incident, U.S. President Bill Clinton abandoned his previousresistance to stricter sanctions against Cuba and in March 1996 signed into lawthe Helms-Burton Act. The legislation aimed to tighten the U.S. embargo bymaking it more difficult for foreign investors and businesses to operate in Cuba.It made permanent the economic embargo, which previously had to be renewedeach year, and threatened foreign companies with lawsuits if they were deemedto be "deriving benefit" from property worth more than $50,000 that had beenconfiscated from U.S. citizens during the Cuban revolution. Canada, Mexico, andthe European Union complained about the U.S. law, claiming that the UnitedStates was trying to export its laws and principles to other countries.Later that month, the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party held a rarefull session and endorsed a harder stance against dissidents, as well as againstCuban businesses that had been allowed to engage in free-market joint ventureswith foreign companies. The committee had met only five times sinceCommunists took over the Cuban government in 1959. Cuban officials said thatdissidents, self-employed workers, and Cuban intellectuals were beingmanipulated by Cuba's foreign enemies to undermine the authority of theCommunist Party. Castro vowed to step up the government's efforts to silenceopposition groups and enforce compliance with the party's economic andideological beliefs....
