Paul Coverdell: “first I want to commend my colleague from Florida, who has perhaps more personal knowledge regarding Cuba and its effect…”

“first I want to commend my colleague from Florida, who has perhaps more personal knowledge regarding Cuba and its effect on our country than many of the other Members here in this body. I appreciate his remarks. I would like to elaborate on the comments that he has made as they relate to certain suggestions from the administration that we should enter into a new era with Cuba, one in which we ease and/or normalize relations. I would like to read from The Washington Post, March 7. It says: President Clinton's foreign policy advisers are recommending he take steps toward easing relations with Cuba by revoking some economic sanctions adopted against the nation in August. The time has come, some U.S. officials believe, to test whether Castro is willing to make deep economic and political reforms, a senior administration official said. Mr. President, my colleague from Florida has, I think, made a very good case that indeed this is not the time--not the time--to ease sanctions. In Fidel Castro, we have a dictator; in Fidel Castro, we have empirical evidence of continued human rights violations, torture, murder, extended imprisonment.”