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Martinez: 'This is a moment of change'

Florida's Cuban-born senator said he is hopeful that others within Cuba’s government will welcome democracy.

By WES ALLISON
Published August 1, 2006

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, the first Cuban-born member of the Senate, said the United States should stand ready to aid the island nation’s nascent democracy movement if it emerges in the wake of Fidel Castro’s demise, but should not interfere.

But his adopted homeland must guard against allowing other nations to interfere as well. China, which like Cuba is Communist, has economic interests on the island, but "I am thinking about Venezuela in particular,’’ Martinez said Tuesday at the Capitol. "This is a matter for the Cuban people to resolve.’’

Meanwhile, Florida’s other senator, Democrat Bill Nelson, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, prepared legislation that would offer immediate financial assistance to dissidents and democracy advocates in Cuba.

Martinez, whose parents sent him to Florida in 1962, when he was 15, said he believes the dictator is ailing badly and may already be dead, given the way the Cuban regime has been slowly releasing details.

‘’For a guy who a week ago said he would live to be 100… the fact this has taken place, I think, is very ominous,’’ Martinez said. ‘’This is a moment of change, I believe.’’

Cuba says Castro’s brother, Raul, has assumed the presidency temporarily, but Martinez said Raul Castro lacks the charisma, speaking skills and popularity required for him to become a long-term replacement for Fidel.

That gives him hope Castro’s demise may open the window for democracy, 47 years after Castro’s Communist regime seized power.

He said he is hopeful that others within Cuba’s government will welcome democracy. But, he added, "if there is a flaw with our dealings, it is we don’t have a lot of direct contact with people inside the island,’’ so it’s hard to know how much democratic support there is.

"It is a moment to wait and see how things develop in Cuba,’’ he said. It’s especially important "for those who wish to speak in Cuba be given that opportunity.’’

As a member of President Bush’s cabinet before he ran for Senate in 2004, Martinez served as chairman of the Commission for a Free Cuba, which recommended actions the United States should take after Castro died. He said the plan has been updated.

He said he also has talked with the Bush administration and is convinced that the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard are prepared to stop any mass exodus from Cuba to Florida, which he said would be dangerous for Cubans and difficult for America to absorb.

"It would be a tremendous loss of life as well as a disorderly thing that the United States at this moment in time cannot handle,’’ he said.

Speaking to reporters in Spanish and English, Martinez also called on the Cuban armed forces to exercise restraint, and said he was hopeful that any transition to democracy in the wake of Castro’s death would be peaceful, much like the transition in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

[Last modified August 1, 2006, 14:07:27]