Cuba: President Bush turned his attention to Cuba yesterday, vowing to weaken the Caribbean island's communist leader, President Fidel Castro.
Illegal travel to Cuba benefited the Cuban government which, he asserted, encouraged the sex trade that exploits women.
In the speech at the White House, he said the Department of Homeland Security will increase inspections of Americans who legally travel to and from Cuba, saying that travel is too often used as a cover for illegal activities.
He also said the US will ensure that Cubans who flee the island do not put their lives at risk.
He said US officials are improving ways to identify and process migrants, and will increase the number of Cubans migrants accepted in the United States.
"Clearly, the Castro regime will not change by its own choice," Mr Bush told a gathering at the White House Rose Garden. "But Cuba must change."
He also announced a commission for what he called the "happy day" when President Castro was no longer in power. Earlier this year, the US joined a number of other countries and international human rights groups in condemning Cuba for sentencing 75 political dissidents to lengthy prison terms.
Mr Bush unveiled the initiatives as he gears up for next year's presidential race. Florida is home to many Cuban Americans who advocate tougher measures against the Castro government.
Anti-Castro Cuban Americans helped hand Bush a disputed but pivotal victory in Florida in 2000 and the state could once again prove the key to the 2004 election.
In May 2002, Mr Bush said he would be willing to ease American sanctions on the communist-run country if the government took steps toward democracy such as offering "free and fair elections" and if it worked toward opening its economy to free-market changes.
"The dictator has responded with defiance and contempt and a new round of brutal oppression," Mr Bush said.
Some business groups, Democratic politicians and free-trade Republicans favour loosening sanctions such as the travel ban, saying they have proved to be ineffective and are costing American firms potential sources of profit. But Mr Bush said money paid by tourists who stay in hotels in Cuba goes to the government, with local workers paid only "a pittance". - (Reuters)