Sen. Lieberman urges Bush to apply pressure on Cuba


Associated Press Writer


May 8, 2003, 7:45 PM EDT


MIAMI -- In a live broadcast to Cuba, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman urged
the Bush administration Thursday to ratchet up the pressure on Fidel
Castro's communist government and help the island nation's dissidents.


Lieberman, a Democratic candidate for president, called on Bush in an
interview with Radio Marti ``to be very aggressive'' in implementing the
policies the president outlined in a May 2002 address in Miami to provide
American aid for the development of civil society in Cuba.


``And what does that mean? Specific support for the dissidents, the freedom
fighters in Cuba and not stepping back at all in our position that we will
not rest until this regime falls and the Cuban people rise to enjoy their
freedom,'' Lieberman said in a brief interview on the federally funded,
pro-democracy broadcasting station that beams into Cuba.


Lieberman told listeners: ``Yo siempre he luchado por una Cuba libre,'' or
``I have always fought for a free Cuba.'' Asked by reporters about the Bush
administration's support of establishing a civil society in Cuba, Lieberman
called it inadequate.


``As far as I can tell, the follow through on that speech has been very
weak. There has been not adequate support particularly of the creation of
civil society in Cuba and not adequate support of the dissidents,''
Lieberman said.


A White House spokesman did not immediately return a phone call.


In recent weeks, the Cuban government has executed three men convicted of
terrorism in the attempted hijacking of a ferry filled with passengers
bound for the United States. There were no injuries on board. Cuban
prosecutors have also convicted 75 dissidents and imposed sentences from
six years to 28 years.


The 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate has been a strong supporter
of the embargo against the island and has received the backing of South
Florida's Cuban-American exile community. Lieberman voted for the 1996
Helms-Burton Act that tightened the embargo and has called for increased
funding for Radio Marti and TV Marti.


Democrat Al Gore and Lieberman broke with the Clinton administration on
Elian Gonzalez by opposing a decision to send the boy back to Cuba. During
the 2000 campaign and the post-election recount, Lieberman established
strong ties with South Florida's sizable Jewish community.


Cuban-Americans tend to vote Republican in state and national elections and
have been active supporters of President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush, who have both pushed a hard-line stance against Castro. But
Lieberman shares many of the same views on Cuba and has been an ally of the
influential Cuban American National Foundation.


The foundation sent the White House a letter last week urging the
administration to support a peaceful regime change in Cuba. The group
recommended the indictment of Fidel and Raul Castro, the strict enforcement
of economic sanctions and an increase in aid to opposition groups and Radio
and TV Marti.


``This is the last and only dictatorship in our hemisphere,'' CANF
executive director Joe Garcia said Thursday. ``It is time for Castro to go.''


Lieberman said in the radio interview that the Cuban people may soon enjoy
``the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the endowment
of our creator.


``Perhaps now we are at the gates of that time when those rights can be
given to the Cuban people and the end of the Castro regime -- a real regime
change -- will be near,'' Lieberman said.


``There are tens of millions of Americans who think about you, who keep you
in our prayers and our hopes. Don't lose hope. As Dr. Martin Luther King
said: 'The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.'
And we will be with you, bending it toward justice and freedom for the
people of Cuba,'' Lieberman said.


Before leaving, Lieberman posed for photographs with Radio Marti/TV Marti
director Pedro Roig in front Cuban and American flags and framed
photographs of Cuban patriot Jose Marti and the very administration he
hopes to defeat -- President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.


Lieberman was also attending a fund-raiser at a Florida Marlins baseball
game. He was expected to collect about $50,000 during his visit to South
Florida, campaign officials said.