Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues,americast.usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Thu, Oct 22 1992 Date: Thu, 22 Oct 92 04:38:37 EDT Message-ID: 10-22 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update Oct. 22, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Thursday morning in USA TODAY: Cuba, Elections. TODAY'S DEBATE - CUBAN POLICY: USA TODAY'S OPINION: Thirty years ago, a frightened world held its breath as Soviet attempts to put missiles in Cuba brought us perilously close to nuclear war. For the United States, the Cuban missile crisis - 90 miles from our own back yard - was a vivid reminder of the long arm of the Red Menace. Today, the Soviet Union is dead and Cuba, deprived of Soviet subsidies, is a toothless tiger with a crumbling economy. The rationale for maintaining a 30-year-old trade embargo is largely gone. It's time to loosen restrictions. Only a handful of Russians remain, and the $4 billion annual trade subsidy that kept the island's economy afloat is down to $1.5 billion and shrinking. Cubans ration food and clothes. Lack of fuel has forced factories to close and people to use bicycles instead of cars. Cuba is a wreck. Without Soviet aid, a weakened Cuba cannot afford to export revolution and threaten us. Aging dictator Fidel Castro has pulled troops out of Africa, no longer fires communist insurgency in Latin America and has even improved his human rights record at home. Castro's still no saint. But he's an impotent sinner. Skeptics fear that loosened restrictions will stop the erosion of Cuba's economy and give Castro the ammunition he needs to foment revolution again. Both President Bush and Gov. Bill Clinton support the embargo. Congress, seeking to tighten it, recently passed a bill to ban foreign subsidiaries of U.S. firms from doing business with Cuba and bar ships trading with Cuba from U.S. ports. Bush, like Clinton, supports the bill. He plans to sign it Friday in Miami, where it will be applauded by Cuban expatriates. The bill is a mistake. Opening up markets would give Cubans a taste of a better life and could hasten Castro's downfall. And it would give the United States its best access to the Cuban people, which could be a valuable tool in a post-Castro Cuba. The Red Menace has faded from our back yard. It's time to mend the fences. OTHER VIEW: JORGE MAS CANOSA, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation: In recalling the Cuban missile crisis, let us remember it was Fidel Castro who urged Nikita Khrushchev to launch a nuclear strike at the United States, thus revealing not only Castro's hatred of the USA but also his chilling notion that if he can't rule Cuba, then no Cuba should exist. Clearly, as long as Fidel Castro remains in power, there will be no meaningful change in Cuba. Hence, there exists no compelling reason why U.S. policy toward this outdated dictator should change. Removing the U.S. embargo of Cuba gives up the only leverage we have to bring about meaningful change there. The Cuban Democracy Act - just passed by Congress - is clear on this: Hold free and fair elections, and the embargo will be removed. Indeed, the immediate result of removing the embargo now will be to prolong the life of the Castro regime. Despite receiving almost $100 billion in Soviet aid, Castro has kept the Cuban people chained to ration books since 1962. All that aid has gone to simply consolidate his grip on power - and any future assistance will as well. Those who believe removing the embargo will deprive Castro of someone to blame for his mistakes underestimate his survival skills. Dictators with a pathological need for enemies will always manage to find them. Fidel Castro is trying to deny a democratic revolution is sweeping the globe, and especially the Americas, where the undemocratic regimes in Peru and Haiti were quickly rejected and isolated. To recognize him now - no questions asked - betrays every positive change we have seen in the last few years and rewards Castro for his obstinacy. This hemisphere belongs to the democrats - dictators need not apply. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON INTEREST IN THE ELECTION: MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla., James Kalambokas, 55, retired counselor: I've always been interested in politics, but I'm a little more this year because of Ross Perot. For the first time in years, I'm not going to vote for a Republican. I'm also retired, so I have more time. I was just watching a rerun of the last debate. HOUSTON, Texas, Catherine Nelson-Archer, 24, student: It's probably about the same. I stay pretty involved. In 1988, I was more concerned with the economy than I am at this point, and that's partially because the economy is horrible and I don't know if anyone will be able to fix it. BLOOMFIELD, Conn., Valerie Curtis-Newton, 33, insur. underwriter: I'm more interested. As an African-American, for me it's a matter of life and death for myself and my community. Bush doesn't really understand politics of unity, so we're pulled apart as a nation. People are mad enough to make changes. SAN DIEGO, Calif., Rick Griffin, 38, ad agency owner: I'm taking a much closer look at today's candidates because their differing platforms would lead the USA in opposite directions on many issues. The decisions we make this fall will echo for many generations. Our nation stands at a crossroads in its history. ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Glenda Bailey-Mershon, 43, writer: Obviously, in Illinois we have excitement because of the Carol Moseley Braun candidacy. Having the possibility of the first African-American woman in the Senate is really exciting. I've campaigned before but never with quite as much satisfaction. Issues & Debate Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM