WASHINGTON - A wide-ranging report on U.S. policies during Cuba's possible transition to democracy was officially presented to President Bush at a meeting Wednesday of the White House's National Security Council. The report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, co-chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Cuban-American Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, makes recommendations to hasten the end of the island's communist government and assist the transition. Announcing the report's presentation to Bush, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said ``a lot of the thinking is, what do you do in a post-Castro era?'' | Open bids for major league baseball expansion team in Havana? |
Officials say the text of the report will not be made public today. | So the NYT will have it tomorrow? |
The report, put together by 17 federal departments and agencies, revises and often proposes new directions in U.S. policy toward Cuba. An early draft obtained last week by The Miami Herald included recommendations to create an $80 million fund to support democracy on the island, launch a diplomatic initiative to undermine Venezuela's backing of Castro and tighten the enforcement of the economic embargo against Cuba. However, officials cautioned that the final version of the report, which includes a classified annex, could change before it landed on Bush's hands.
Bush accepted most of the recommendations made by the Commission in an earlier report, which tightened travel and other sanctions against the island. |