Allies shun tougher U.S. policy on Cuba

Published Saturday, September 7, 1996, in the Miami Herald.

Allies shun tougher U.S. policy on Cuba

By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Herald Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's special envoy for Cuba, trying to prod U.S. allies to toughen up toward President Fidel Castro, found himself on the defensive this week at the end of quick visits to Mexico, Canada and Europe.

Jetting from capital to capital, Stuart Eizenstat ran into a wall of opposition to the Helms-Burton Act extending the U.S. embargo of Cuba, fielded a flurry of testy criticism, and ended up appealing to nations to forestall legal protests against the law before international panels.

Clinton tapped Eizenstat last month to try to forge a multilateral approach to pressure the Castro government to adopt democratic reforms. But Eizenstat, a Commerce Department undersecretary, said in an interview Friday that his first moves were thwarted by allies' pique over the law.

``Quite frankly, it was difficult to get them to work through their anger at Helms-Burton and to get them to focus on the democratization piece,'' said Eizenstat, in the middle of forays covering seven capitals and 22,000 miles. ``That was true wherever we went.''

Clinton signed Helms-Burton in March in the wake of Cuba's downing of two U.S. civilian planes. Instantly, American allies decried it as an effort to force them to abide by the U.S. trade embargo or have their business people risk lawsuits or exclusion from U.S. soil.

Building pressure

In July, Clinton suspended for six months the most controversial provision of Helms-Burton, which grants Americans the right to sue foreign companies that benefit from property confiscated under the Cuban Revolution. He said he wanted to see the results of a serious diplomatic effort to broaden world pressure against Castro before deciding whether to suspend the provision again in January.

The early verdict: Eizenstat arrived to a polite cold shoulder in each country and left behind a string of defiant headlines. The best way to promote democracy in Cuba is through engagement, not isolation, diplomats told him.

``Canada won't be coerced,'' the Toronto Globe and Mail blared last week. ``Clinton envoy rebuffed . . . over Cuba law,'' Friday's Irish Times echoed.

Eizenstat, who was chosen in part for his experience as U.S. ambassador to the European Union, repeatedly asserted that he was making suggestions, not demands, and ``there is no gun to anyone's head.''

But several foreign officials complained that Clinton's upcoming decision on the Helms-Burton lawsuit provision was an implied threat that clouded the talks.

``Helms-Burton has poisoned the atmosphere a great deal,'' said Ella Krucoff, a Washington spokeswoman for the European Union.

Mexico unreceptive

Eizenstat's first stop, in Mexico City, yielded the longest and most vehement response. The Mexican Foreign Ministry issued a 21-point document restating its opposition to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, its policy of nonintervention in other countries' affairs and its desire to see Cuba reincorporated into the hemispheric community.

Canada was more succinct.

``We reiterated our position of strong opposition to Helms-Burton, and we're not backing off that one iota,'' Trade Minister Art Eggleton said.

Lingering resentment against the law was such that criticism rang out even where Eizenstat didn't set foot. Members of the 14-nation Rio Group, meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, this week, registered their ``energetic rejection of the so-called Helms-Burton law.''