The Associated Press reports that dissidents within Cuba think the recommendations on how to enforce the embargo are counterproductive:
"I really appreciate the solidarity of the United States government and people, but I think that this report is counterproductive," said dissident journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe. "It supports the government's hard-line sector to justify repression."
"I don't doubt the report's good intentions, but it just adds kindling to the fire," said longtime activist Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission on Human Right
From the WSJ,
UPDATE: US Panel Urges $80M Spending To Speed Cuba Change
DOW JONES
NEWSWIRES
July 10, 2006 5:32 p.m.
HAVANA (AP)--A U.S.
presidential commission on Monday urged Washington to spend $80 million to help nongovernment groups hasten a transition to democracy in Cuba, but some dissidents here said the move would do them more harm than good.
The recommendations by the Presidential Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba come just as Fidel Castro's Cuban government is moving to strengthen its leadership and institutions to ensure the status quo.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the commission's report during a Washington news conference that international journalists in Havana followed by teleconference.
Rice said the report's recommendations "reflect America's resolve to stand with Cuba's brave opposition leaders: men and women who speak for those Cubans who are forced into fearful silence but who remain free in their hearts and in their minds.
"We are increasing our determination to break the regime's information blockade," Rice said. "And we are offering support for the efforts of Cubans to prepare for the day when they will recover their sovereignty and can select a government of their choosing through free and fair multiparty elections."
The $80 million in new funds, to be spent over two years, is to include $31 million to support independent civil society on the island, $10 million for scholarships in the U.S. and other countries, $24 million to "break the Castro regime's information blockade" and expand access to independent information including through the Internet and $15 million to support international efforts at strengthening civil society and in transition planning.
But some dissidents worried that the Cuban government could use the new funding as a pretext to harass or even arrest opposition leaders on the island. Communist officials accused 75 opponents rounded up in 2003 of being on the U.S. government payrolls. Both the dissidents and Washington denied the allegation.
"I really appreciate the solidarity of the United States government and people, but I think that this report is counterproductive," said dissident journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe. "It supports the government's hard-line sector to justify repression."
"I don't doubt the report's good intentions, but it just adds kindling to the fire," said longtime activist Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission on Human Right
