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Ricardo Alarcón: "It is clear that the annexationist mafia is desperate to close up any opening in the genocidal policy towards Cuba. The genocidal and aggressive U.S. government policy toward Cuba is intact, and there is nothing to give us reason to believe that it could be abandoned or modified in the immediate future".
This assessment was made by Ricardo Alarcón during a conference Organized
as part of a training and upgrading course for the Western Army.
The current state of relations with the United States was the central theme of the speech made by the National Assembly president, who reiterated that the U.S. government has no plans whatsoever to abandon that policy, as demonstrated by recent events related to the Ashcroft Amendment in the congressional conference committee.
By referring to alleged moves to "relax" the blockade and introduce changes, U.S. propaganda is aimed at fooling people but, in real terms, it is just one part of the economic warfare imposed on the island for 40 years.
Alarcón recalled that opposition to that policy has always existed among left-wing, progressive, religious and other sectors, whose ranks have now been swelled by those who perceive their own interests affected by that policy. As he explained, the latter sector includes U.S. farmers, who have taken a strong stand against the ban on sales of food and medicines to Cuba.
The farmers are suffering from a drop in the international prices of agricultural products, as well as droughts and floods.
They are also seriously affected by what Americans call unilateral sanctions, or bans on trade with other countries.
U.S. FARMERS' THINKING
The blockade of Cuba is the best example of that because, in addition to being the longest-standing, complete and rigorous, it has not succeeded in defeating the Revolution, Alarcón commented.
This has progressively provoked a movement within U.S. business, particularly among the agricultural sector, criticizing the application of unilateral sanctions.
With the passing of time, bans on sales of food and medicine to Cuba have come into the foreground, with the promotion of various legislative initiatives.
These include a proposal by Congressman José Serrano of the Bronx to lift the blockade; another one by Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel along the same lines; and a bill introduced by Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, which proposes excluding food, medicines and medical equipment from the blockade. This bill has the backing of a coalition called Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba.
ASHCROFT AMENDMENT
This year John Ashcroft, a conservative Republican senator from the state of Missouri who is closely linked to the U.S. agricultural sector, presented a proposal to be included in next year's agricultural budget law. The amendment essentially refers to procedures and methodology to be used from now on, in relation to unilateral economic sanctions in the case of food and medicines.
Therefore the Ashcroft Amendment, Alarcón pointed out, does not directly refer to Cuba or any other country, although one paragraph states that from the moment that this law went into effect, it would bring to an end all currently existing sanctions in relation to food and medicines.
Of course, when Ashcroft introduced his amendment other senators, including Dodd, supported it, which is when Jesse Helms intervened with a procedural motion blocking debate on the Ashcroft Amendment, a motion that was defeated by 70 votes to 28.
In spite of the support gained in that vote, the Ashcroft Amendment met with rejection by anti-Cuban senators and for that reason its author decided to add certain paragraphs which, in essence, establish that for certain countries, sales would be made through a system of annual licenses and would not receive federal funding.
With this addition, the amendment was unanimously passed, and Ashcroft expressed the hope that the administration would grant the licenses promptly and rapidly.
NEW AND UNEXPECTED MOVES FROM THE RIGHT WING
Due to the bicameral nature of the U.S. legislature, the texts passed by two houses have to be conciliated, in a conference committee made up of senators and representatives.
In the case of the Ashcroft Amendment, Alarcón recounted, when the conference committee was constituted on September 21, legislators discovered that the leadership of both houses had presented them with texts which made no mention of the Ashcroft Amendment. They had eliminated it. The senators opposed that maneuver, deciding to maintain the amendment as it was. In other words, they approved it again.
As far as the representatives were concerned, one of them proposed modifying the Ashcroft Amendment by taking it back to what it was prior to the final additions. This proposal would have strengthened the amendment, given that it eliminated the possibility of having to apply for licenses in the case of certain governments, including that of Cuba.
The senators subsequently met and agreed to change their own proposal to how it stood previously, which clearly fortified it.
However, the unforeseen occurred. The leadership of both houses suspended the conference committee sessions. It was not reconvened until the afternoon of September 28 when, in a lengthy speech followed by others, Senator Ashcroft charged that, on that day, the presidents of the Senate and the House of Representatives had informed them by electronic mail that they had decided to kill the Ashcroft Amendment, which meant that the conference committee had concluded its work and would not meet again.
Ashcroft also read out the text of a protest letter that he had sent to the president of the U.S. Farm Bureau, urging it not to accept any legislation that did not include wording eliminating agricultural sanctions against Cuba, among other points.
The speeches by Ashcroft and other senators on September 28 reveal the unrest provoked by the surprise and arbitrary decision. Their speeches, some of them read aloud by Alarcón, made it clear that the conference committee was dissolved when the House representatives expressed their willingness to accept the Ashcroft Amendment. For this reason, for Senator Ashcroft's observation that the democratic process had collapsed and the autocratic process had begun.
What the Republican leaders did by suspending the democratic process, Ashcroft said, was an insult leading to a lack of confidence in the system. Senator Charles Hagel called it a dishonest farce.
This corroborates the legitimacy and justice of Cuba's denunciation of the genocide committed against the island by prohibiting sales in food and medicines, as well as demonstrating growing opposition to this hostile policy Ricardo Alarcón stated.
The deceptive propaganda referred to by Alarcón at the outset became more apparent on September 30, when the news agencies falsely reported that Ashcroft had withdrawn his amendment, while remaining silent on the strong criticisms voiced by him and six other senators.
The method employed to kill the amendment has been criticized by various legislators as undemocratic, and they have accused the Republican leadership of blocking their majority vote for the proposal, charging that their amendment was stolen from them or hijacked.
It is clear that the annexationist mafia is desperate to close up any opening in the genocidal policy toward Cuba, Alarcón reflected. That is why they have violated their own procedures and openly pressured their own legislators.
The fate of the Ashcroft Amendment is merely one chapter revealing the lack of political will to bring to an end a policy that not only operates in contradiction with the United States' own national interests, but also constitute-and this is the most important-a flagrant and continuous act of genocide. In order to perpetuate it, they are obliged to go any length, to the point of breaking their own parliamentary rules and practices.
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