Cuban embargo prevented attacks, U.S. official says

Cuban embargo prevented attacks, U.S. official says
By Jane Sutton 1 hour, 9 minutes ago

CORAL GABLES, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. economic embargo against Cuba
has deprived its communist government of funds it might otherwise have
used for military adventures, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez

The Cuban-born Gutierrez, who left his homeland with his family as a
child, said the trade and financial embargo imposed by Washington three
years after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 had been "an absolute and
resounding" success.

At a Latin American conference sponsored by The Miami Herald, Gutierrez
cited the 1962 Cuban missile crisis as one reason the United States
sought to deprive Castro's government of funds.

"Think about in 1962 when they had nuclear weapons in Cuba, they wanted
to keep that weapon. They wanted to use that weapon if necessary," he said.

"So think about what would have happened if that regime would have had
more resources. History doesn't credit us for what doesn't happen. You
never get credit for what you prevented," he said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque recently called U.S.
enforcement of the economic sanctions "ferocious and cruel."

The United Nations General Assembly has approved annual resolutions
since 1992 telling Washington to lift the embargo. It is expected to do
so again on October 30, but the U.S. government says the embargo will
remain until the communist nation moves toward multi-party democracy.

Gutierrez said the embargo provided the Cuban government with a
convenient excuse for its economic failures, but had no impact on Cuban
citizens forced to stand in ration lines.

"When they have had resources, they've had military adventures in
Africa, military adventures in Central America," he said. "When they
have had resources, the Cuban people haven't seen a better life. ... It
doesn't make a bit of difference for the people of Cuba."

He called Cuba "the human rights travesty of the hemisphere" but said
the United States recognized that Cuba's future was in the hands of its
citizens and had no plans for military intervention.

"The U.S. doesn't have any military plans to go into Cuba, we don't have
any imperial aspirations to go into Cuba. People in Cuba are constantly
hearing we do because that's a great pretext, it's a great excuse that
the regime has to continue to clamp down and clamp down and clamp down
on the Cuban people."

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