Fotos/Blog Gaspar, El Lugareño (por Rodrigo de la Luz)
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Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, made the following statement regarding reports of an announcement that the Department of State will open an embassy in Havana, Cuba. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:
“There was little doubt that the Obama administration would pursue its goal of opening an embassy in Cuba no matter the sad reality on the ground. Since Obama's December 17th announcement, the State Department has failed to forcibly condemn the increase of repression on the island now that the Castro regime feels emboldened to continue its attacks against the Cuban people. As the Ladies in White, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, Yris Perez Aguilera, and other pro-democracy leaders are routinely harassed, beaten, and imprisoned, the Obama administration has continued to turn its back on the Cuban people in order to pursue its goal of providing as many concessions as possible to the Castro regime. Not surprisingly, this administration has shown that politics trump policy in its decision-making process. Opening the American Embassy in Cuba will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping.” (See full text and Spanish version)
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Mario Diaz-Balart:
WASHINGTON - Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) released the following statement after the U.S. State Department and Cuban regime announced they will reopen embassies in Havana and Washington, D.C.
"By pressing ahead with plans to open a U.S. embassy in Havana and a Cuban embassy in Washington, President Obama continues his failed policy of appeasing brutal dictators that threaten U.S. interests.
It is an utter disgrace that the administration has removed human rights and America's security from the President's foreign policy agenda. The Castro regime has increased its oppression of human rights and pro-democracy activists in the wake of President Obama's ceaseless overtures. Since the President's December 17, 2014 announcement, there have been well over 2,000 political arrests in Cuba. For the past twelve consecutive Sundays, more than seventy activists have been arrested, including the courageous Ladies in White who protest on their way to mass. In February of this year, the Cuban dictatorship was caught smuggling weapons through Colombian territory, which occurred after severe condemnation of Cuba's illegal weapons smuggling to North Korea from a U.N. panel of experts in March 2014. In addition, several Cuban diplomat-spies have been expelled from the U.S. for their espionage activities.
If a Cuban embassy opens in Washington, it will not represent the Cuban people. It will represent the Cuban intelligence services that perpetuate human rights abuses against the Cuban people. It will serve the interests of the military generals that illegally smuggle weapons to our adversaries. And, most directly, it will serve the dictators that will continue to impoverish and oppress the Cuban people.
The Cuban people have not chosen the Castros as their leaders. Instead, Cuba's true leadership includes those who are in prison, and who have lost their livelihoods, ration cards, housing, and health, simply for demanding human rights. The Cuban regime does not represent them. It is their enemy. For these reasons, the House Subcommittee for State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations denied funding for a U.S. embassy in Havana, and a Cuban embassy and consulates in the U.S. in its FY 2016 bill.
Purportedly to help the Cuban people achieve "independence from Cuban authorities," President Obama continues to appease their oppressors. The Cuban people are calling out for solidarity with their struggle for freedom, not collaboration with those that imprison them. If only we had a president that knew the difference.(See full text and Spanish version)
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Bob Menendez:
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Newark, N.J. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) issued the following statement in reaction to the latest announcements by the Obama administration regarding the U.S.–Cuba relationship, including the opening of embassies:
“Today’s announcement cannot be considered normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States if it fails to speak to key issues such as whether all U.S. diplomats will be restricted from moving freely throughout the island, if the U.S. government will be limited in the number of diplomats assigned to staff an embassy, or if diplomatic mail can be searched and potentially seized by Cuban authorities. Once again the regime is being rewarded while they jail dissidents, silence political opponents, and harbor American fugitives and cop killers. Our demands for freedoms and liberty on the island will continue to be ignored and we are incentivizing a police state to uphold a policy of brutality. It is long past due for the United States to require concessions and changes from Cuba and thus far, we have seen neither. A policy of the United States giving and the Castro brothers freely taking is not in our national interest and not a responsible approach when dealing with repressive rulers that deny freedoms to its people. An already one-sided deal that benefits the Cuban regime is becoming all the more lopsided.”
"This is the only government in the Western Hemisphere, which the Obama administration has chosen to establish relations with, that is not elected by its citizens. The message is democracy and human rights take a back seat to a legacy initiative.” (See full text and Spanish version)
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Marcos Rubio:
Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women’s Issues, commented on the agreement between the United States and Cuba to open embassies in each other's capitals:
“Throughout this entire negotiation, as the Castro regime has stepped up its repression of the Cuban people, the Obama Administration has continued to look the other way and offer concession after concession. The administration's reported plan to restore diplomatic relations is one such prized concession to the Castro regime. It remains unclear what, if anything, has been achieved since the President's December 17th announcement in terms of securing the return of U.S. fugitives being harbored in Cuba, settling outstanding legal claims to U.S. citizens for properties confiscated by the regime, and in obtaining the unequivocal right of our diplomats to travel freely throughout Cuba and meet with any dissidents, and most importantly, securing greater political freedoms for the Cuban people. I intend to oppose the confirmation of an Ambassador to Cuba until these issues are addressed. It is time for our unilateral concessions to this odious regime to end.” (See full text)
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Carlos Curbelo:
“The redesignation of our diplomatic facility in Havana as an embassy means President Obama can check off another item on his personal "legacy-building" bucket list, but it will not further our national interests and recklessly confers legitimacy on an absolutely illegitimate military dictatorship. This deplorable move adds to the long list of unilateral concessions the Cuban government has received from the Obama Administration as a reward for cruelly holding an American hostage for five years. Our country deserves a foreign policy that puts America first and that rewards our allies - not dictators responsible for the death of American citizens and for the theft of American property.”(See full text)
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Cuba-USA reabren sus embajadas el 20 julio de 2015John Kerry: Statement on Cuba
