U.S. Gets Tough on Its Cuba Restrictions

President Bush ordered toughened enforcement of long-standing sanctions against Cuba on Friday and said he would also expand support for human rights activists on the Communist-run island.

“The sanctions the United States enforces against the Castro regime are not just a policy tool but a moral statement,” Bush said. “It is wrong to prop up a regime that routinely stifles all the freedoms that make us human.”

Bush timed his announcement to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the sinking of a tugboat off the Cuban coast. Forty-one people died after the vessel--believed to be carrying passengers fleeing the island--was allegedly rammed and sunk by Cuban gunboats.

The announcement preceded by days the deadline for a decision on whether to continue suspending a provision of a 1996 law that allows U.S. citizens to sue foreign firms dealing with American assets seized by Cuba after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

President Clinton suspended the provisions every six months despite pressure, particularly from the politically influential Cuban American community in Florida.

Bush, in a statement issued Friday evening, said he asked the Treasury Department “to enhance and expand the enforcement capabilities of the Office of Foreign Assets Control” regarding Cuba. The office tracks commerce, financial transactions and travel to Cuba.

In addition, Bush said he would increase support for human rights activists and what he called “the democratic opposition” in Cuba, and would provide additional money for nongovernmental groups to work on pro-democracy programs there.

“Focusing our support on activities that promote democratic values will go a long way toward accelerating the democratic transition of Cuba,” Bush said.

Bush also named Salvador Lew, a member of the board that advises the U.S. government on broadcasting to Cuba, to be director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which operates Radio Marti and TV Marti.

The radio and television operations are run by the U.S. government and often face jamming. Bush said he directed Lew “to use all available leads to overcome the jamming.”

Mary Ellen Countryman, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said the overall purpose of Bush’s remarks was to accelerate Cuba’s transition to democracy.

A White House official who declined to be identified said Bush instructed the Treasury Department to give the Office of Foreign Assets Control more money so that it could hire more staffers to enforce restrictions on sending money from the United States to Cuba. The official said the current limit is about $300 per person each quarter.

The restrictions are meant to keep dollars beyond the reach of the Cuban government without severely restricting the ability of people in the U.S. to help family members and other individuals in Cuba.

The White House aide also said Bush would seek an as-yet-undetermined increase in his next budget for support of human rights activities.

The president’s course sets him firmly in the camp of his conservative constituents’ opposition to Cuba and could dampen any criticism if he continues Clinton’s suspension of the 1996 law, known as the Helms-Burton Act.

Continuing the suspension could be particularly sensitive in southern Florida, which proved its political importance in the November presidential election.

At the same time, it puts Bush at odds with critics elsewhere in the United States and in Europe who favor easing the embargo that has helped cripple the island’s economy. Bush will visit Europe next week.