When Pope John Paul II left Cuba on January 25, his departure address at Jose Marti Airport in Havana included a final chastisement of both the Cuban and U.S. governments for their feud of almost four decades. He decried "the suffering caused by material and moral poverty, the roots of which may be found, among other things, in unjust inequalities, in limitations to fundamental freedoms, in depersonalization and the discouragement of individuals, and in oppressive economic measures, unjust and ethically unacceptable, imposed from outside the country." The following month, President Bill Clinton responded to concerns highlighted during the Pope's visit by announcing several "actions" to lessen the burden of the embargo on the Cuban people. Among them was restoration of direct humanitarian charter flights carrying food and medical goods to the island. These flights had been halted in 1996, after Cuban fighter planes in international airspace shot down two civilian ...
Stung by the Pope and Health Studies, Congress Mulls a Policy Change for Cuba
Long-standing public and political contention over the effects of the United States' economic embargo on the health of the Cuban people appears to be approaching a watershed. The proponents of a change in U.S. policy base their arguments on the results of scientific research over recent years that indicate the embargo has contributed to unhealthy shortages of food and medicine in Cuba. In both houses of Congress, bills are being considered that would exempt from the embargo the sale of food to
Written bySteve Bunk
| 10 min read
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