VII. Recommendations
We are united in our insistence that the blockade brings pain to Cuba.
Dr. Johnnetta Cole
It is not appropriate for the United States to design retaliatory public policy on the backs of children, the poor and dispossessed simply because the leader is not liked, in the absence of any discernible threat to the general welfare of citizens of the United States ... Fair play, integrity and justice demand a higher standard of public policy.
Dr. Norman Francis
The delegation left Cuba convinced that the most pressing issues in Cuba today were the human rights consequences of four decades of punitive economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Many members believe that the only course of action consistent with American values and interest is an immediate end to the embargo. There was consensus on the need for an immediate concerted campaign to eliminate all U.S. measures that have contributed to human rights and humanitarian problems in Cuba. Of particular concern to the delegation were those measures that have been clearly identified as worsening the condition of women, children, and Afro-Cubans. The following recommendations focus on how to enhance Cuba's capacity to meet its health, educational, and food sufficiency responsibilities to its citizens:
Health
The United States must immediately end all restrictions on the sale of medical products by U.S. companies to Cuba and stop its campaign to deny the Cuban government access to any medicines, medical information and general medical supplies which contain parts or technologies of U.S. origin. Health care is a human right and the campaign to prevent the Cubans from obtaining needed medical products such as plasma, antibiotics, and surgical instruments is inhumane.
The United States must end its policy of blocking the sale of Cuban pharmaceutical and biotechnological products to other countries. Such efforts deny Cubans badly needed foreign exchange and deny useful and inexpensive products to others.
Education
United States policies and measures that have prevented Cuba from purchasing educational materials and educational technology such as computers and software from American companies as well as from third parties must be ended. The delegation saw evidence of the human cost of such denial and found such policies to be cruel and contrary to the best interest of the United States.
Food Sufficiency
The United States must immediately act to expand recently announced efforts to allow the sale of food, agricultural supplies and machinery to Cuba. There is no need for any restrictions in these areas and such trade would be beneficial to the people of both countries. U.S. restrictions on agricultural trade has severely harmed the health and well-being of the Cuban people and denied U.S. farmers access to a significant market.
The United States should remove restrictions on Cuba's ability to sell sugar on the world market, including but not limited to allowing access to U.S. commodity markets. Restrictions on the sale of sugar -- Cuba's principal export -- denies Cuba the foreign exchange that it needs to promote the welfare of its citizens.
VIII. Conclusion
The TransAfrica Forum delegation visited Cuba at a time of growing demands in the United States for change in U.S. policy toward Cuba. There are notable anti-embargo activities across the American political spectrum and the Clinton administration has begun to respond even if its initial response has been, characteristically, more form than substance, more tentative than comprehensive.
The visit gave the delegation a strong impression of Cuba's efforts to promote social equality through concerted campaigns in the areas of health and education, even in the face of limited resources. Also, the delegation noted increased efforts on the part of the Cuban government to respond to changing global political and economic conditions. The delegation noted the effects of the decade-old state openings toward religion, epitomized by the highly successful visit of the Pope in early 1998. Cuba's growing receptivity to private foreign investment was also visible in hotel construction activity in Havana.
The delegation was concerned by the difficulties, both in Cuba and the United States that have resulted from forty years of hostile relations between both countries. One thing was clear however: the unnecessary suffering imposed on the Cuban people by successive U.S. governments in an effort to overthrow the Castro regime ñ must end. The United States embargo has worsened the lot of the Cuban people by limiting the economic activities via which Cuba can strive to achieve its full potential. Similarly, repeated and varied American attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro and topple his government have created within Cuba a state of tension not conducive to the promotion of civil liberties.
The TransAfrica Forum delegation left Cuba with a profound appreciation of the Cuban people's (i) pride in the accomplishments of the 1959 revolution; (ii) desire to have the embargo-limited restrictions on their country's achievement removed; and (iii) feelings of goodwill and friendship towards the American people. The visit provided delegation members with crucial information and experiences upon which to base individual and collaborative actions to change U.S. policy towards Cuba.
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