ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603130073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Miriam de la Pena stood watching President Clinton sign tougher sanctions against Cuba into law, wondering if her American-born son would have given his life willingly to bring the signing about.
``It's so hard to say,'' de la Pena said, then added: ``If my son were alive today and he knew that this would bring to light what is happening in Cuba, he would do it again.''
Mario M. de la Pena, 24, was one of four activists killed when Cuban fighter jets shot down two unarmed civilian planes near Cuba. The Feb. 24 incident led Congress to pass the sanctions, with a goal of choking Cuba's foreign investment as a warning to Fidel Castro to embrace democracy or suffer.
The Helms-Burton Act gives Cuban exiles the right to sue over property they lost during Castro's Communist rule. Also, foreign investors who deal in confiscated property are barred entry into the United States, and products made with Cuban sugar are banned.
``I sign it with a certainty that it will send a powerful, unified message from the United States to Havana, that the yearning of the Cuban people for freedom must not be denied,'' Clinton said. Cuban-American activists and relatives of the four men who died were present.
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