taxpayers' money to go to enrich the Castro regime," Bush said in reference to Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites). "And I'm willing to use my veto." Bush was referring specifically to legislation that would provide U.S. financing for Cuba to buy American farm products, but he intended to send a broader signal. He would block any moves to end a ban on unauthorized travel to Cuba or to lift a four-decade U.S. trade embargo on the communist-run state, Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told reporters. Bush spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of anti-Castro Cuban Americans, who helped hand him a disputed but crucial Florida victory in the 2000 presidential election and who are seen as core supporters for the re-election campaign this year of his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. "Cuba si, Castro no," the crowd chanted repeatedly as Bush spoke in a Miami convention center. MORE OF THE SAME, SAY CRITICS Bush has also been pressured by business groups, Democratic lawmakers and some free-trade Republicans to lift the embargo on Cuba. Sanctions opponents said the isolation strategy was not working and must be reformed. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, during his visit to Havana last week, encouraged Cuba's one-party state to allow a popular vote on internal reform and urged the U.S. Congress to lift the trade embargo. Critics on Capitol Hill said Bush maintained the status quo, including the trade embargo that had failed to bring democracy to Cuba. Administration officials acknowledged there was no change in Bush's sanctions policy and said additional measures to toughen the sanctions could come later in the year. "After 40 years of failure, we need to recognize that this approach is clearly not working and try something new," said Arizona Republican Rep. Jeff Flake, who has proposed lifting a U.S. ban on travel to Cuba. "The only people hurt by the embargo are poor and hungry Cubans, and American citizens who are -- either in law (or) by practical effect -- barred from traveling to, or selling to, Cuba," Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said. In his Miami speech and in an earlier speech on Monday at the White House, Bush set tough terms for easing the embargo, including "free and fair" elections, release of political prisoners, free expression and market reforms. While denouncing Castro as a "tyrant," and reiterating his hard-line isolation strategy against Castro's government, Bush said he would try to clear the way for more humanitarian assistance as well as the resumption of mail service to and from the island. "With real reform in Cuba, our countries can begin chipping away at four decades of distrust and division," Bush said. "The choice rests with Mr. Castro." Bush urged Castro to allow a referendum on internal reforms, saying it could be a "prelude, a beginning for real change in Cuba." Anti-Castro leaders in and out of Congress, who have been fighting against building momentum to soften the sanctions, said they were pleased. "The president said exactly what the Cuban American community wanted to hear. The debate should be about democracy, not about the embargo," said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation. SANCTIONS TO STAY Before the United States would ease trade and travel restrictions, Bush said Castro must release political prisoners, commit to market-opening reforms and ensure free National Assembly elections next year. Bush made no mention of recent U.S. allegations Cuba was developing biological weapons and had shared technology with enemies of the United States. He said opposition parties must have the right to organize in order to ensure free National Assembly elections next year. Castro must also allow international observers to monitor the proceedings, Bush said. "If Cuba's government takes all the necessary steps to ensure that the 2003 elections are certifiably free and fair, and if Cuba also begins to adopt meaningful market-based reforms, then and only then I will work with the United States Congress to ease the ban on trade and travel between our two countries," Bush said in Washington. He called on Castro to give trade unions more freedom, and said Cuba must also respect property rights and give private employers the freedom to negotiate with their workers without government interference. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-05.20.02-18:25:00-3297