Bush dismisses changes in communist Cuba as cosmetic
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged communist Cuba to free political prisoners and dismissed as "cosmetic" social and economic changes Raul Castro has made since becoming president.
"Until there is a change of heart, and a change of compassion, and a change of how the Cuban government treats its people, there is no change at all," Bush said in a speech here to officials from North and South America.
"The regime has made empty gestures at reform, but Cuba is still ruled by the same group that has oppressed the Cuban people for almost half a century.
"If Cuba wants to join the community of civilized nations, then Cuban rulers must begin a process of peaceful and democratic change and the first step must be the release of all political prisoners," Bush said.
"This is the policy of the United States and it must not change until the people of Cuba are free," he told the 38th Washington Conference of the Americas.
Bush spoke by phone Tuesday with dissidents in Cuba about the plight of political prisoners on the communist island.
Bush noted that while "some countries in the region are seeing the resurgence of radicalism and instability," Cuba is unique in Latin America in being "mired in the tyranny of a bygone era."
Speaking later at the same conference, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the government to remove the "fear factor" from political life by reining in the secret police.
"The Cuban regime must show that it has got the confidence in itself and in its people to stop using the secret police to control political discourse," she said.
"The regime must and should remove the fear factor from Cuba's political life," Rice said.
"We are eager to support Cuba and its talented people in transforming its society. We want to engage with Cuba, we want to engage its people as free citizens not as subjects," she said.
Since succeeding his ailing older brother Fidel -- the 81-year-old revolutionary icon -- in February, Raul Castro has tried to improve living standards.
The 76-year-old brother has allowed Cubans to stay in tourist hotels, take out mobile phone contracts, and buy appliances such as computers, motorbikes and pressure cookers.
The government also is launching some farm reforms hoping to boost food production, which Havana calls a top national security issue.
But Cuban authorities also have refused to give a travel visa to a Cuban blogger who was to have flown to Spain to receive a top journalism award, the writer told AFP Tuesday in Havana.
