Armey Urges End to Cuba Sanctions

In a vivid sign of waning support for the economic embargo on Cuba, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said he believes that the United States should open trade with the Communist regime and that he has backed the restrictions on travel and trade only out of loyalty to two Cuban American members of the House.

Speaking at a trade promotion event in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday, Armey acknowledged that congressional support for the 4-decade-old restrictions is fading. “If they last a year, it will be the last year they last,” said Armey, who plans to retire from Congress at the end of the year.

With an eye on upcoming elections in the pivotal electoral state of Florida, the White House and GOP congressional leaders have been lobbying fiercely to maintain the embargo, which they argue will weaken the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

But an anti-embargo coalition that includes farm state lawmakers, northern Democrats and others has been gaining strength steadily in recent years. They argue that a free flow of goods and people to Cuba will accelerate the move to a more democratic system while opening up that market to American companies.

Two weeks ago, the House adopted by a lopsided 262-167 vote a measure that would end restrictions on American travel to the island nation. If the Senate adopts similar language, as expected, and congressional conferees agree, President Bush will face a tough choice between executing the first veto of his term or accepting the first major easing of the embargo in four decades.

Asked Thursday about Armey’s comments, White House spokesman Sean McCormack said Bush “is committed to enforcing the embargo.... He’s committed himself to enforcing it more strongly.”

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, is facing reelection this fall in a state with a large bloc of Cuban American voters.

Armey’s comments to reporters in Kansas were first reported by Associated Press and confirmed Thursday by a spokesman for Armey, Gary Crist. The majority leader was said to be traveling and unavailable for elaboration.

Though Armey is retiring, he remains one of the most influential conservative voices in Congress. As such, his shift of position probably will carry considerable weight with other Republicans.

In his nine terms in the House, Armey has shown himself to be a staunch opponent of Communist governments. But the former economics professor born in the farm town of Cando, N.D., also has been passionate about the need to engage other countries with free trade. Two years ago, for example, Armey pushed for a change in the law to permit Cuba to buy food and medicine, though only with cash rather than credit. But he has voted consistently over the years to maintain the embargo, most recently two weeks ago.

Still, his general view is that “opening these markets opens these minds,” Crist said.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a leading opponent of the embargo, said Armey’s comments show that “if the House had a secret ballot, there would be an additional 75 or 100 votes in favor of lifting restrictions.”

He added: “It’s great that a free-trader as staunchly anti-Communist as Mr. Armey recognizes that engaging Cuba and lifting the travel ban is the best way to undermine Fidel Castro.”

Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, a strongly pro-embargo organization, said it is “fortunate that Mr. Armey won’t have a role in the issue next year.”

He predicted that if the embargo is lifted and Cuba is entitled to purchase U.S. farm goods on credit, the impoverished nation will be unable to come up with the money and the U.S. will have to foot the bill. “The question is whether U.S. taxpayers are going to be asked to subsidize a deadbeat dictator,” Garcia said. He attributed the shifting mood of Congress to the fact that “lots of money is being spent by agricultural interests,” led by agribusiness giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.

Armey said Wednesday that if his own Dallas-area congressional district had more of an economic stake in trade with Cuba, he might have voted differently. But since it didn’t, he followed the lead of friends Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who are Cuban-born and staunchly anti-Castro.

“What you see in the House of Representatives and what you see by way of individual votes--my own is an example--is loyalties to your friends,” Armey said.

“Sometimes on an issue like Cuba, my particular loyalty to Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is not counterbalanced by focused interest in my district.”

Crist said Armey’s comments were intended as “an observation that the votes are there” for a lifting of the embargo.