At present, such transfers are restricted to $1,200 a year, and the task force, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, says removing the limits would accelerate the process of creating ``a new group of Cubans'' independent of the state.
The co-authors of the report are Bernard W. Aronson and William D. Rogers, both Democrats who made their marks in Republican administrations. Aronson served as the top Latin America aide in the State Department for President Bush, and Rogers held senior State Department posts under President Ford.
A copy of the draft was obtained by The Associated Press. The identities of other task force members were not available.
Beyond remittances, the report also advocates an increase in family reunification efforts, scholarly and cultural exchanges, direct mail service and allowing Cuban-Americans to claim relatives on the island as dependents.
``The success of the Cuban-American community is one of the most powerful factors in promoting change in Cuba,'' the report says. ``The transfers of money, goods and medical supplies from Cuban-Americans to friends, family and religious communities in Cuba are helping to create a new group of Cubans who longer depend on the state for their means of survival.
``Remittances from Cuban-Americans help to create small businesses in Cuba and allow hundreds of thousands of Cubans to improve their lives independent of government control,'' it says.
Many of the recommendations are an attempt to build on the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992. While tightening the economic embargo against Cuba, the legislation also sought to promote greater exchanges between the two countries. U.S. officials said the administration has been looking for creative ways to apply the legislation but that no final decisions have been made.
Some members of the task force advocated unilaterally lifting the U.S. embargo against Cuba though others opposed that idea, and the authors acknowledged the futility of trying to bridge this gap.
``We believe U.S. policy must build as bipartisan consensus to be effective,'' the report said. ``Rather than revisit old divisive arguments, we have consciously sought to find new common ground.''
The study rejected the notion that the ``Cuban dictatorship merits an exception to U.S. opposition to dictatorship in the region. This is the first principle that guided us in developing our recommendations.''
Other recommendations in the report:
--End restrictions on humanitarian visits. ``The federal government should not be the judge of how often Cuban-Americans, or any other Americans, need to visit relatives abroad.''
--U.S. policy should encourage ``through every available measure'' to increase scholarly, cultural and other exchanges between the Cuban and American peoples. This would combat the ``secrecy and isolation'' on which the Cuban system thrives and ``will accelerate the process of change in Cuba.''
--End the regulation that requires academics, health professionals, cultural workers, religious leaders and other professionals ---- except journalists -- to endure the time-consuming process of obtaining a U.S. government license to visit Cuba. This would greatly facilitate ``efforts by responsible individual Americans to tear down the wall the Cuban regime has sought to build around the island.''
© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press