An excellent summation and analysis of a disastrous policy
Menendez on Trajectory of Cuba Engagement Policy
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the Senate Floor on the recent flawed policy changes with Cuba and provided a progress report on democracy and human rights on the island. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
“I rise today – as I always have – in
defense of the Cuban people who long for the day when they are free of
the iron fist of the Castro regime. A day when we can honestly say: ‘Cuba es libre’
-- and mean it. I rise with great concern over the trajectory of the
policy towards Cuba that President Obama announced on December 17th,
2014.
“In executing this new policy, the Obama
Administration has spared no generosity towards the dictatorship in
Cuba. It commuted the sentences of three Cuban spies, including one
serving a life sentence for murder conspiracy against Americans who died
while flying a civilian aircraft in international airspace that was
struck down by Cuban MIGs. It eased a host of travel and trade
sanctions in spite of the purpose and intent of U.S. law. It removed
Cuba from the state-sponsors of terrorism list while it continues
harboring fugitives from U.S. justice and members of foreign terrorist
organizations. It negotiated an agreement to establish diplomatic
relations with Cuba that falls short of international legal norms. It
upgraded Cuba in the trafficking-in-persons report despite its continued
slave labor and human trafficking practices. And it even acquiesced to
shunning dissidents from attending the U.S. Embassy's flag-raising
ceremony in Havana.
“Yet, Cuban dictator Raul Castro refuses
to reciprocate any of these concessions. To the contrary, Castro has
emphasized that he ‘will not cede one millimeter’ -- and in his speech
at last month's United Nations General Assembly gathering demanded even
more, namely for President Obama to evade U.S. law as regards sanctions,
to shutdown Radio and TV Marti, to end democracy programs, to return
Guantanamo and to pay a trillion dollars in damages to his regime.
“Today, ten months later, the metrics of
this new policy show it's clearly headed in the wrong direction. The
Castro family is poised for a generational transition in power. The
Cuban regime's monopolies are being strengthened. Courageous democracy
leaders are being relegated to obscurity – their voices muffled -- by
the actions of the United States and foreign nations alike. Political
repression has exponentially increased. The number of Cubans
desperately fleeing the island is rising. And the purpose and intent of
U.S. law is being circumvented. The trajectory of our policy is
unacceptable and I urge President Obama to correct its course.
“While speaking recently to a business gathering in Washington, D.C., President Obama argued how he believes this new policy is ‘creating the environment in which a generational change and transition will take place in that country.’ But
the key questions is – ‘a generational change and transition’ towards
what and by whom? Cuban democracy leader, Antonio Rodiles, has concisely
expressed this concern -- ‘legitimizing the [Castro] regime is the path contrary to a transition.’
“CNN has revealed that the Cuban
delegation in the secret talks that began in mid-2013 with U.S.
officials in Ottawa, Toronto and Rome, and which led to the December
17th policy announcement, was headed by Colonel Alejandro Castro Espin.
Colonel Castro Espin is the 49-year old son of Cuban dictator Raul
Castro. In both face-to-face meetings between President Obama and Raul
Castro this year -- first at April's Summit of the Americas in Panama
City and just last month at the United Nations General Assembly in New
York -- Alejandro was seated – with a wide grin -- next to his father.
“Alejandro holds the rank of Colonel in
Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, with his hand on the pulse and trigger
of the island's intelligence services and repressive organs. It's no
secret that Raul Castro is grooming Alejandro for a position of power.
Sadly, his role as interlocutor with the Obama Administration seeks to
further their goal of an intra-family generational transition within the
Castro clan -- similar to the Assad’s in Syria and the Kim’s in North
Korea. And we know how well those have worked out. To give you an idea
of how Colonel Alejandro Castro views the United States, he describes
its leaders as ‘those who seek to subjugate humanity to satisfy their interests and hegemonic goals.’
“But, of course, it also takes money to
run a totalitarian dictatorship -- which is why Raul Castro named his
son-in-law, General Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez Callejas, as head of
GAESA, which stands for Grupo de Administracion Empresarial, S.A or
translated Business Administrative Group. GAESA is the holding company
of Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Cuba’s military.
It is the dominant driving force of the island’s economy. Established
in the 1990s by Raul Castro, it controls tourism companies, ranging from
the very profitable Gaviota S.A., which runs Cuba’s hotels,
restaurants, car rentals and nightclubs, to TRD Caribe S.A., which runs
the island’s retail stores. GAESA controls virtually all economic
transactions in Cuba.
“According to Hotels Magazine, a leading
industry publication, GAESA, through its subsidiaries, is by far the
largest regional hotel conglomerate in Latin America. It controls more
hotel rooms than The Walt Disney Company. As McLatchy News explained a
few years back, ‘Tourists who sleep in some of Cuba's hotels, drive
rental cars, fill up their gas tanks, and even those riding in taxis
have something in common: They are contributing to the [Cuban]
Revolutionary Armed Forces' bottom line.’
“GAESA became this business powerhouse
thanks to the millions of Canadian and European tourists that have and
continue to visit Cuba each year. These tourists have done absolutely
nothing to promote freedom and democracy in Cuba. To the contrary, they
have directly financed a system of control and repression over the
Cuban people -- all while enjoying cigars made by Cuban workers paid in
worthless pesos, and having a Cuba Libre – which is an oxymoron, on the
beaches of Varadero. Yet, despite the clear evidence, some want
American tourists to now double GAESA's bonanza – and, through GAESA,
strengthen the regime.
“An insightful report this week by Bloomberg Business also explained how, ‘[Raul's
son-in-law, General Rodriguez] is the gatekeeper for most foreign
investors, requiring them to do business with his organization if they
wish to set up shop on the island…If and when the U.S. finally removes
its half-century embargo on Cuba, it will be this man who decides which
investors get the best deals.’ In other words, all of the talking
points about how lifting the embargo and tourism restrictions would
somehow benefit the Cuban people are empty and misleading rhetoric. It
would only serve as a funnel for Castro, Inc.
“Here's what over a dozen of Cuba's most
renowned pro-democracy leaders, including the head of The Ladies in
White -- a pro-democracy group composed of the mothers, wives, daughters
and other relatives of Cuban political prisoners -- Berta Soler, former
prisoner of conscience Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ‘Antunez’ and Sakaharov
prize recipient Guillermo Farinas, warned in an open letter to the U.S.
Congress dated September 25th, 2015: ‘The lifting of the embargo, as
proposed by the [Obama] Administration, will permit the old ruling elite
to transfer their power to their political heirs and families, giving
little recourse to the Cuban people in confronting this despotic power.
Totalitarian communism will mutate into a totalitarian state adopting
minimal market reforms that will serve only to accentuate the existing
social inequality in the midst of an increasingly uncertain future.’
“From an economic perspective, the very
concept of trade and investment in Cuba is grounded in a misconception
about how ‘business’ takes place on the island. In most of the world,
trade and investment means dealing with privately-owned or operated
corporations. That's not the case in Cuba. In Cuba, foreign trade and
investment is the exclusive domain of the state, i.e. the Castro family.
There are no ‘exceptions.’ In the last five decades, every single
"foreign trade" transaction with Cuba has been with the Castro regime,
or an individual acting on behalf of the regime. The regime's
exclusivity regarding trade and investment was enshrined in Article 18
of Castro's 1976 Constitution. That has not changed.
“Moreover, M. President, there is no
private sector in Cuba. We often hear the Obama Administration and the
media refer to Cuba's small ‘self-employment’ licensees as ‘private
enterprise,’ which implies ‘private ownership.’ Yet Cuba's
‘self-employed’ licensees have no ownership rights whatsoever - be it to
their artistic or ‘intellectual’ outputs, commodity they produce, or
personal service they offer. Licensees have no legal entity – hence
business—to transfer, sell or leverage. They don't even own the
equipment essential to their self-employment. More to the point,
licensees have no right to engage in foreign trade, seek or receive
foreign investments. Effectually, licensees continue to work for the
state -- and when the state decides such jobs are no longer needed,
licensees are shut down without recourse, which has happened several
times in the past.
“The fact is, we already know what
expanded U.S. trade with Cuba would look like. Since the passage of the
2000 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA), over
$5 billion in U.S. agricultural and medical products have been sold to
Cuba. It is an unpleasant fact, however, that all those sales by more
than 250 privately-owned U.S. companies were made to only one Cuban
buyer: the Castro regime. According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture itself, ‘The key difference in exporting to Cuba,
compared to other countries in the region, is that all U.S. agricultural
exports must be channeled through one Cuban government agency,
ALIMPORT.’
“Exporting to Cuba is not about trading
with small or mid-size farmers, private businesses and manufacturers
around the island, as some of my colleagues would like Americans to
believe. So, it should be no surprise that U.S. products end up on the
shelves of regime-owned stores that accept only ‘hard currencies,’ such
as the U.S. dollar or Euro, with huge price mark-ups. Shoppers at these
‘dollar stores’ are mainly tourists. Little imported food or medicine
ever makes it into stores where Cubans shop; neither is it available on
ration cards.
“It requires a tremendous leap of faith
or belief in some extreme and unprecedented economic model -- call it
‘dictator-down economics’ -- to argue or theorize that current or more
U.S. sales to Castro's monopolies have or can ever benefit the Cuban
‘people.’ The facts prove otherwise, as has been the case with sales of
U.S. food and medicine. So what makes us believe expanded trade with
the U.S. would be any different?
“As a matter of fact, since December
17th, despite the Obama Administration's efforts to improve relations
with the Castro regime, which have included an increase in travel and
eased payment terms for agricultural sales, U.S. sales to ALIMPORT
during the same period have plummeted by over 50 percent. The question
is: Why would even more concessions make this manipulation by the
Castro regime's monopolies any different?
“Let's stop talking about the embargo in
vague terms. The embargo, as codified by the U.S. Congress, simply
requires the fulfillment of some very basic conditions, which are
consistent with the democratic and human rights standards of 34 out of
35 nations in the Western Hemisphere. Cuba remains the exception.
Though, ironically, Venezuela continues on a downwards spiral away from
these standards -- thanks in no small part to Cuba's control over the
Chavez/Maduro governments.
“When President Obama or some of my
colleagues call for the lifting of the embargo, they are asking Congress
to unilaterally discard these conditions. So, I ask them, which of
these conditions -- codified in U.S. law -- do they disagree with or
oppose that they are willing to unilaterally discard them? Is it, for
example – the condition that Cuba ‘legalizes all political activity?’
The condition that Cuba ‘releases all political prisoners and allows for
investigations of Cuban prisons by appropriate international human
rights organizations?’ The condition that Cuba ‘dissolves the present
Department of State Security in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior,
including the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Rapid
Response Brigades?’
“The condition that Cuba ‘makes a public
commitment to organizing free and fair elections for a new government?’
The condition that Cuba ‘makes public commitments to and is making
demonstrable progress in establishing an independent judiciary;
respecting internationally recognized human rights and basic freedoms as
set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cuba
is a signatory nation; allows the establishment of independent trade
unions as set forth in conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labor
Organization, and allows the establishment of independent social,
economic, and political associations?’
“The condition that Cuba give ‘adequate
assurances that it will allow the speedy and efficient distribution of
assistance to the Cuban people?’ The condition that Cuba is
‘effectively guaranteeing the rights of free speech and freedom of the
press, including granting permits to privately owned media and
telecommunications companies to operate in Cuba?’ The condition that
Cuba is ‘assuring the right to private property?’ The condition that
Cuba is ‘taking appropriate steps to return to United States citizens --
and entities which are 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United
States citizens -- property taken by the Cuban Government from such
citizens and entities on or after January 1, 1959, or to provide
equitable compensation to such citizens and entities for such property?’
“The condition that Cuba has ‘extradited
or otherwise rendered to the United States all persons sought by the
United States Department of Justice for crimes committed in the United
States?’ Which is it? Which conditions do they disagree with?
“If President Obama, as media reports
indicate, takes the unprecedented step of abstaining from voting against
a Cuban resolution in the United Nations General Assembly criticizing
his own nation's law -- which is what the Cuban embargo is -- he would
be disavowing these basic conditions. Think of the horrible message
that turning a blind-eye to these basic conditions in U.S. law would
send to the Cuban people about the United States' priorities. Think of
the horrible message it would send to Cuba's courageous democracy
leaders.
“Since December 17th, scores of foreign
dignitaries, businessmen, and Members of the U.S. Congress have
descended upon Havana to meet with Raul Castro and his cronies, while
sidelining Cuba's courageous dissidents. As Cuban independent
journalist and blogger, Yoani Sanchez, lamented – ‘a true shower of
presidents, foreign ministers and deputies has intensified over Cuba
without daily life feeling any kind of relief from such illustrious
presences.’
“Sadly, as the AP reported, ‘more than
20 U.S. lawmakers have come to Cuba since February without meeting with
opposition groups that once were an obligatory stop for congressional
delegations.’ The reason U.S. lawmakers don’t meet with human
rights activists and political dissidents is because – if they do so –
they don’t get a meeting with Raul Castro. I guess to many of my
colleagues a photo op is more important.
“Perhaps the biggest affront was during
the flag-raising ceremony for the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana
-- to which no Cuban dissidents were invited. The Secretary of State
said publicly this was due to ‘a lack of space’ and this it was a
‘government-to-government’ function. Yet, images clearly showed there
was plenty of space and lots of non-governmental figures on the invitee
list. Can you imagine what the world would be like today if this had
been the attitude of the United States towards Sakharov, Solzhenitsyn,
Havel, Walesa and Mandela?
“Meanwhile, adding injury to insult,
Cuba's courageous dissident leaders, now neglected by the Obama
Administration and Congressional supporters of the new policy -- and
even further neglected by foreign dignitaries and unscrupulous
businessmen searching for a profit at whatever cost -- are facing a
dramatic increase in repression. Since December 17th, when President
Obama announced his new policy, Raul Castro's dictatorship has
exponentially increased the number of political arrests, beatings, and
detentions.
“Just between January and March of this
year, politically motivated arrests increased nearly 70 percent, from
178 arrests in the former month to 610 in the latter. According to the
Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, an
internationally-recognized human rights watchdog, the total number of
political arrests during the first nine months of this year were 5,146.
In just nine months, these 5,146 political arrests surpass the
year-long tallies recorded for 2010 (2,074 political arrests), 2011
(4,123 political arrests) and 2015 is tragically on-pace to become one
of the most repressive years in recent history.
“The official number of September arrests
alone were 822 – the most in 15 months. They include Danilo Maldonado, a
31-year old artist known as ‘El Sexto,’ who was imprisoned on December
25th, 2014 -- just one week after the new policy was announced. El
Sexto was arrested for painting the names Fidel and Raul on two pigs,
which was considered an act of ‘contempt.’ He remains imprisoned
without trial or sentence or any justice. Amnesty International has
recognized him as a prisoner of conscience.
“They also include Zaqueo Baez Guerrero,
Ismael Bonet Rene and Maria Josefa Acón Sardinas, a member of The Ladies
in White. These three dissidents sought to approach Pope Francis during
his recent Mass in Havana to ask for his solidarity with Cuba's
political prisoners and democracy movement. They were dragged away and
arrested under the eyes of the international media. They have been on a
hunger and thirst strike since September 20th and are being held at the
infamous secret police center for ‘investigations’ at Aldabó and 100th
Street in Havana. I'm very concerned about their well-being.
“They also include the case of Digna
Rodriguez Ibañez, an Afro-Cuban member of The Ladies in White in Santa
Clara, who was attacked by Castro regime agents and pelted with tar.
That's right -- with tar. And Eralisis Frometa Polanco, another member
of The Ladies in White, who was pregnant and forcefully aborted due to
the violent blows to the stomach she received during a beating for her
peaceful activism. And Daisy Cuello Basulto, also a member of The
Ladies in White, whose daughter was arrested, stripped naked and forced
to urinate in front of male state security officers, as a means of
tormenting her mother.
“For 24 straight Sunday's in a row, Cuban
dissidents have tried to peacefully demonstrate after Mass under the
slogan #TodosMarchamos (#WeAllMarch) and for 24 Sundays in a row they
have been intercepted, violently beaten and arrested. This image is of
Cuban dissident leader, Antonio Rodiles, a 43-year old intellectual,
after having his face literally shattered during one of those peaceful
Sunday marches. Yet, despite the tremendous indignities these
dissidents suffer at the hands of the Castro regime, they remain
undeterred in their struggle for freedom and democracy for all Cubans.
“Rather than shunning these courageous
dissidents, the United States should be embracing them. On the same day
that news hit that 882 political arrests were made in September alone,
by the Castro regime, Secretary Kerry is in Chile talking about some
marine life agreement with Cuba. What about the human Lives in Cuba
suffering under this oppression?
“The Obama Administration's policy seems
to be bringing little comfort to the Cuban people generally, as they
continue to flee by land, air and the perilous journey by sea across the
Florida Straits, where countless Cubans have lost their lives in search
for freedom. Nearly 32,000 Cubans entered the U.S. in the first nine
months of the fiscal year that ended on September 30th, up from about
26,000 migrants who entered last fiscal year, according to the
Department of Homeland Security. Fewer than 7,500 Cubans came in 2010.
“Finally, M. President, as one of the
authors of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 –
known as the ‘Libertad Act’ -- and having served as a manager in its
conference committee, I'm concerned that the recent regulations and
actions being taken by the Treasury and Commerce Departments contravene
the purpose and intent of the law. As the final conference committee
report of the Libertad Act made clear – ‘It is the intent of the
committee of conference that all economic sanctions in force on March 1,
1996, shall remain in effect until they are either suspended or
terminated pursuant to the authorities provided in section 204 of this
Act (requiring a Presidential determination that a democratic transition
is under way in Cuba).’
“Those are the conditions I previously addressed. The report also states that ‘the
explicit mandates in this legislation make clear congressional intent
that U.S. law be enforced fully and, thereby, provide a basis for strict
congressional oversight of executive branch enforcement measures
henceforth.’ In furtherance of this intent, the prohibition on U.S.
assistance and financing of agricultural sales to Cuba; the prohibition
on additional imports from Cuba; and the prohibition of travel relating
to tourist activities in the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export
Enhancement Act of 2000, are explicit, clear and leave no room for
exceptions. These provisions were precisely written to deny U.S. funds
to the Cuban regime's repressive machinery, and prohibiting them from
being funneled through Castro's monopolies. Yet, that's the -- perhaps
unintended -- direction the new regulations are headed-in -- with the
tragic, repressive consequences on full display.
“Any hope that President Obama's goodwill
would elicit a different tone from Raul Castro was further diminished
by the Cuban dictator's speech to the United Nations General Assembly
last month. Castro dedicated his 17-minute speech almost entirely to
bashing the policies of the United States from Latin America to Eastern
Europe to the Middle East. He praised Latin American autocrats in the
mold of Hugo Chavez, sided with Putin and Assad, criticized
representative democracy and dismissed human rights as a "utopia."
While President Obama referred to the concessions he's already made in
his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly, Raul Castro
audaciously demanded even more.
“We all remember the message President Obama sent to the foes of freedom in first inaugural speech: ‘[W]e will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.’ I
urge President Obama to follow his own doctrine and reconsider some of
the unmerited and reciprocated generosity in his new policy -- for Raul
Castro's fist clearly remains clenched, yet the President's hand is
still fully extended.
“He claims that those who don’t agree
with his Cuba policy are stuck in the past, but it’s the Castro regime
that’s stuck in the past – still living their misguided Cold War dream –
and the world hasn’t insisted they move forward. Instead we are
rewarding them for their intransigence. Unless we challenge them we
will not see real change.
“The fact is -- hope and change do not
come easily, they don’t just happen. Like any parent with a child, they
won’t change unless you challenge them and give them a reason. Like
Congress, it needs to be challenged to change. And so with Cuba. The
world needs to challenge the regime or change will never come – not give
in and give everything. To do so only strengthens their resolve to
hold on to their Cold War dream and prolongs the day when we can truly
say to the world: Cuba es Libre.”
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