2007-08-02.
Washington, DC July 31, 2007.
Cuba: Cuban Government's Effort to Prevent TV Marti Board of Governors
Manages TV Marti. Important to Reach Out to Cuban People U.S. Programs
Are in Compliance with National and International Regulations.
Little Difference in the Lives of Cuban People Under Raul Castro. Cuban
People Should have Opportunity to Freely Choose Leaders in
Elections. Cuba Has Poor Record of Human Rights, Religious Freedom,
Supporting Terrorism.
MR. CASEY: Sure.
QUESTION: This was on TV Marti. There have been a couple of reports out
lately that despite your best efforts and about $20 million a year on
the program because of the efforts by the Cuban Government to jam the
frequencies, nobody in Cuba actually gets to see TV Marti. So would you
say that this is a practical use of taxpayer dollars that while the
mission is commendable, that
it's not being seen by your target audience?
MR. CASEY: Well, I think first of all, what I'd say is that the efforts
by the Cuban Government to jam TV Marti or Radio Marti or to prevent any
outside information from getting to the Cuban people is indicative of
the kind of fear that the regime has -- a fear of actually having their
people be able to understand what's going on and understand exactly what
difficult circumstances they find them in. In terms of specifically TV
Marti, I'd refer you to the board of governors who are the people who
manage that.
U.S. policy, of course, for a long time has been to try and break the
information blockade the Castro has imposed on his own people. And Radio
and TV Marti are two of the vehicles that we try and pursue that with.
And certainly we want to take every opportunity and take every effort to
be able to do so because, particularly as we move into what is clearly
some kind of transition phase in Cuba, we think it's very important to
try and reach out to regular Cubans, as well as to those who are engaged
in efforts and who want to be able to try and change the situation there.
In terms of specific jamming or how much TV Marti is or isn't viewed,
that I'd just have to let the BBG speak to. But, again, it's a program
that has had extensive and longstanding support not only in this
administration but in previous administrations and on Capitol Hill.
QUESTION: Support, but can you claim any success with the efforts?
MR. CASEY: Again, I -in terms of specific audience issues or in terms of
what the - their actual estimates of viewership is, that's something
you'd have to talk to the BBG about.
QUESTION: One more thing. One of your methods of beaming Radio Marti is
through a gulfstream jet that's over Cuban airspace. Is that against
international law?
MR. CASEY: I'm not aware that that's actually being done. Again, I'd
refer you to BBG. I can assure you that all programs that the U.S.
Government does, including those done by BBG, are in compliance with our
own national as well as international legal obligations.
Yeah, James.
Sorry, same thing, Matt?
QUESTION: Isn't today the Cuban anniversary of some sort, or is that -am
I mistaken?
MR. CASEY: Well, let's see. Is there an anniversary of some sort? Well,
I think
QUESTION: Isn't this the year, to the day, after your friend, Fidel,
handed power over to his brother?
MR. CASEY: Well, it's a year to a day, since the senior dictator decided
to hand off control of the country to the junior dictator.
Unfortunately, I think that's made little difference in the lives of the
Cuban people. And I note that Raul Castro has said that he'd like to
engage in a dialogue with the United States. And I think, as you've
heard, others here say, we think that that's a great idea, but we think
the dialogue that needs to happen is between Raul Castro and the Cuban
regime and its own people, to allow them to have an
opportunity to freely express themselves and to ultimately freely choose
their own leaders in a free and fair election.
QUESTION: Well, I mean, okay, fair enough, but why is it not okay for
Cuba to do this when you're offering, you know, $20 billion arms deals
to a country in the Middle East that's doing basically the same exact
thing, according to your human rights and religious freedom reports? I
mean, what -- you know, one person you call a dictator, the other person
you call a force for stability in the region.
MR. CASEY: I think it'd be pretty hard to argue that there's any country
in the world that's had a worse record on religious freedom, human
rights, on support for terrorism, on negative activities throughout the
world over the last 50 years than the government of Fidel Castro. And I
think successive U.S. administrations have been very clear in terms of
how we view that particular regime, in terms of the threat that we've
viewed it posing to its own neighbors as well as its repression of its
own people. And I think the record on that is
very clear and I think that's very much in contrast to the relations we
have with other countries that actually in many ways are on the side of
stability, on the side of peace and are working with us successfully on
a number of different areas. So I don't think the comparison is really
valid.
QUESTION: Well, not to be a thorn in your side, Tom, but I do-
MR. CASEY: Well, it's kind of - not quite, not quite - I understand, but -
QUESTION: I recall -I do recall the Pope visiting Cuba and I do know
that actually, people who are of the faith other than Islam do have a
right to -are able to worship as they see fit and,
MR. CASEY: Well -
QUESTION: -the comparison to Saudi Arabia just is not -
MR. CASEY: Well, I do think, Matt, that you might want to talk to some
of the priests and other religious leaders who've been taken political
prisoner and who have spent a lot of time in Castro's jails simply for
trying to do more than hold a religious ceremony, but actually try and
speak out about the values that the religion represents. Look, I don't
think there's any question in anyone's mind about what Cuba under Fidel
or Raul Castro represents and again,
I think U.S. policy on this has been consistent not only throughout his
Administration, but across the decades.
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=11007
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