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NATIONAL SUMMIT ON CUBA
September 17, 2002 - National Press Club, Washington DC
DISCLAIMER: To all readers of
this information, including U.S. Government agencies, officials and
representatives: Nothing in this website does, nor is intended to,
encourage illegal activity of any type whatsoever including illegally spending
money in Cuba or violation of any part of the U.S. Embargo against Cuba or any
other law by U.S. citizens or others. We believe all information reported here,
and all activity within this organization and website, to be within the allowed
scope of the law, and all readers are encouraged to validate this for
themselves. The purpose of information presented on this website is simply to
help people in both Cuba and the U.S.. We hereby assert our claim to all of our
U.S. Constitutional Rights including Freedom of Speech.
RETURN TO THE CUBA PAGE
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THE TIME IS NOW FOR A NEW APPROACH TO
CUBA
These are reports and excerpts from the
Historic September 17 2002 "National Summit On Cuba" meeting
held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.
Yo
Si Voy
!
UPDATE FEB 2003: Bill introduced in
the Senate to DROP the embargo. Please call your Senators to gain support.
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The official website for this meeting is
located at
www.nationalsummitoncuba.org |
“In our view, U.S. policy toward Cuba has not been
formulated on the basis of sound judgments about strategies that will best
promote human rights and social justice on the island, but on the basis of
outdated Cold War ideology and special interest group politics. We believe
that the embargo hurts domestic U.S. economic and political interests
without bringing us any foreign policy benefits. We believe the engagement
with Cuba is a more sensible, effective, and humane strategy for promoting
human rights and social justice there. Engagement would also be economically
beneficial to the United States.” -
Washington Office on Latin America - "A
Time for Change – Rethinking US-Cuba Policy" |
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Closing Remarks of Senator Chris Dodd at the meeting - Read this first. It's 4 pages and really
summarizes well the need for change in U.S. policy.
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 *Summary Report - of the National Summit Meeting - 21 pages in
adobe .pdf format by Gregory Absten. This is a comprehensive overview of our
relationship with Cuba and current US policy. It summarizes the reports and
findings of the meeting presenters and is editorialized to incorporate
personal assessments based on direct experience with the Cuban people, Cuban
officials and various U.S. government agencies formulating or regulating U.S.
policies. It discusses aspects of our constitutional right to travel, economic
impact on Americans, an assessment of the Administrations position on Cuba,
the winds of change on the streets of Havana, and specific political steps
needed to help change US Policy. 16 pages are the report itself, and 5 pages
are lists of related contacts of some interest including website URL's. It
also gives you contact addresses and phone numbers to get more information on
this meeting and on Cuba generally.
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Article by U.S. Representative Jo
Ann Emerson, Missouri - Representative Emerson is one
of the originators of the bi-partisan Cuba Working Group within Congress. This
bi-partisan group of about 40 representatives has been actively researching
Cuba by traveling there, and reviewing existing U.S. policy. They all contend
it should be changed. This article expresses her opinion as a representative
of a farming state that represents 90% of Americas lead production in
Agriculture.
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Article by President Jimmy Carter
- after traveling to Cuba. He shares views with the current administration in
wanting political and economic reforms for the Cuban people. He takes quite an
opposite stand with the current Administration however in the use of the
embargo to bring this about. Read what he has to say about open and free
exchange with the Cuban people.
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Report by the Center for International Policy: "Cuba
on the Terrorist list: In defense of the nation or political calculation?"
- This is an excellent 10 page article in adobe .pdf format.
It
documents the history of the relationship and events throughout the world
between the U.S. and Cuba since the revolution. I was very surprised to
learn that the U.S. has a long history of deception to the American people and
to the world regarding Cuba. In their report it is clear that, even if we
don’t agree with the form of the Cuban government or their policies, that
pretty much they have always correctly represented their actions and policies
to the U.S. and the world. The U.S., on the other hand, has systematically
engaged in deception and hypocritical actions regarding Cuba. We say one thing
but actually do the opposite. This is consistent with the frustrations that
were expressed to me by Cuban officials in Havana. That is one of the things
they said to me – that they try to cooperate with the U.S. government, but
every time they do the U.S. changes the goal posts and continues to reject
their efforts. This is particularly disturbing to me as an American Citizen.
My personal name and reputation are very important to me as an individual. I
carry this over to my country as a citizen. It is important to me that the
United States of America – MY country – holds the importance of their name and
reputation in the same high regard.
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A Brief Recent History of Efforts to Change
U.S. Policy Toward Cuba - by Geoff Thale, Senior
Associate, Washington Office on Latin America.
The Congress has sought to change U.S. policy toward Cuba for the last three
years. Repeatedly, the efforts of a bi-partisan majority of Members of
Congress have been thwarted by the parliamentary maneuverings of a small and
unrepresentative group. This exposes tactics being used
by House Republican Leadership.
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Read Castro's and ICAP (Cuban Institute
for friendship with the peoples) remarks to American citizens.
an excerpt from one of Castro's speeches regarding the decades
of lies the US has propagated against Cuba (referring to Undersecretary of
State John Bolton's Bio-Terror claims) reads: "you
and your government could draw inspiration from Cuba’s decent and honorable
behavior. I can assure you that we will charge absolutely nothing for this
technology transfer."
The Summary Report and Center for International Policy
Report are PDF files. You must have Adobe Acrobat
Reader in order to view and/or print it. If you do not already have
Acrobat Reader resident in your computer, click now on the Acrobat icon below to go
to their site and download a FREE copy of the Acrobat Reader - and install it.
Then use your browser back button to return to this site to printout your
copy.
A
Note to those unfamiliar with Adobe - after you have the reader and click on the
document, it may seem like nothing is happening for a couple minutes while the
document opens - wait. You can click on the "SAVE" icon on the Adobe toolbar at
the top left of the screen to save the document to your hard disk. You can also
click the "PRINT" icon for a hard copy.
DISCLAIMER: To all readers of this
information, including U.S. Government agencies, officials and representatives:
Nothing in this website does, nor is intended to, encourage illegal activity of
any type whatsoever including illegally spending money in Cuba or violation of
any part of the U.S. Embargo against Cuba or any other law by U.S. citizens or
others. We believe all information reported here, and all activity within this
organization and website, to be within the allowed scope of the law, and all
readers are encouraged to validate this for themselves. The purpose of
information presented on this website is simply to help people in both Cuba and
the U.S.. We hereby assert our claim to all of our U.S. Constitutional Rights
including Freedom of Speech.
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