You can watch and listen to the video of his speech. Not mentioned in this
transcript is the presence of Alfredo Duran and Bernardo Benes at his
meeting today in Miami. He makes his opposition to the Cuban Revolution
obvious, but doesn't put heavy emphasis on that. He simply states it.

He praises Cuba's biotech and mother medical advances. Perhaps best, he
says he would repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act. He ends with a sharp state-
ment that Cuba should not determine U.S. policy toward Cuba. You will have
to listen to the press conference as a whole because the transcript there is
only the text of his formal presentation, not the questions, answers and
discussion, half of which is in Spanish. When asked about funding for the
dissidents, Dodd answered somewhat evasively, saying that the program to
provide money for the dissidents isn't working. He refers to the corruption
involved in these programs. Well, listen to what he says yourself.


Walter
======================================================================


CLOSING WORDS:
"I also believe now more than ever before the United States has an
opportunity to be a player in influencing the ongoing transition to a
post-Castro Cuba.

"If Cuban authorities want to stand in the way of these changes they can,
but it will be clear to the world-and more importantly to the Cuban
people-who is responsible for the impoverished and repressive state of
affairs in Cuba - the Cuban government."

============================================================================
BOTTOM LINE: Changing demographics in Miami, and the social, economic and
political consequences which flow from them.
============================================================================

Remarks of Senator Christopher J. Dodd, as delivered
Cuba Policy Roll-out
The Biltmore, Miami
Saturday, September 8, 2007

http://chrisdodd.com/issues/cuba_speech


Every four years candidates seeking the Presidency rediscover Cuba. They
travel to Florida and pledge to maintain sanctions against the government of
Fidel Castro until democracy flowers on the Island of Cuba.

Today, with our election 14 months away, the Miami pilgrimage has already
begun.

One of my Democratic opponents has already pledged to maintain the embargo.

Another proposes to slightly change the policy.

Today, United States policy toward Cuba has been essentially the same for
almost fifty years.

I believe the time has come to say publicly what many Americans believe
including many Cuban-Americans - our Cuba policy has neither served
America's interests nor brought democracy to Cuba. It has been an abject
failure.

I have the deepest respect for the Cuban American community and the pain,
hardship and suffering the entire community has been through. I harbor no
illusion about the current state of affairs in Cuba and the extreme
difficulties Cubans live under.

But, today I believe that we are at a critical moment in Cuba's changing
political landscape, with Fidel Castro having recently turned over
day-to-day authority of running Cuba to Raoul Castro and a small number of
loyalists.

I believe we must make a choice - the United States can either be players in
helping to shape the Cuba landscape for the next fifty years, or remain on
the sidelines while the future of Cuba is determined by others.

To be sure, there is no reason to believe that a policy that has failed to
promote the peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba for the last fifty
years would succeed in bringing democracy to Cuba in the next fifty.

We all know the dubious achievements of the current policy:

Denying Americans their fundamental right to travel freely and visit their
families in Cuba;

Restricting the access of American farmers to Cuban markets;

And, preventing American families from benefiting from potentially
lifesaving medical advances that are today underway in Cuban laboratories
and medical clinics in the fight against cancer and other incurable
diseases.

The current policy has also made the lives of the 11 million Cubans living
on the island more difficult.

Current policies have denied them access to most American goods and
services.

It has restricted visits from their family members and loved ones residing
in America, allowing only a single visit every three years, for up to 14
days.

And the policy has barred their American family members from sending more
than $300 every three months to their impoverished Cuban relatives - a mere
$1,200 per year.

In addition, this policy has been yet another source of tension in our
relations with allied and friendly governments throughout the Americas and
the world.

Other than the war in Iraq, perhaps no other American policy is more broadly
unpopular internationally.
And at a time when our standing in the world is already in tatters,
compromising our ability to address threats through international
cooperation, we can ill afford to continue this failed policy.

But perhaps the most dubious achievement of this 50-year old policy is the
gift it has been to Fidel Castro. I am totally convinced that the current
policy has had more to do with sustaining Fidel Castro's control over the
Cuban people than anything else we have done.

This policy has been little more than a straw man Fidel Castro has been able
to point to, to justify economic failures of his regime and political
repression he practices in the name of national security.

I come here today to say that the fiftieth anniversary of this policy will
be its last.

In a Dodd presidency, on January 20, 2009, America's failed Cuba policy will
end - and a new era will begin. An era of greater American safety and
security, an era of strength, optimism and confidence, and an era without
fear.

Let me tell you what that era will look like and how we will make it
possible - beginning with a new policy on Cuba.

I will begin by working to unravel the embargo by seeking the repeal of the
Helms Burton Act - a law that has placed onerous restrictions on the ability
of the United States to play any meaningful role in the ongoing transition
in Cuba.

As President, I will amend the Trade Sanctions Reform Act which places
restrictions on Americans' rights to travel and American farmers' ability to
access Cuba markets.

I will instruct the Secretary of State to authorize our diplomats to meet
more regularly with their Cuban counterparts at all levels and open an
embassy in Havana to better serve Americans and American interests in Cuba.

Further, I will reinvigorate the US/Cuba Migration Agreement bilateral
talks. They will serve as a forum to discuss outstanding bilateral issues,
which this administration has flatly disregarded.

And, I will shut down TV Marti.

American taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize a television station
that virtually no one in Cuba can ever see.

And as President, I will repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act - a law which has
only encouraged Cuban migrants to risk their lives at sea and fall prey to
international smuggling organizations with the promise of gaining legal
resident status here in the United States.

I know some will ask, "Why are you doing this? Why now?"

I am proposing these changes to the current policy because they make sense
and are the right thing to do - for the Cuban people, but more importantly
for America.

And I refuse to let Fidel Castro or his successor determine the timetable
for setting America's foreign policy.

Setting America's policy is for the American President to decide and the
American people.

I also believe now more than ever before the United States has an
opportunity to be a player in influencing the ongoing transition to a
post-Castro Cuba.

If Cuban authorities want to stand in the way of these changes they can, but
it will be clear to the world-and more importantly to the Cuban people-who
is responsible for the impoverished and repressive state of affairs in Cuba
- the Cuban government.

The fig leaf of an excuse provided by the U.S. embargo will be gone, and the
Cuban people will not only know who bears the responsibility for failure -
they will demand accountability and change.

And when that day comes, the road to the peaceful transition to democracy in
Cuba will be well underway and America's interests -- our safety and
security -- enhanced.

Thank you.
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