Rising repression in Cuba met by indifference from the U.S. State Department

State Department official explains human rights not a priority in Cuba as situation there worsens

Family of three arrested during 2015 Papal visit denounce the Castro regime today.

More than 200 activists detained today in Cuba for peacefully assembling and three days ago on November 5, 2015 two activists, Geovanys Izaguirre Hernandez and Laudelino Rodriguez Mendoza, were sentenced to six months in prison following a summary judgement.

The human rights situation in Cuba continues to deteriorate and the regime's behavior overseas remains as hostile to U.S. interests as ever but the drive to embrace the dictatorship by the Obama administration continues. Ambassador David Thorne, a senior adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry from Havana on November 3, 2015 explained the Obama administration's priority in Cuba is not human rights.

"As in other parts of the world, we are really trying to also say: Let's find out how we can work together and not always say that human rights are the first things that we have to fix before anything else."

Unfortunately, not making human rights a priority in foreign policy when dealing with foreign regimes has had catastrophic consequences for the United States in the past. The direction taken by the Obama administration in Cuba does not serve U.S. interests or the aspirations of Cubans to live in freedom. In short it is shaping up to be a disastrous failure.