Speech #880142263

I would discuss my disagreement with the Senator from Arizona on foreign policy under the headingwhich I think would be quite appropriate-"The Decentralization of Foreign Policy." I do so this afternoon because I would not want anyone to think that in my capacity as chairman of the Subcommittee on American Republics Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations I would remain silent when anyone of the importance and the standing of the junior Senator from Arizona expressed views on the Cuban situation so diametrically opposed to my own. On the basis of his recent campaign statements in New Hampshire. the junior Senator from Arizona appears to be offering himself as a presidential candidate who will lead the United States into international banditry. That is the best that can be said for his statement that if he were President. he would support and promote the efforts of Cuban refugees to invade Cuba and overthrow the Castro dictatorship. "I would help them." said the Senator. "I would train them. supply them. get them there." In addition. he would be "inclined" to provide air cover to any refugee invasion attempt. The Senators proposal for Cuba is apparently part of his grand design for dismantling the foreign policy powers of the Government of the United States. As the Members of this body have been privileged to hear many times. the Senator from Arizona is deeply dedicated to the task of liberating the Cuban people from the Castro tyranny. He believes that Castro communism is a grave and immediate threat to the United States and that every day of its survival is a day of mortal peril for the United States. Because the Senator is known to hold these views. it is difficult to understand why he does not favor direct action by the U.S. Armed Forces rather than a proxy invasion by a small army of badly armed. badly trained. and badly organized Cuban refugees. Furthermore. speaking hypothetically. has he given consideration to the kind of government that would be established in Cuba if all the Cuban refugees in the United States could simply be implanted in Cuba and authorized to establish a government? I think we would be very much surprised to find how closely such a government would resemble the Batista government. As I have previously said in the Senate. a considerable percentage of the Cuban refugees in the United States are Batistaites and would not set up. if given the authority to do so. a constitutional. democratic form of government. Large numbers of them are more interested in regaining their corporeal and material holdings in Cuba. to carry on the bad economic policies that characterized the Batista regime. I have the right to speak thusly. because I was the first in this body to speak out against the Castro regime.