USA*Engage Commits to Fight
Ineffective Cuba Policies
Washington, D.C. - The USA*Engage coalition has agreed to support
changes in three ineffective U.S. policies towards Cuba in 2002.
"Today, our members have committed USA*Engage to ending the
travel ban, permitting private financing of sales of agricultural
commodities, and repealing Section 211," said Don Deline,
Co-Chairman of USA*Engage. "The United States made a choice forty
years ago to isolate a dictator in Cuba. The results are clear.
Today, the repressive regime is unchanged. The Cuban people are
denied political freedoms. The Cuban economy does not afford the
people an adequate standard of living. USA*Engage advocates bringing
about much-needed positive change in Cuba through commercial
engagement and cultural exchange."
USA*Engage supports:
- the provisions to defund the travel ban on Cuba that passed
the House of Representatives in 2001;
- the repeal of Section 211 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of
1999, which endangers over 5,000 trademarks of over 500 American
companies registered in Cuba;
- the Senate-passed Farm Bill currently in conference that
expands the Trade Sanctions Reform Act of 2000 to allow private
financing of agricultural sales to Cuba.
USA*ENGAGE is a coalition of over 670 small
and large businesses, agriculture groups and trade associations
working to seek alternatives to the proliferation of unilateral U.S.
foreign policy sanctions and to promote the benefits of U.S.
engagement abroad. For more information on USA*ENGAGE and the
harmful effects of unilateral trade sanctions, visit the USA*ENGAGE
web site at http://www.usaengage.org/.
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