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Summary:
Cuba under Fidel Castro remains a hard-line communist state with a poor record on human rights -- a record that has worsened significantly since 2003. With the cutoff of assistance from the former Soviet Union, Cuba experienced severe economic deterioration from 1989-1993. While there has been some improvement since 1994, as Cuba has implemented limited reforms, the economy remains in poor shape. As in past years, the main issue for U.S. policy toward Cuba in the 109th Congress will be how to best support political and economic change in one of world's remaining communist nations. Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted largely of isolating the island nation through comprehensive economic sanctions. Another component of U.S. policy consists of support measures for the Cuban people, including private humanitarian donations and U.S.-sponsored radio and television broadcasting to Cuba. The Bush Administration has further tightened restrictions on travel for family visits, other categories of travel, and on sending private humanitarian assistance to Cuba. While there appears to be broad agreement on the overall objective of U.S. policy toward Cuba -- to help bring democracy and respect for human rights to the island -- there are several schools of thought on how to achieve that objective. Some advocate maximum pressure on the Cuban government until reforms are enacted; others argue for lifting some U.S. sanctions that they believe are hurting the Cuban people. Still others call for a swift normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations. In the 108th Congress, several FY2005 appropriations bills -- Agriculture; Commerce/Justice/State; and Transportation/Treasury -- had provisions that would have eased Cuba sanctions in various ways, especially on travel, but ultimately these provisions were not included in the FY2005 omnibus appropriations measure (P.L. 108-447). The Bush Administration had threatened to veto both the Transportation/Treasury and Agriculture appropriations measures if they contained provisions weakening Cuba sanctions. Numerous additional legislative initiatives were introduced that would have eased sanctions on Cuba, but no action was completed on these bills. In other action, the 108th Congress approved several resolutions regarding Cuba's poor human rights situation; continued funding for democracy and human rights through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy; and continued funding for U.S. government-sponsored radio and television broadcasting to Cuba (Radio and TV Marti). The 109th Congress will likely continue an active interest in Cuba concerning human rights, debate over economic sanctions (especially on travel), food and agricultural exports to Cuba, terrorism issues, Radio and TV Marti, bilateral anti-drug cooperation, and migration issues. This report, which will be updated regularly, examines issues in U.S.-Cuban relations and tracks legislative initiatives on Cuba in the 109th Congress. For additional information, see CRS Report RL31139, Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances.
