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The transition to a democratic Cuba is already under way, says the U.S. State Department's Roger Noriega.

In his March 3 prepared testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives panel reviewing the situation in Cuba, Noriega said that compared to just a few years ago -- "despite the brutally repressive nature" of the Cuban regime's tactics -- "there are now more opposition activities" occurring throughout the island nation.

Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said that although these activities are "in many ways limited and fragile, I believe that we will be able to look back at them years from now and see that they were indeed significant and the precursor to a Cuban future free of misery and repression."

The official said that during the previous week, he told a group of Cuban-American supporters of a free Cuba that each of them knows something that most of the rest of the world does not: "the transition [to democracy] in Cuba is already under way."

That transition is "happening in the hearts and minds of more and more Cubans every day," said Norigea.  "They may not agree on everything -- and that's okay.  But they do agree on this: the Cuban people must claim their God-given right to decide for themselves about how to make a better future for their children."

As the Cuban people "claim that right to write their own future," the United States "will stand with them," said Noriega, who testified before a joint oversight hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere and the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.

Noriega said the Bush administration is actively engaged in helping the Cuban people create a democratic future for their country.  For example, he said, the United States has provided $14.4 million -- of a proposed $29 million -- to support the development of civil society in Cuba and the "empowerment of the Cuban people in their efforts to effect positive change."  Some $6 million, he said, has already been transferred to the U.S. Agency for International Development to dramatically expand that agency's work with civil society groups in Cuba.

The United States is also working with international partners to promote greater global involvement in helping Cuban civil society activists by channeling $8.4 million through a "new process designed to tap into the innovative ideas of democracy activists around the world and [to] help the Cuban people implement them on the island."

In addition, the United States has streamlined licensing requirements so that, for the first time ever, high-speed laptop computers can be delivered to Cuban civil society groups.

Noriega said another key component of the U.S. strategy on Cuba is to break the Cuban regime's information blockade on the Cuban people and "to bring a message of hope to the island."

Noriega said that to circumvent Cuban jamming of broadcast signals, Commando Solo -- a C-130 aircraft equipped with a powerful electronic transmission capability -- has flown on a regular basis, beaming U.S.-backed TV Marti signals to the island.  According to Noriega, multisource information indicates that the TV Marti programs can be seen and heard at "an unprecedented level and through a wide swath" of Cuba.

The United States also provides moral support to Cuban dissidents by documenting and publicizing the cases of Cuba's "prisoners of conscience," said Noriega.   U.S. officials, he said, follow more than 350 cases and regularly meet with the prisoners' families and other Cuban citizens to discuss human-rights concerns.

Noriega said another part of the U.S. strategy is an "aggressive effort" to identify and degrade Cuban-regime "revenue streams," such as tourism, which he said has replaced sugar exports as Cuba's main foreign-exchange earner.

"We want to deny resources" that the Cuban regime uses to "finance its repressive apparatus that keeps the Cuban people in ideological bondage," said Noriega.

In sum, the United States is providing "unprecedented, robust, and active support to courageous Cubans daring to think and act independently of the regime so that they can succeed in realizing their dreams," Noriega said.

Following is the text of Noriega's prepared remarks:

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TESTIMONY OF ROGER F. NORIEGA
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE,
BUREAU OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS (WHA), DEPARTMENT OF STATE
BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND
INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 3, 2005

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the human rights situation in Cuba.  Chairman Burton and Chairman Smith, I am grateful for your leadership on this important issue and your continuing efforts to raise public awareness of the fate that has befallen Cuba after forty years of dictatorship.

As you are well aware, in most cases it is only international recognition and solidarity that exists to protect, as we can, those brave individuals who continue to resist tyranny, strive for democracy, and demand respect for their most basic human rights.

Cuba, of course, is no exception.

It was almost two years ago that the current regime in Cuba began one of its most brutal waves of repression against the peaceful opposition since the early days of the Cuban Revolution.  More than 100 activists were arrested; of those, 75 were summarily tried and sentenced to prison terms averaging 20 years each.

The purpose of the March 2003 crackdown was clear: to send a chilling message to all those who dare to think of democracy and respect for human rights -- that if you express even the mildest criticism of the regime or try to do anything that is perceived as a threat to the government's absolute control of Cuban society, you will be swiftly and severely punished.

That what awaits you is a fetid, squalid cell far from your home, overrun by rats and cockroaches and lacking the most basic sanitation.  That you will endure a paltry, inedible food ration.  That your family will be interrogated, ostracized, and harassed.  That they will lose their jobs or be unable to go to college.  That if you suffer from severe illnesses, such as kidney failure or malnutrition, you will be denied adequate medical attention.

Such is the fate of courageous people like Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, founder of the Lawton Center and an advocate of the non-violent philosophy espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King.  Dr. Biscet for months was forced to live on handouts from fellow prisoners because the prison did not permit his wife to bring in the meager rations of food and medicine that are allowed other prisoners.  As a result, he lost 60 pounds and he is in poor health.

This is the ugly reality of life as a political prisoner in Cuba, and many Cubans are all too familiar with the consequences seeking democracy and respect for human rights.

Not surprisingly, the regime's crackdown succeeded in the short-term, forcing the dissident movement to maintain a lower profile for fear of the repercussions on themselves and their families.

The good news, however, is that in the last several months, more and more Cubans have begun to once again think of life beyond the dictatorship and have started to carry out activities that could help bring about a peaceful transition to democracy.  Indeed, compared to just a few years ago -- despite the brutally repressive nature of the regime's tactics -- there are now more opposition activities throughout the island.

Although these actions are in many ways limited and fragile, I believe that we will be able to look back at them years from now and see that they were indeed significant and the precursor to a Cuban future free of misery and repression.  Just as Ronald Reagan told an audience in 1983 that global communism was "a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written," so too is the same happening in Cuba.

Last week, I told a group of Cuban American friends that each of them knows something that most of the rest of the world does not: the transition in Cuba is already under way.

It is happening in the hearts and minds of more and more Cubans every day.  They may not agree on everything -- and that's okay.  But they do agree on this: the Cuban people must claim their God-given right to decide for themselves about how to make a better future for their children.

As they claim that right to write their own future, we will stand with them.

I want to briefly note for the record some of those brave Cubans who are daring to write and speak about their future.

Dissident Activities

-- Marta Beatriz Roque is an independent economist and the only woman of the 75 prisoners arrested in March 2003.  She was released in July 2004 because of severe medical problems.  She had been imprisoned because, among other things, she created a website that presented factual information on Cuba's deteriorating economy.

In the last few months, Roque has been working on behalf of an Assembly to Promote Civil Society -- comprised of numerous non-governmental organizations in Cuba -- that is scheduled to meet on May 20, Cuba's traditional day of independence.

Such courage has already irked the regime.  Some Assembly members have been detained and warned that the meeting will never take place.  Cuban security forces even went so far as to create and circulate a mock newspaper article dated May 19, 2005, to try to intimidate Roque, by describing how she and her supporters were arrested during the Congress.

-- A different form of activity has been the quiet protest carried out by the "Damas en Blanco" -- the "Women in White" -- who are the wives of political prisoners.  For months, they have met outside of a church each Sunday to walk quietly for a few blocks.  A few weeks ago, they sat in protest in Revolution Square to ask for better medical treatment for one of the prisoners.  Just last week, they wore T-shirts and buttons printed with photos of their husbands, and walked across downtown Havana to the dictator's office to deliver a letter with 1,043 signatures requesting amnesty for the jailed dissidents.

This is an important symbolic gesture that was done in such countries as Argentina and Chile during their repressive eras.

-- There is also the independent library movement, created a few years ago, which establish small libraries in people's homes.  Books include everything from do-it-yourself guides and manuals on childcare to works on free market economics and democratic ideals.  Many independent librarians were arrested during the crackdown and are still imprisoned.  Despite this, the movement continues.

-- Another important effort is headed by Oswaldo Paya, winner of the European Union's 2002 Sakharov Prize.  Previously, he had led the Varela Project, a grassroots initiative to collect thousands of names for a national referendum on economic and political reforms. Paya and his supporters submitted 11,000 signatures in 2002.  Although the constitution allows legislative proposals backed by at least 10,000 citizens to be submitted directly to the National Assembly, the government rejected the petitions and held mass rallies to proclaim the socialist nature of the Cuban state.

Almost a third of the 75 activists arrested in March 2003 participated in the Varela Project.  In October 2003, Project Varela organizers submitted a second petition to the National Assembly with an additional 14,000 signatures, an incredible accomplishment given that people had to submit their names, addresses, and ID numbers and, in so doing, exposed themselves as potential targets for harassment.

Since then, Paya and his supporters have turned their focus to a national dialogue.  Paya recently announced the formation of a Committee for National Dialogue, which encourages the participation of every Cuban citizen, on the island and in exile, who wants a free and democratic Cuba, in a discussion on means of a transition and the shape of Cuba's future.  To that end, he has assembled more than 100 people in Cuba and abroad to help lead the dialogue.  Issues include such topics as foreign relations, national reconciliation, economic policy, and the environment.

Such initiatives help focus people's attention on the future and allow them to combat the hopelessness and despair that permeate Cuban society by giving them something to support.

-- Beyond these specific initiatives, one USAID grantee reports an increasing number of smaller nonviolent civic actions, which include everything from a few people meeting in a park to protest, to students refusing to participate in National Defense Day activities or mandatory political activities in the classroom, to individuals refusing to testify at the trial of a political prisoner.

Many of these types of actions commemorate significant dates: December 10, International Human Rights Day; February 24, which is both the start of Cuba's War of Independence and the anniversary of the shoot down of the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes; and July 13, which commemorates the sinking of the March 13 tugboat, which led to the deaths of dozens of refugees.

Yes, these are isolated events -- but they are significant in that they are happening at all.

International Support for Dissidents

Another important change is that, in the past, these kind of activities, even when they occurred, were ignored by the international community and received little, if any, support.

Now, when the dissidents speak, people abroad listen and lend a helping hand.

One of the most notable -- and heroic -- examples has been the work of the Czech Republic.  The Czechs, not too long ago, had their own experience with totalitarianism -- in fact, during the 1980s, the Czechoslovak embassy was even the protecting diplomatic entity for the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Czechs have spoken forcefully and eloquently on the need to support human rights activists in Cuba and for countries to stand up to the tyranny in Cuba.  Vaclav Havel has written several op-eds calling for countries to be more engaged in Cuba.

The Czech NGO People in Need helped form an NGO dedicated solely to Cuba -- the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba or ICDC.  It counts Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Madeleine Albright as its board members, as well as such luminaries as the former president of Chile, Patricio Alwyn, the former president of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, famed Russian activist Elena Bonner, and Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa.

Last September in Prague, dozens of current and former political leaders from around the world participated in an unprecedented 3-day event to focus international attention on Cuba.  The resulting "Declaration of Prague" called for the release of all Cuban political prisoners and harshly criticized the lack of freedom in Cuba.  President Havel told the press, "Cuba is a giant prison."  The ICDC organized another conference in Miami to promote international solidarity with dissidents in Cuba and to discuss transition scenarios.

Also over the past several months, a number of Latin American congressmen, under the auspices of the Joint Commission of European and Latin American Parliamentarians in Support of Democracy and Human Rights in Cuba, announced their "adoption" of Cuban political prisoners.  Many of these legislators are members of Mexico's National Action Party (PAN).

The French NGO Reporters without Borders has also dedicated its efforts to making public service announcements, placing ads, and writing reports, in order to focus attention on the lack of media freedoms in Cuba.

U.S. Assistance

The United States, for its part, is also actively engaged in helping these brave men and women create a democratic future for Cuba.

As President Bush said in his second inaugural address, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture.... All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

He added, "Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country."  An important component of the strategy laid out in the report of the President's Commission on Assistance to a Free Cuba -- designed to support a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy through outreach to the Cuban people.

Empower Cuban Civil Society

To that end, we have provided an additional $14.4 million -- of a proposed $29 million -- to support the development of civil society in Cuba and the empowerment of the Cuban people in their efforts to effect positive change.  Six million dollars has already been transferred to USAID to dramatically expand its work with civil society groups.

We are also working with international partners to promote greater international involvement in helping civil society activists by channeling the remaining $8.4 million through a new process designed to tap into the innovative ideas of democracy activists around the world and help the Cuban people implement them on the island.

We have streamlined licensing requirements so that, for the first time ever, high-speed laptop computers can be delivered to Cuban civil society groups. These deliveries have already begun.

Break the Information Blockade

Another key component of our strategy is to break the regime's information blockade on the Cuban people and to bring a message of hope to the island.  To circumvent Cuban jamming, Commando Solo, the C-130 aircraft equipped with a powerful electronic transmission capability, has flown on a regular basis, beaming TV Marti signals to the island.  Multi-source information indicates that the TV Marti program it broadcast can be seen and heard at an unprecedented level and through a wide swath of the island.

Provide Moral Support

To document and publicize the cases of Cuba's prisoners of conscience, U.S. officials follow more than 350 cases and regularly meet with the prisoners' families and other Cuban citizens to discuss human rights concerns.

Deny Resources to the Regime

The President has also directed an aggressive effort to identify long-ignored regime revenue streams and move to degrade them, such as tourism, which has replaced sugar exports as Cuba's main foreign-exchange earner.  We want to deny resources that the regime uses to finance its repressive apparatus that keeps the Cuban people in ideological bondage.

By reducing the amount of travel and remittances to Cuba, we estimate that by the end of the first post-CAFC year, we will have denied the regime at least half a billion dollars.

There are many who say that increased tourism would lead to greater opening and more freedoms in Cuba.  The reality is that the regime attempts to confine foreign tourists to isolated beach resorts or in other ways minimize the opportunity for communication with Cubans other than staff hand-selected for political acceptability.  The regime's security apparatus affords little opportunity for tourists to engage Cubans except in the most tightly controlled circumstances.  There exists a system of "tourism apartheid," where the average Cuban citizen in fact cannot visit or stay at tourist resorts nor eat at any resort restaurant.

In fact, the Cuban government is actually in the process of limiting the amount of contact tourists can have with even workers in the tourist sector.  The Cuban Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) has just passed a resolution that regulates relations between the more than 100,000 Cubans who work in the tourism industry, and "foreign personnel."  Employees in the sector are forbidden to accept gifts and invitations "of a personal nature," or to take part, without the authorities' permission, in meals and parties organized by foreigners.

The first article of the Mintur resolution, passed in January, asks staff to limit relations with foreigners "to those that are strictly necessary."  It also instructs them to observe a series of "ethical, moral, and professional principles," among them: "to base their conduct on loyalty to their country"; "to be vigilant at all times of any deed or attitude that could be harmful to the state"; and to refuse "remuneration, gifts, donations, accommodation or services that go against dignity and respect and create commitments that threaten the healthy spirit of collaboration" between the parties.

The document also calls upon tourism employees to "be discreet and rational in the use and transmission of information within their reach," prohibits dealing with foreigners to obtain scholarships or invitations to travel abroad, and obliges personnel to declare, in writing to their immediate superior, all gifts received from a foreigner with whom they have work-related contact.

It is even recommended that negotiations between Cuban business people from the tourism sector and foreign colleagues be conducted, "whenever possible, in the presence of a witness."

It is clear from such governmental decrees that easing restrictions on travel to Cuba would not, in and of itself, benefit ordinary Cuban citizens nor pave the transition to democracy.  Cuba already welcomes more than a million tourists a year, mainly from Italy, Spain and Canada.  Citizens of these nations are no less committed to democracy than our own, yet despite over 10 million such tourists visiting Cuba in the last decade, Cuba is no freer than it was in 1993.  Indeed, one could persuasively argue that Cuba has actually become even more repressive.

Based on this experience, the most logical outcome of unrestricted U.S. travel to Cuba is that it will do little to promote democratic change and much to bolster the regime by providing it with a cash windfall of scarce hard currency and thus the means to help the regime survive.

The Road Ahead

Through his Commission on Assistance to a Free Cuba report, President Bush has made his personal, passionate commitment to Cuba's freedom America's commitment.

We are providing unprecedented, robust, and active support to courageous Cubans daring to think and act independently of the regime so that they can succeed in realizing their dreams:

-- recovering their dignity, their rights, and their future,

-- consolidating a genuine democratic transition, and

-- reconciling all Cubans, wherever they may be.

Through our solidarity with and assistance to these democracy, human rights, and civil society activists we want to help ensure that when change comes to Cuba, the Cuban people will enjoy a true transition and not suffer the succession being planned by the regime.

We will be ready for that challenge -- because President Bush has challenged his team to not merely wait for the day when Cuba is free, but to work for the day of Cuba's freedom.

Messrs. Chairmen, in conclusion, history will not absolve the Cuban dictator.  It will remember him not as a visionary who made too many promises, but as a decrepit old man who told too many lies.

The Bush Administration is committed to standing with the Cuban people, as they write the new chapters in their history.  The future is theirs.

Thank you very much, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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