TO LIVE IN A FREE SOCIETY"…
2007-06-29.
President George W. Bush visits naval war college, discusses Iraq, war
on terror. Spruance Auditorium, Newport, Rhode Island, 28th June.
…
"My only point to you is that good relations with Brazil are necessary
to work to make sure our neighborhood remains a peaceful place based
upon the form of government. There's only one non-democracy in our
neighborhood: that's Cuba. And I strongly believe the people of Cuba
ought to live in a free society. It's in our interests that Cuba become
free and it's in the interests of the Cuban people that they don't have
to live under an antiquated form of government -- that has just been
repressive.
So we'll continue to press for freedom on the island of Cuba. One day,
the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away (laughter) -- no, no, no --
then, the question is, what will be the approach of the U.S. government?
My attitude is, is that we need to use the opportunity to call the world
together to promote democracy as the alternative to the form of
government they have been living with.
You'll see an interesting debate. Some will say, all that matters is
stability, which in my judgment would just simply reinforce the
followers of the current regime. I think we ought to be pressing hard
for democracy.
I went overseas to the Czech Republic and gave a speech on democracy. I
saw Vaclav Havel. You might remember him, he was the leader of the
Velvet Revolution that helped lead Eastern Europe to a new form of
government -- new forms of government. And he's very much interested in
the United States' attitude toward Cuba, because he believes we need to
be promoting freedom before stability.
It's going to be an interesting challenge for our country. We're
working, by the way -- back to your question, can we do more than one
thing at one time -- we're working very closely with the Navy and Coast
Guard to make sure that there is not any issues when it comes between
the United States and Cuba, should there be a -- when there is a
transition."
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=10649
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