Spotlight on Cuba: Planning for the Post Castro Era

Description: George W. Bush addresses the Cuban military and police saying they would have a place in a "new Cuba". In a reference to debates taking place in the island, he added that the Cuban people have now “the power to shape their destiny." He says he favors freedom over stability, and does not accept a power shift from Fidel to Raul Castro. Bush offers to give nongovernmental and faith-based groups US licenses to provide computers to Cubans, if Havana ends its restrictions to Internet access. He offers to give scholarships to ''young people whose family suffer oppression'', if the Cuban government allows them to freely participate. Bush names Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez to spearhead an international freedom fund, putting them in charge of getting other countries and aid groups to donate funds. The money would go toward loans to entrepreneurs and debt relief, only if Havana recognizes the rights to free speech, free association, freedom of the press, political parties and free elections.
URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071024-6.html

United States: Report on the Resolution of Outstanding Property Claims between Cuba and the United States
Location: Creighton University
Date: October 4, 2007
Description: A team of law and political science professors from Creighton University announces the results of their investigation and report on the best outcome to develop a model for a property claims settlement mechanism between Cuba and the United States, as outlined in a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded the University in October 2005. The Report outlines models for a post-Castro tribunal and court to settle important issues concerning property expropriated by the Cuban government after the 1959 revolution. It proposes incentives to create further investment in Cuba, protects the residential security of Cubans on the island, compares recommendations to other national and international claims systems, incorporates cases filed by US nationals after Castro’s take-over, and addresses the property claims of Cuban-Americans.
URL: http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2007/10/04/...

United States: Remarks by US Commerce Secretary
Location: Miami Herald Conference
Date: September 15, 2006
Description: Carlos Gutierrez says that a referendum should be held in Cuba to decide whether the Cuban people want democracy rather than a succession led by Raul Castro. He suggests that this referendum should be supervised by the Organization of American States. According to Gutierrez, the Cuban people should be given the chance to decide their future.
URL: http://www.commerce.gov/opa/speeches...

United States: Secretary of State Message to the People of Cuba
Location: Washington, D. C.
Date: August 4, 2006
Description: The US Secretary of State respects the aspirations of Cuban citizens, and reiterates the US support to a transition toward democracy in Cuba.
URL: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm...

United States: President Urges Cuban People to Work for Democratic Change
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: August 3, 2006
Description: This message was issued after Fidel Castro provisionally ceded power to his brother and official successor Raul Castro.
URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/release...

United States: Report to the President, Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: July 2006
Description: The CAFC delivers its second report on transition in Cuba. The Report opposes a succession process, includes an $80 million-plus fund to boost the opposition to Castro, and includes references to the threats posed by the Cuba-Venezuela alliance but without elaborating on how to counter it. The text is accompanied by a two-page ''Compact with the People of Cuba'' that promises to ''work with the Cuban people to attain political and economic liberty'' (http://www.cafc.gov/cafc/rpt/2006/68746.htm).
URL: http://www.cafc.gov/docum...

United States: Report, Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba
Location: Washington D. C.
Date: May 2004
Description: This 423-page extensive report contains six chapters outlining political and economic measures to hasten a democratic transition in Cuba and proposals for a transitional period in the island.
URL: http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rt...