SIMON URGES END TO CUBA EMBARGO
EX-SENATOR CLOSES VISIT TO ISLAND, SAYS SANCTIONS HURT U.S.

By Laurie Goering
Tribune Foreign Correspondent
February 23, 2001

HAVANA -- Saying that U.S. sanctions against Cuba make no sense, retired U.S. Sen. Paul
Simon on Thursday advocated lifting the U.S. embargo against the island, capping a five-day visit
to Havana.

"We're pandering to the passions of a few in the Miami area instead of responding to the national
interest," the former Illinois senator said Thursday morning, before flying back to Illinois.
Sanctions "do not make any sense," he said, and "what we end up doing is harming Cuba and the
United States" by denying Americans opportunities for trade.

Simon met with longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Wednesday for nearly six hours to discuss
changing political opinions in the United States on Cuba, the new Bush administration and the
difficulties of lifting the U.S. embargo, among other topics, Simon said.

Castro "is a pretty good talker," Simon, in his trademark bowtie, joked after the marathon meeting,
which also included a visiting delegation from Southern Illinois University. "He's a guy who's
really on top of details. That's one thing that is very clear."

SIU President James Walker and Simon, who four years ago created a Public Policy Institute at
SIU, said the delegation visited Cuba to discuss establishing student and faculty exchanges
between Carbondale and Cuba, particularly involving health care, education, agriculture, aquaculture
and social issues.

They called the visit a continuation of the work toward developing Cuba-Illinois ties begun by Gov.
George Ryan during a 1999 visit to the island, and said it had been put in motion after a trip by the
head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington to SIU in October 1999.

During his 22 years in the U.S. House and Senate, Simon repeatedly advocated lifting U.S.
sanctions on Cuba and sponsored failed legislation to lift the travel ban to the island.

Simon noted Thursday morning that sanctions against Cuba are tougher than those against nations
such as China and North Korea, which he said have worse records on human rights and are a
greater military threat to the United States than Cuba.

"We are catering to and trading and exchanging with China and North Korea ... and not Cuba," he
said, something that "makes no sense at all."

Simon, who advocated trade sanctions against South Africa during its apartheid era, said "boycotts
work when a community of nations join." In this case, however, "we're all by ourselves and nobody
even sympathizes with us," he said.

Still, Simon said he told Castro that with President Bush in office after a narrow victory in Florida
and with Bush's brother Jeb set to seek re-election as governor there, any change in U.S. policy is
"likely to be incremental."

Simon said that during his visit to the island he had been impressed by the health-care services and
education provided to Cubans and the relative lack of corruption compared to other developing
countries.

He said he'd also heard Cubans openly tell him that "socialism isn't working" and was impressed
that they felt comfortable enough to make such statements.

In comparing the U.S. and Cuban systems during his talk with Castro, Simon said he had told the
Cuban leader that "I wouldn't vote to have yours and you wouldn't vote to have mine," but that he
could appreciate some of the differences.

Walker, SIU's new president, promised Thursday that this trip to Cuba would not be the
university's last to the island.

About 15 faculty members planned to remain in Santiago for five days, he said, exploring exchange
possibilities.