It's often argued with some truth that when Cuba's economy improves, the political situation tightens up. One can look at historical experience and see some truth in that. For example, in the early 1990s, when the economy was facing great difficulty, the Cuban government was casting around for new ideas. It was receptive to new ideas. One of the new ideas it was receptive to was the introduction of western economics, which faced a lot of opposition within the country. Then, when things improve economically, the government feels more confident and it's able to tighten up.
I don't see any direct relationship between economic prosperity and human rights. I don't think I would agree totally with the inverse relationship or with the direct relationship. I would view them as being quite separate.
I must say in that respect that I disagree with the view that the United States is the source of all of Cuba's political irregularities, you could say. This is the official line in Cuba. This is the line that Castro has always taken. They have to ignore the basic civil liberties as we understand them. They have to ignore and suppress them because they are being used by the Miami mafia, the United States, to subvert the system. Well, the United States has done some stupid things. Its policy of destructive disengagement has obviously been counterproductive, but I don't blame the United States totally for the continuation of the totalitarian character of the regime in Cuba.
If I could return to a question posed by Madame St-Hilaire with respect to political prisoners, there may be debate as to whether people called political prisoners are political or not. However, according to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights.... I have a list here in front of me of all of the people who are certified or accepted by that organization as being political prisoners. Amnesty International has a letter-writing campaign for 78 of the people on this list. So Amnesty International accepts that these people are political prisoners. In my view, the vast majority are not agents of the United States. There may have been some who've done stupid things. There are some who are not in prison who've accepted support from the United States—