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MIAMI (AFP) - The United States will pursue more aggressively violators of a US trade embargo against Cuba, a US prosecutor said, in an effort to topple the communist regime.
Alexander Acosta, head of US prosecutors in Florida, promised "more vigorous investigations and more aggressive prosecutions" of anyone violating the four-decade-old US embargo.
US President George W. Bush has ratcheted up pressure on Cuba to speed the demise of its communist leaders, Fidel Castro and his brother, interim president Raul Castro.
In a press conference, Acosta announced creation of a task force made up of officials from several US agencies, which "will strengthen enforcement of sanctions against the Castro regime with the aim of hastening a transition to democracy in Cuba. We will do our part to effectuate president Bush's mandate to speed this transition".
Acosta promised to prosecute import and export of goods to and from Cuba, unapproved visits to the island and transfers of hard currency to and from Cuba.
Creation of the task force was recommended by a presidential Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, which also backed the Cuba Fund for a Democratic Future, a two-year, 80-million-dollar program.
The commission is co-led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban-American.
The commission recommended tightening the embargo by better enforcing existing sanctions against the island, including those against companies that supply oil, nickel, tobacco and rum, and by better preventing avoidance of the embargo by those who operate through a third country.
The document has not yet officially been made public and could be subject to changes before it is released.
Acosta denied that his announcement, less than a month away from US legislative elections, was motivated by politics, but was the "appropriate time" to do so.
He said that all US residents and citizens must obey the sanctions as well as persons and groups in the United States and US groups around the world.
Penalties as severe as 10 years of prison and hundreds of dollars in fines are, he said, "much more than a mere slap on the wrist or an administrative proceeding."
Any exchange with Cuba must be approved by the US government, including visits and remittances of money.
Cuban-Americans with family on the island may visit once every three years, and may remit money only to immediate family members.
