* Codifies into law all presidential executive orders relevant to the U.S. embargo against Cuba in effect on March 1, 1996. The president cannot alter any provisions without an act of Congress. Eliminates the power of the president to impose "calibrated measures," as specified in the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act, such as easing travel or other restrictions.
* States that the U.S. embargo will remain in force until a "transition government" is set up in Cuba. Such a government must fulfill eight "requirements" and must have made demonstrable progress under four "additional factors" before the U.S. government considers restoring diplomatic and economic relations. The president is to certify the fulfillment of these conditions, subject to Congressional review.
The new act stipulates requirements for a transition government such as: legalization of all political activity; release of all political prisoners; dissolution of "the present Department of State Security in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, including the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Rapid Reaction Brigades"; public commitment to "free and fair elections" with the participation of "multiple political parties" to be held within 18 months under international supervision; ceasing "any interference with Radio Martí or Television Martí broadcasts"; demonstrable progress toward "the establishment of independent trade unions"; and the absence of Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro from the political process.
The additional factors include: permission for "privately owned media and telecommunications companies to operate in Cuba"; reinstatement of citizenship to "Cuban-born persons returning to Cuba"; assuring "the right to private property"; and taking appropriate steps to return to U.S. citizens and companies property confiscated by the Cuban government on or after Jan. 1, 1959, or to provide "equitable compensation to such citizens and entities."
* Allows Cuban-American and other U.S. businessmen whose property was expropriated on or after Jan. 1, 1959, to sue anyone who "traffics" in those properties. An individual who traffics is defined as one who "sells, transfers, distributes, dispenses, brokers, manages, or otherwise disposes of confiscated property, or purchases, leases, receives, possesses, obtains control of, manages, uses, or otherwise acquires or holds an interest."
The president may suspend this provision for six-month periods if he certifies to Congress the suspension "is necessary to the national interests of the United States and will expedite a transition to democracy."
* Requires U.S. officials to deny entry into the country by any non-U.S. residents who "traffic" in confiscated properties. This includes denial of visas to executives, principals, and shareholders with controlling interest in companies that invest in such property, and to their spouses and children; the excludables include nationals of countries from which no U.S. visa is required, like Canada.
* Prohibits import into the United States of any Cuban products or anything that contains products made or grown in Cuba - including any quantity of Cuban sugar - or that may have been transported through Cuban territory.
* Requires cutting U.S. financial assistance to any country that trades with or gives credits to Cuba on favorable terms - that is, at prices or interest rates below those on world capitalist market - or that forgives any debts by Cuba.
* Requires decreasing aid to Moscow by an amount equal to what that government gives to support intelligence or military facilities in Cuba, including the Russian government's intelligence-gathering station at Lourdes, Cuba. The president may waive this requirement if he certifies to Congress that Moscow does not share intelligence information with Havana.
* Directs a cut in U.S. financial aid to any government that contributes to the completion of the Juraguá nuclear power plant near Cienfuegos, Cuba, by "an amount equal to the sum of assistance and credits."
* Requires U.S. officials to oppose Cuba's admission to any international financial institutions and calls for opposition to any loans to Cuba by such institutions. Instructs the secretary of the Treasury to "withhold from payment to such institution an amount equal to the amount of the loan or other assistance" to Cuba.
* Outlines provisions for material aid to antigovernment "human rights" groups in Cuba and for establishing an Organization of American States fund for OAS "human rights" monitors to be sent to Cuba.
* States that another wave of immigration from Cuba to the United States, like those in 1980 and 1994, or the completion of the Juraguá nuclear plant, would constitute an "act of aggression" against the U.S. government.
* Closes loophole in the "Cuban Democracy Act" that might have allowed AT&T or other U.S. telecommunications companies to invest in upgrading Cuba's domestic telephone system.
* Directs Florida-based TV Martí to begin broadcasting in UHF in an attempt to circumvent Cuban jamming.
* Requires that any exchange of news bureaus between the United States and Cuba must be "fully reciprocal." This includes agreement by the Cuban government "not to interfere with the establishment of news bureaus or with the movement in Cuba of journalists of any United States-based news organizations, including Radio Martí and Television Martí"; allowing the unhindered transmission to Cuba of U.S. TV and radio signals; and permitting the unrestricted distribution inside Cuba of U.S.-based publications that have news bureaus in Cuba. These conditions also include assurances by the U.S. Treasury Department that "only accredited journalists regularly employed with a news gathering organization" in the United States travel to Cuba.
* Subjects U.S. residents traveling unlicensed to Cuba or violating any provisions of this law, or any regulations that may be issued as a result of this act, to civil penalties of up to $50,000 and forfeiture of "any property, funds, securities, papers, or other articles or documents, or any vessel, together with its tackle, apparel, furniture, and equipment that is the subject of a violation."
The Secretary of the Treasury may impose such penalties through administrative hearings, without a trial.
* Urges the U.S. president to maintain the prohibition of general licenses for Cuban-Americans to send remittances to relatives on the island until Cuba permits small businesses that hire wage labor to function freely throughout the country. Currently, such contributions are allowed by the Treasury Department only by special license on a case-by-case basis.
Similarly, without a special license, Cuban-Americans can only travel to Cuba to visit an immediate family member who is gravely ill, and even then only once a year. The bill states this travel restriction may be lifted only if Cuba abrogates "the sanction for departure from Cuba by refugees," recognizes "fundamental freedoms," and releases "political prisoners."
- A.M.