Clinton Urged to Lift Cuban Embargo

With less than six months remaining in President Clinton’s term, the leader of the National Council of Churches urged him to end the decades-old trade embargo against Cuba before he leaves office.

“If we wait until after the elections take place, a new administration will have to select new ambassadors and new persons in the State Department and prioritize their foreign policy,” said the Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the 51-year-old ecumenical agency of 35 Orthodox and Protestant churches. “Cuba will be placed on the back burner.”

Edgar and several other representatives from the council concluded a tour of Cuba on Thursday. They met with church and Cuban government officials and relatives of Elian Gonzalez.

“As we met with the Gonzalez family, I was reminded that this is an appropriate moment for the United States to change over 40 years of hostility toward Cuba,” Edgar said. “We have to begin to take a new approach by lifting the sanctions.”