WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (AFP): US President George W. Bush Wednesday will urge countries that do business with Cuba to reconsider, and call for a global fund to promote democracy there after Fidel Castro is gone.
Bush will use a speech at the US State Department-his first address in four years entirely about Cuba-to mount a full-throated defense of the four-decade old US embargo and urge Castro's government to lift restrictions on Internet access, the White House said Tuesday.
A senior aide, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said that Bush would task US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to build "an international freedom fund for Cuba."
The fund aims "to support Cubans and the rebuilding of their country when there is a government in place that is respecting fundamental freedoms," the aide said in a conference call arranged by the White House.
"The international community needs to be prepared for that moment of change," he said, alluding to the democratic shift Washington hopes will follow the death of Fidel Castro, who at 81 has been recovering from intestinal surgery since July of last year.
Bush to seek global fund for Cuba democracy
FE Team | Published: October 25, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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