=> Criminal Bu$h Mob attacks another defenseless impoverishe

Cuba Denounces 'Brutal' Bush Measures
Fri May 7, 2004 12:19 PM ET

Reuters
By Anthony Boadle
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's communist government on Friday denounced
President
Bush's plans to hasten its demise as "brutal" interference in another
country's
affairs.

Bush took measures on Thursday to reduce the flow of dollars to
cash-strapped
Cuba while stepping up propaganda broadcasts and support for opponents
of
President Fidel Castro, in power since a 1959 revolution.

Visits by Cuban-American relatives, whose remittances inject about $1
billion in
badly needed cash into the island's economy, will be limited to one
trip every
three years to deny resources to what Bush called a "tyranny."

The ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma reported the U.S.
decisions under a
banner headline: "Brutal economic and political measures against our
country and
against Cubans residing in the United States."

"The solid support for the Revolution by almost all of the population
makes it
invulnerable to Mr. Bush's rotten ideology," Granma said.

Havana charged that White House plans to deploy a C-130 military plane
to beam
television signals into Cuba and counter Cuban jamming of the U.S.
funded TV
Marti were a violation of international broadcast rules.

The White House said it would spend $59 million over the next two
years to
hasten Castro's end by supporting pro-democracy groups, relatives of
imprisoned
dissidents and spreading information about human rights abuses in
Cuba. Up to
$18 million of the earmarked funds will pay for airborne broadcasts to
Cuba.

The Cuban government complained that tougher U.S. sanctions come at a
time of
rising world prices for food and are aimed at hitting tourism, the
island's main
source of hard currency.

LITTLE IMPACT ON CUBA

Cuban dissidents, branded by Castro as traitors on Washington's
payroll, did not
see Bush's measures as leading to democratic change.

"This is counterproductive, because you cannot promote democracy just
with
money," said veteran human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez

Bush's plan to bring a speedy end to the Castro era will give the
Cuban
government a pretext to repress dissent in the name of a larger threat
from an
external enemy, Sanchez said. "Anyone who accepts American money will
exposed to
arrest," he said.
Ordinary Cubans, many of whom rely on money from relatives in the
United States
to supplement their meager wages, were relieved that Bush had not cut
a $1,200 a
year ceiling on money Cuban Americans can send to their families.

The White House opted for stronger enforcement of existing
restrictions and
"sting" operations to catch "mules" carrying illegal sums of money to
Cuba.

Last year 120,000 Cuban-Americans visited Cuba, loaded with presents
and goods
for their relatives enduring the scarcities of a battered socialist
economy.

Cuba watchers questioned the timing of the measures and said they
appeared to be
tailored to curry favor with hard-line Cuba-American voters in
Florida, a key
state in November's presidential election.

Florida is home to around 450,000 registered Cuban-American voters.
The Cuban
emigre community divided between tough action to depose Castro and
more fluid
contact with their families on the island.

"There will be an impact, but it won't be the impact the White House
envisioned.
Cuban Americans will travel and send money to Cuba through third
countries,"
said Paolo Spadoni, a University of Florida Cuba expert.

He said illegal remittances taken by "mules" will thrive.
--
"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our
number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
~ George Bush Jr. 2001-09-13


"I don't know where he (bin Laden) is. I have no idea and I really
don't care.
It's not that important. It's not our priority."
~ George Bush Jr. 2002-03-13
--multiplaza.nl.nu--