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Cuba (last updated May 19, 2002) (back to top) Ruled by Fidel Castro as a communist state since 1959, the island country of Cuba has had tense relations with the United States for most of the past four decades. With the loss of Soviet Union support during the Cold War, Cuba suffered recession and has taken steps to open its economy, though Cuba continues to blame its troubles on the U.S. sanctions that have been in place since 1960. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visited Cuba for five days in mid-May 2002, marking the first visit by any current or former high-level American leader during Castro's reign (the last sitting president to visit Cuba was Calvin Coolidge in 1928, and the last Secretary of State to visit was Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. in 1945). During his visit, Carter gave a May 14 speech in which he called for democratic reforms and a normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States. Shortly before Carter's visit, a Bush administration official said in early May 2002 in a speech that Cuba had developed some biological warfare capabilities. Secretary of State Colin Powell subsequently backed away from such statements, and Carter said he had not been briefed about any such developments before his trip. Similarly, while the State Department has called Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism due to its declining support of Latin American insurgents, the Central Intelligence Agency did not mention Cuba at all in its January 30, 2002 report to Congress on countries developing weapons of mass destruction; it did mention Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Sudan, India, Pakistan and Egypt. Cuba survived for many years due to Soviet economic and military support, and its economy, which is still largely state-operated, has been hit hard by the loss of that support. The country reportedly suffered a decline in gross domestic product of at least 35 percent between 1989 and 1993 due to the loss of Soviet subsidies. To alleviate its economic crisis, Cuba has taken steps such as opening the country to tourism, legalizing the dollar, and seeking foreign investment. Cuba had an estimated GDP per capita of $1,700 in 2000 and its economy was mostly service-based. Its major sources of foreign money now are tourism and sugar. As a consequence of Cuba's economic troubles, more Cubans have tried immigrating to the United States in recent years, which has resulted in an end to the more or less open-door policy the United States had towards Cuban refugees in the Cold War. The United States now interdicts Cuban migrants and has returned many. During a mass migration emergency in 1994, the Coast Guard interdicted about 30,000 Cubans through its Operation Able Vigil in a roughly one-month period, interdicting a high of 3,253 would-be refugees in one day. On September 10, 1994, the United States then reached an agreement with Cuba. First, the United States reaffirmed its earlier decision to stop accepting refugees automatically, and Cuba agreed to prevent unsafe departures using mainly persuasive means. Both governments also agreed to take measures against Cuban hijackers of ships and aircraft. Finally, the United States agreed to issue 20,000 entry visas a year, thus providing a regular means of leaving the country for the United States. By the beginning of 1995, the number of departures from Cuba by sea had fallen dramatically, but there were still more than 30,000 rafters still held at the two U.S. facilities. The two governments then argeed in May 1995 to admit most of the rafters still detained and to return subsequent rafters to Cuba following a brief screening procedure. The United States admitted about 10,000 Cuban immigrants a year in the early 1990s, with a high of 33,587 in 1997, and then a decline by half in 1998. From 1992 to 1994, the United States admitted about 3,000 refugees from Cuba a year, peaking at 6,133 in 1995, and then falling down to 1,587 in 1998. Even in 1995, Cubans received only a small part (roughly 6 percent) of the allotted spaces for refugees brought to the United States; the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, Vietnam and Somalia all provided two to 15 times as many refugees each. Cuba has softened its position on religion over the course of Castro's tenure. The Cuban state under Castro was officially atheist until the early 1990s, but has allowed Cuban people to practice their religion somewhat more freely since then. Pope John Paul II's visit in 1996 symbolized a major recognition of the Catholic Church's presence in the country. The United States recognized the Castro government in 1959 but withdrew in steps once Cuba began its move towards communism; President Dwight Eisenhower first imposed sanctions in 1960 and broke diplomatic relations in 1961. The Bay of Pigs incident followed in 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. For more on immigration policy, go here. Sources: The State Department has a background note on Cuba on-line here. The CIA's World Factbook entry on Cuba is on-line here and its January 30, 2002 report to Congress is on-line here. A World Bank report on Cuba's economy in the late 1990s is on-line here. The State Department's Historian has information on foreign visits by the President and the Secretary of State on-line here. The 1998 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (available on-line here). Michael J. McBride, The evolution of U.S. immigration and refugee policy: public opinion, domestic politics, and UNHCR, Working Paper No. 3, published in May 1999 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Centre for Documentation and Research (available on-line here). An overview of the Coast Guard's marine interdiction is available here and statistics are available here. President Jimmy Carter's May 14, 2002 speech in Cuba is available via the Carter Center, on-line here.  Colombia (last updated April 3, 2003) (back to top) Colombia is the world's leading producer and distributor of cocaine, and a significant supplier of heroin to the Untied States, according to the U.S. State Department's 2002 report on international drug-control activities. Nevertheless, U.S. officials have expressed support for the country's new leader, President Alvaro Uribe Velez, who took office in August 2002 and has promised to strengthen counter-narcotics efforts there. Uribe has, for example, continued his predecessor's "Plan Colombia" approach to fighting the drug cartels while simultaneously improving social conditions, and he has imposed a new tax on the wealthiest citizens to fund public security programs. The number of extraditions to the United States has also increased in recent years; Colombia extradited 40 fugitives to the United States in 2002, and 24 in 2001. More than 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States is produced, processed or transshipped in Colombia. Drug traffickers grow cocaine locally (an estimated 163,289 hectares were under cultivation at the end of 2001) and also import cocaine base from Peru and Bolivia, and then they refine the base into cocaine hydrochloride, which is then exported. Colombia's cartels are some of the most sophisticated criminal organizations in the world and are tied to local groups that the United States has designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Inside Colombia, the cartels pay guerrilla groups (in particular the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN)) to protect their crops and refining facilities. The cartels then work with Mexican and Dominican groups to bring cocaine into the United States (Mexican groups started off simply as transport but were increasingly paid in cocaine and are becoming major traffickers themselves, now dominating the West Coast and Midwest). Inside the United States, Colombian traffickers are organized as “cells” covering geographic areas. Government efforts through the Colombian National Police and army divisions have hurt these organizations in recent years, effectively dismantling the Medellin cartel that dominated the trade in the 1970s and the Cali cartel that dominated in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Medellin drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was killed during a shootout with the CNP in 1993, and major Cali leaders were arrested or killed in 1995 and 1996). But cartels have adapted and new ones continually rise to power. Even traffickers who are arrested manage to retain their power; several have been given light sentences and continue to run their operations from prison. The United States has contributed to Colombia's anti-drug efforts in several ways. The United States has contributed more than $1.7 billion to the "Plan Colombia" that Uribe's predecessor, Andres Pastrana, unveiled in 1999; this program aims to not only fight the drug cartels but also to improve the economy, human rights, and democratic institutions. Colombia committed to spend about $4.5 billion over five years on such efforts, in addition to the United States' help. The United States has also helped train law-enforcement and the military. President George W. Bush has certified in recent years that Colombia has not "failed demonstrably" in its counter-narcotics efforts. President Bill Clinton previously certified under a different classification system that Colombia was making adequate steps in this regard. Sources: The State Department's 2002 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report section on Colombia (and the rest of South America) is on-line here. The State Department's "A Report to Congress on United States Policy Towards Colombia and Other Related Issues," dated February 7, 2003, is on-line here. Venezuela Coup (last updated November 12, 2002) (back to top) Venezuela, one of the world's largest oil producers, experienced a short-lived change in government in April 2002, when President Hugo Chavez was briefly removed from power and then restored within 48 hours. Several Western Hemisphere countries such as Mexico quickly condemned the change, but the Bush administration responded more slowly and did not characterize the change as a coup even afterwards. Despite Chavez's return to power, Human Rights Watch said in an October 9, 2002 report that the political situation remains "extremely polarized, with neither Chavez nor the opposition indicating a willingness to compromise or negotiate. The possibility of violent unrest, including another coup attempt, is very real." Human Rights Watch noted that it was "seriously concerned" that the opposition leaders "continue to seek an extra-constitutional exit to the political crisis," and also expressed concern over the military's continued involvement in national politics and Chavez's aggressive approach to privately-owned media. The events of April 11-14 unfolded after a three-day national strike against Chavez's economic reforms escalated into violence. Pro-Chavez supporters apparently shot at protesters, though Human Rights Watch has laid blame on both sides for inciting the situation, and at least 18 people were killed and about 150 injured. Military leaders quickly called for Chavez's removal from power, and announced that he had resigned around 3 a.m. on April 12, early Friday morning. Business leader Pedro Carmona Estanga was installed within hours as interim president, and he quickly undid much of the Chavez administration and its agenda. By the evening of April 12 he had named new Cabinet officials, dissolved the National Assembly, fired members of the Supreme Court, and repealed many of Chavez's economic reforms. On Saturday April 13, Chavez announced that he had not resigned and pro-Chavez crowds gathered to demand his return. Carmona reversed his decision to dissolve the National Assembly that evening, and the National Assembly met and swore in a Chavez supporter to hold the post until Chavez's return. Carmona resigned that night, and Chavez returned to the presidential palace and power early Sunday morning. Rebellion charges were subsequently brought against some military officers and against Carmona (Carmona fled house arrest in May and was subsequently granted asylum by Colombia, and was reportedly in Miami as of October 2002). As these events unfolded, the leaders of some Western Hemisphere countries, such as President Vicente Fox of Mexico, quickly condemned the change in government as a coup. Also, the Organization of American States, an organization of countries, condemned "the alteration of constitutional order" and the "deplorable acts of violence that have led to the loss of human life" with an April 13 resolution. The Bush administration, on the other hand, was criticized for its stand-offish actions and statements during these events. Around 1 p.m. on April 12, just hours after Chavez was removed and Carmona installed as interim president, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that Chavez had "provoked this crisis" and characterized the change in power as a "resignation" resulting from an exercise of the Venezuelan people's "right to peaceful protest." The United States did vote with the OAS resolution on April 13, but reportedly did so after lobbying unsuccessfully for softer language. Even after Chavez had been returned to power, Fleischer did not characterize the events as a coup and re-iterated in an April 16 press briefing that U.S. policy was " set in stone against military coups of any kind;" he instead said the events were what happened in the "wake of 500,000 people peacefully protesting" against Chavez's "controversial" rule. Fleischer did condemn actions that took place after his Friday statement, specifically the dissolving of the National Assembly as well as the "deplorable acts of violence and the loss of human life." Both Fleischer and a State Department spokesman deferred in mid-April press briefings to an OAS investigation authorized on April 13 as to whether the events were in fact a coup. OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria reported after his fact-finding visit that there was "excessive polarization" in Venezuela and noted "increased reports of human rights violations, acts of intimidation and significant acts of vandalism and looting and increasing numbers of persons dead and injured," but does not seem to have declared that the events were or were not a coup. The OAS has continued to refer to the events as a "serious alteration of the constitutional order and an interruption of democracy," as it did in a June 4, 2002 declaration. Chavez's government and Human Rights Watch have called the events a coup. The Bush administration has been criticized for its ties to the business and military leaders who organized the short-lived change in power. Bush administration officials had discussed Chavez's removal from office by constitutional means in meetings before April 2002, but one unnamed Defense Department official told the New York Times that Bush administration officials had not discouraged opposition leaders from carrying out a coup. Fleischer dismissed the report as not credible and said that "United States officials explicitly made clear repeatedly to opposition leaders that the United States would not support a coup." In addition, the Bush administration has been criticized for offering advice to Carmona during his short-lived interim presidency. Otto J. Reich, assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, reportedly told the United States ambassador to tell Carmona not to dissolve the National Assembly, which Carmona did anyway. Some have criticized this involvement as showing that the Bush administration was trying to manage the coup and keep it within politically acceptable limits; the dissolution of the National Assembly was seen as overreaching by Carmona and helped inspire some of the protests that returned Chavez to power. The Bush administration has long been dissatisfied with Chavez's presidency. "It's no secret that President Chavez has had a rule that has been controversial and has not med with widespread popular support within Venezuela or among his neighbors, and certainly in the United States with President Bush," Fleischer said in his April 16 press briefing. Bush himself later called on Chavez to learn from this opportunity and to respond to the calls for change that the protests indicated. Chavez, who himself led a failed military coup attempt in 1992 against then-President Carlos Andres Perez, was elected in December 1998 on a platform of far-reaching economic reform and a crackdown on corruption. He has implemented management changes at Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned company oil company. He has also sought to distance Venezuela from the United States and has established friendly ties with Cuba and has visited Iraq and Libya. Sources: Human Rights Watch's October 9, 2002 report is on-line here. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer's April 12 press briefing is on-line and his April 16 press briefing is on-line here. The Organization of American States is on-line here; the April 13 resolution is on-line here. Ginger Thompson and Juan Forero, Ousted Venezeula Chief may be close to return, New York Times, April 14, 2002. Ginger Thompson and Juan Forero, Ardent populists reinstate leader to run Venezuela, New York Times, April 15, 2002. Christopher Marquis, Bush officials met with Venezuelans who ousted leader, New York Times, April 16, 2002. Christopher Marquis, U.S. revises report of Venezuela contacts, New York Times, April 18, 2002. Larry Rohter, Venezuela's 2 fateful days : Leader is out, and in again, New York Times, April 20, 2002. Puerto Rican Statehood (last updated August 2001) (back to top) Neither a state in terms of sovereignty nor a state in terms of the United States, Puerto Rico is an island whose 3.7 million citizens have some limited federal rights and also some measures of independence. They do not have to pay federal taxes as long as they live on the island, but they are not allowed to vote in federal elections and receive lower benefits than they would in one of the United States. The relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico began in 1898, when the United States acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines in the wake of the Spanish-American War. The island was first governed by the military, then by a civilian government established in 1900. In 1952, the island was granted "commonwealth" status and limited self-government. Between 1898 and 1917, Puerto Rico residents were considered citizens of Puerto Rico and "nationals" of the United States. From 1917 on, they have been considered "citizens" but not necessarily with full rights; the US Supreme Court held in 1922 that they only had "fundamental" rights and that all other rights could be modified and limited by Congress. For many, the status quo is uncomfortable, but the solution is unclear: some say Puerto Rico must become the 51st state, while others simply want to reform the current setup. The issue was put to a non-binding vote twice in the 1990s. Both times, about three-quarters of the eligible population voted in a show of massive turnout, and both times, statehood lost. In 1993, statehood got 46.2 percent of the vote while continued commonwealth got 48.4 percent. Five years later, in 1998, statehood got 46.5 percent of the vote, while "none of the above" - effectively a protest vote in favor of the status quo - won with 50.2 percent. Even if Puerto Ricans were to agree on what they wanted, Congress and the White House do not seem eager to change the status quo either. Before the 1998 vote, the House of Representatives did pass a measure that would have initiated the slow and unsure official process towards statehood, as long as a plebiscite did in fact favor statehouse. But the House's measure passed by only a single vote, its counterpart stalled in the Senate, and then the loss for statehood within Puerto Rico itself seems to have the whole issue moot. The issue has also been raised in the federal courts. In 2000, a group of Puerto Rico residents sued for the right to vote for president. Appellate judges in the First Circuit Court of Appeals (covering New England states plus Puerto Rico) rejected this effort just before the election, but Chief Judge Torruella wrote in a concurring opinion that "the perpetuation of this colonial condition runs against the very principles upon which this Nation was founded," and that judges may eventually have to intervene and correct the situation themselves. The United States has not added any to its number since 1959, when it brought in Alaska and then Hawaii. Before that, the United States had not added any states since 1912; New Mexico was #47 and Arizona #48. If Puerto Rico were to become a state, it would be the 27th most populous state, right between South Carolina and Oklahoma. Sources: Igartua de la Rosa v United States, 107 F.Supp.2d 140 (D. Puerto Rico 2000), rev'd, 229 F.3d 80 (1st Cir. 2000). U.S. Census Bureau ranking of states by population, available here. Vieques (last updated January 31, 2002) A small island within the territorial boundaries of Puerto Rico, Vieques Island has become a controversial site due to local opposition to the Navy's training exercises held there since World War II. The exercises involve live and inert ordinance and have never been popular with local residents, but political opposition has built in recent years, particularly since a bombing accident in 1999 that resulted in a civilian's death. In 2000, President Bill Clinton authorized a referendum by which Puerto Ricans would vote to either have the Navy leave the island by May 2003 or to receive economic assistance in exchange for continued exercises. In June 2001, after months of highly public protests, the Bush administration announced it would halt all exercises in Vieques by May 2003 regardless of how such a referendum would come out. In explaining the decision, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England told Congress that "training could have become untenable well before May of 2003, and well before any alternative method or site could be developed," and that by announcing plans to leave by May 2003, he hoped that the Navy could reduce tensions and refocus on finding suitable alternative sites for training by that time. Still, many in Puerto Rico continued to call for an immediate halt to the Navy's bombing exercises, and Puerto Ricans voted strongly in favor of immediate withdrawal in a non-binding referendum held in July 2001. Since World War II, the Navy has conducted training exercises at Vieques Island, where it maintains training facilities at an inner range and also maintains an ammunition facility. The Navy conducts training exercises about 180 days a year and owns about two-thirds of the island, mostly on its eastern and western ends. A Navy study said the facility is "critical for pre-deployment training and preparation" of Navy and Marine forces, and that it is the only site in the Atlantic that offers day and night capability, amphibious landing beaches and maneuver areas, low traffic airspace and deep water seaspace, such that "realistic combat training can be conducted in a combined and coordinated manner." However, the training exercises have raised much anger from local residents. About 9,300 people live on the island, and many blame the exercises for preventing economic development and for causing health problems via the noise and environmental pollution left by used munitions. Some have also pointed to a higher cancer incidence rate on Vieques, though studies have not been conclusive. A 1999 review panel established by Bill Clinton concluded that relations between the Navy and Puerto Rico had already reached "crisis proportions" even before the April 19, 1999 incident in which a Marine pilot misidentified his target, released two 500-pounds bombs, and thus killed a security guard and injured four others. According to the panel, "insensitivity has been the hallmark of the Navy's approach" to community relations, and the Navy had failed to live up to an agreement made with the Governor of Puerto Rico in 1983. In that agreement, the Navy promised to limit the use of live ordinance to an absolute minimum and to help obtain full employment for Vieques residents. In recent years, Puerto Ricans opposed to the Navy's exercises have tried several ways to stop them. In April and May 2001, for example, 180 protesters, including Reverend Al Sharpton, were arrested for trespassing and many were found guilty and sentenced for time up to 90 days of prison. They have also tried using the courts, though with little success. In January 2002, for example, Federal District Judge Gladys Kessler (District Court for the District of Columbia) dismissed a lawsuit which sought to stop the bombing on the basis of a federal anti-noise law; Kessler said that the federal law did not provide for civil lawsuits. Accordingly, protesters have had their greatest successes in the political arena, though the results are not coming fast enough for some and these demands are becoming more subdued in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The Clinton and Bush administrations both took steps towards removing the Navy from Vieques, but not before 2003 and not before alternative sites providing "a equivalent or superior level of training" have been identified, the latter a requirement made into law by a defense spending bill enacted in December 2001. If and when the Navy does leave, the property it owns on Vieques' eastern end (about 12,000 acres) will go to the Interior Department for use as a wilderness preserve. This future use was specified in the defense spending bill enacted in December 2001, but the bill was silent as to the disposition of the Navy's property on the western end (about 8,000 acres); such land will probably be transferred to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Sources: The October 1999 report by the Special Panel on Military Operations on Vieques, which was established by Bill Clinton in response to the April 19, 1999 incident, is available on-line via a Department of Defense press release, on-line here. The House of Representatives' Committee on Armed Services held a June 27, 2001 hearing on the decision to leave Vieques by May 2003; the transcript of that hearing is on-line here. District Judge Gladys Kessler's opinion in Puerto Rico v. Rumsfeld, in which she dismissed Puerto Rico's attempt to stop the exercises via the federal Noise Control Act of 1972, can be found via the District Court for the District of Columbia, on-line here. Raymond Hernandez, Vieques issue is put on hold in response to terrorism, New York Times, September 27, 2001. |
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