The following speech was made Tuesday at the University of
Havana by former President Carter and broadcast on Cuban state TV
and radio. The speech was given in Spanish and this translation of
the prepared text was provided by The Carter Center:
I appreciate President Castro's invitation for us to visit Cuba,
and have been delighted with the hospitality we have received since
arriving here. It is a great honor to address the Cuban people.
After a long and agonizing struggle, Cuba achieved its
independence a century ago, and a complex relationship soon
developed between our two countries. The great powers in Europe and
Asia viewed ``imperialism'' as the natural order of the time and
they expected the United States to colonize Cuba as the Europeans
had done in Africa. The United States chose instead to help Cuba
become independent, but not completely. The Platt Amendment gave my
country the right to intervene in Cuba's internal affairs until
President Franklin Roosevelt had the wisdom to repeal this claim in
May 1934.
The dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown more than 43 years
ago, and a few years later the Cuban revolution aligned with the
Soviet Union in the Cold War. Since then, our nations have followed
different philosophical and political paths.
The hard truth is that neither the United States nor Cuba has
managed to define a positive and beneficial relationship. Will this
new century find our neighboring people living in harmony and
friendship? I have come here in search of an answer to that
question.
There are some in Cuba who think the simple answer is for the
United States to lift the embargo, and there are some in my country
who believe the answer is for your president to step down from power
and allow free elections. There is no doubt that the question
deserves a more comprehensive assessment.
I have restudied the complicated history (in preparation for my
conversations with President Castro), and realize that there are no
simple answers. I did not come here to interfere in Cuba's internal
affairs, but to extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people and
to offer a vision of the future for our two countries and for all
the Americas. That vision includes a Cuba fully integrated into a
democratic hemisphere, participating in a Free Trade Area of the
Americas and with our citizens traveling without restraint to visit
each other. I want a massive student exchange between our
universities. I want the people of the United States and Cuba to
share more than a love of baseball and wonderful music. I want us to
be friends, and to respect each other.
Our two nations have been trapped in a destructive state of
belligerence for 42 years, and it is time for us to change our
relationship and the way we think and talk about each other. Because
the United States is the most powerful nation, we should take the
first step.
First, my hope is that the Congress will soon act to permit
unrestricted travel between the United States and Cuba, establish
open trading relationships, and repeal the embargo. I should add
that these restraints are not the source of Cuba's economic
problems. Cuba can trade with more than 100 countries, and buy
medicines, for example, more cheaply in Mexico than in the United
States. But the embargo freezes the existing impasse, induces anger
and resentment, restricts the freedoms of US citizens, and makes it
difficult for us to exchange ideas and respect.
Second, I hope that Cuba and the United States can resolve the
40-year-old property disputes with some creativity. In many cases,
we are debating ancient claims about decrepit sugar mills, an
antique telephone company, and many other obsolete holdings. Most
U.S. companies have already absorbed the losses, but some others
want to be paid, and many Cubans who fled the revolution retain a
sentimental attachment for their homes. We resolved similar problems
when I normalized relations with China in 1979. I propose that our
two countries establish a blue-ribbon commission to address the
legitimate concerns of all sides in a positive and constructive
manner.
Third, some of those who left this beautiful island have
demonstrated vividly that the key to a flourishing economy is to use
individual entrepreneurial skills. But many Cubans in South Florida
remain angry over their departure and their divided families. We
need to define a future so they can serve as a bridge of
reconciliation between Cuba and the United States.
Are such normal relationships possible? I believe they are.
Except for the stagnant relations between the United States and
Cuba, the world has been changing greatly, and especially in Latin
America and the Caribbean. As late as 1977, when I became President,
there were only two democracies in South America, and one in Central
America. Today, almost every country in the Americas is a democracy.
I am not using a U.S. definition of ``democracy.'' The term is
embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Cuba
signed in 1948, and it was defined very precisely by all the other
countries of the Americas in the Inter-American Democratic Charter
last September. It is based on some simple premises: all citizens
are born with the right to choose their own leaders, to define their
own destiny, to speak freely, to organize political parties, trade
unions and non-governmental groups, and to have fair and open
trials.
Only such governments can be members of the OAS, join a Free
Trade Area of the Americas, or participate in the Summits of the
Americas. Today, any regime that takes power by unconstitutional
means will be ostracized, as was shown in the rejection of the
Venezuelan coup last month.
Democracy is a framework that permits a people to accommodate
changing times and correct past mistakes. Since our independence,
the United States has rid itself of slavery, granted women the right
to vote, ended almost a century of legal racial discrimination, and
just this year reformed its election laws to correct problems we
faced in Florida eighteen months ago.
Cuba has adopted a socialist government where one political party
dominates, and people are not permitted to organize any opposition
movements. Your constitution recognizes freedom of speech and
association, but other laws deny these freedoms to those who
disagree with the government.
My nation is hardly perfect in human rights. A very large number
of our citizens are incarcerated in prison, and there is little
doubt that the death penalty is imposed most harshly on those who
are poor, black, or mentally ill. For more than a quarter century,
we have struggled unsuccessfully to guarantee the basic right of
universal health care for our people. Still, guaranteed civil
liberties offer every citizen an opportunity to change these laws.
That fundamental right is also guaranteed to Cubans. It is
gratifying to note that Articles 63 and 88 of your constitution
allows citizens to petition the National Assembly to permit a
referendum to change laws if 10,000 or more citizens sign it. I am
informed that such an effort, called the Varela Project, has
gathered sufficient signatures and has presented such a petition to
the National Assembly. When Cubans exercise this freedom to change
laws peacefully by a direct vote, the world will see that Cubans,
and not foreigners, will decide the future of this country.
Cuba has superb systems of health care and universal education,
but last month, most Latin American governments joined a majority in
the United Nations Human Rights Commission in calling on Cuba to
meet universally accepted standards in civil liberties. I would ask
that you permit the International Committee of the Red Cross to
visit prisons and that you would receive the U.N. Human Rights
Commissioner to address such issues as prisoners of conscience and
the treatment of inmates. These visits could help refute any
unwarranted criticisms.
Public opinion surveys show that a majority of people in the
United States would like to see the economic embargo ended, normal
travel between our two countries, friendship between our people, and
Cuba to be welcomed into the community of democracies in the
Americas. At the same time, most of my fellow citizens believe that
the issues of economic and political freedom need to be addressed by
the Cuban people. After 43 years of animosity, we hope that someday
soon, you can reach across the great divide that separates our two
countries and say, ``We are ready to join the community of
democracies,'' and I hope that Americans will soon open our arms to
you and say, ``We welcome you as our friends.'' |