Bob Dole: “the Senate is taking a historic step today. We will soon vote on the conference report on the Cuban Liberty and…”

“the Senate is taking a historic step today. We will soon vote on the conference report on the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996. It is a tragedy it took the brutal attack on unarmed American citizens in international airspace to overcome resistance to tightening the economic noose around Castro. Many of us believed legislation should have been enacted much sooner. Fifty-nine Senators voted for cloture on this bill last October. Though we were forced to delete a critical section to overcome the filibuster last year, that section has been restored in the conference report pending in the Senate. Castro still has a few supporters in the United States. The tired rhetoric defending his dictatorship is the last stand of the old left. But their voices are irrelevant. Their voices are drowned out by the overwhelming and uncontestable evidence of Castro's true nature. Castro is clearly determined to cling to power at all costs, but his days are numbered. Enactment of the Libertad bill will weaken, and eventually end, Castro's desperate dictatorship. There has been much said in the debate this morning about this bill. The key provisions deserve special mention. First, the Helms-Dole-Burton Libertad bill codifies all regulations implementing the embargo on Cuba. This will ensure no more mixed signals will be sent from the United States--the Cuban embargo stays in place until a transition government is in place.”