76-19-B1

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Cuba II

Transcript The tourist traffic to Cuba is increasing. Most recent visitor to the island, traveling in an air force jet was U.S. Senator Frank Church. He spent four days with Fidel Castro and departed for home saying, "I leave with the impression I have found a friend." Lest we lose our perspective with so many carefully staged Cuban tours recently, let me read a letter written to President Carter by the exiled sister of the Cuban dictator. "My name is Juanita Castro. I am the sister of the communist dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro. However, I am also a Cuban woman in exile who loves her country and has put its liberation above personal gain and family ties. I have chosen liberty, Christianity and patriotism over slavery, atheism and treason. You, Mr. President, must now choose how your name will go down in history. I speak to your conscience and through it to the American people." "I come to remind you of those killed by Communist Cuba's firing squads for trying to be free. I come to remind you of Communist Cuba's concentration camps and jails where torture and murder are everyday occurrences. I come to remind you of the enslaved people of Cuba, muted by terror and waiting, hoping, struggling for liberation." "I come to tell you that those who state that the lifting of economic sanctions against Cuba and the establishment of relations with its communist government do not constitute condoning or accepting its actions, are wrong. This argument would not have stood up to the realities of an Auschwitz or a Dachau under Hitler's Germany and ring hollow and bankrupt before the realities of their counterpart in communist Cuba." "I come to ask you why, after your pronouncements concerning human rights, you do not vigorously advocate that these be respected in Cuba before even trying to renew relations of any kind with the Communist government of Havana." "I come to remind you of the Congressional resolution of October 3, 1962 and of the innumerable conventions, doctrines and treaties that oppose such action. I come to remind you, Mr. President, of that day in Florida when you shouted, 'Democracy, yes; Castro, no.' "Last but not least, I come to warn you, Mr. President, that my brother, Fidel Castro, and the international communism he represents are not interested in this country's friendship, but only in the economic gain that would accrue to his regime from this move and in the increase of his political prestige that such action would bring." "At the beginning of your War of Independence in 1775, Benjamin Franklin wrote to his old friend in England, William Strahan: 'Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations!' Mr. President, I submit that your decision in this matter might well determine if you will ever again be able to look at yours." Juanita Castro's letter was addressed to the President, but, in truth, it was written to all of us, and all of us must be a part of the answer. Has Senator Church or any of us, for that matter, "found a friend"? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-19-B1 Production Date 09/06/1977 Book/Page RPtV-192 Audio Youtube? No
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