Casto's Cuba is the place where before Che Guevara had political prisoners tortured and executed, be had them bled dry, then sent their blood to North Viet Nam during that War. m/r
State Department’s Feet to Fire Over Possible Conditions on Opening of Cuba Embassy | PJ Media
By Bridget Johnson On February 3, 2015 @ 6:52 pm In Latin America,Politics
WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) took the gavel of the Foreign Relations Western Hemisphere Subcommittee today to devote more hearing time to Cuba, he said, than he’d seen “in the four years I’ve been here.”
The ranking member on the subcommittee, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), accused Rubio and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) of representing the “status quo” on Cuba relations as President Obama plunges forward with a bold new policy.
But when it came time for a panel of Cuban human rights activists to testify, most of the members — including Boxer — were no longer on the dais.
Menendez called it “regretful that so many of our colleagues can’t be here because this is the part of Cuba that we need to hear.”
“It’s easy to talk about democracy and human rights outside of a country that represses it,” he added.
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson, who was in Havana last month to open normalization talks, said she was greeted warmly and thanked by Cubans on her trip.
“The president’s initiatives look forward and are designed to promote changes that support universal human rights and fundamental freedoms for every Cuban, as well as changes that promote our other national interests,” Jacobson told the the committee. “They emphasize the value of people-to-people contact and very specific forms of increased commerce. We are already seeing indications that our updated approach gives us a greater ability to engage other nations in the hemisphere and around the world in promoting respect for fundamental freedoms in Cuba. It has also drawn considerably greater attention to the actions and policies of the Cuban government.”
But Menendez said “18 months of secret negotiations produced a bad deal – bad for the Cuban people” as the administration “compromised bedrock principles for minimal concessions.”
“At the end of the day, 53 political prisoners were released while so many more remain in jail – and the Cuban people – those who suffered most under the regime – still have zero guarantees for any basic freedoms. I’m also concerned that the 53 prisoners were not released unconditionally and continue to face legal hurdles. And that several of them have been re-arrested including Marcelino Abreu Bonora who was violently beaten by Cuban Security the day after Christmas and detained for two weeks,” he said.
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The ranking member on the subcommittee, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), accused Rubio and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) of representing the “status quo” on Cuba relations as President Obama plunges forward with a bold new policy.
But when it came time for a panel of Cuban human rights activists to testify, most of the members — including Boxer — were no longer on the dais.
Menendez called it “regretful that so many of our colleagues can’t be here because this is the part of Cuba that we need to hear.”
“It’s easy to talk about democracy and human rights outside of a country that represses it,” he added.
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson, who was in Havana last month to open normalization talks, said she was greeted warmly and thanked by Cubans on her trip.
“The president’s initiatives look forward and are designed to promote changes that support universal human rights and fundamental freedoms for every Cuban, as well as changes that promote our other national interests,” Jacobson told the the committee. “They emphasize the value of people-to-people contact and very specific forms of increased commerce. We are already seeing indications that our updated approach gives us a greater ability to engage other nations in the hemisphere and around the world in promoting respect for fundamental freedoms in Cuba. It has also drawn considerably greater attention to the actions and policies of the Cuban government.”
But Menendez said “18 months of secret negotiations produced a bad deal – bad for the Cuban people” as the administration “compromised bedrock principles for minimal concessions.”
“At the end of the day, 53 political prisoners were released while so many more remain in jail – and the Cuban people – those who suffered most under the regime – still have zero guarantees for any basic freedoms. I’m also concerned that the 53 prisoners were not released unconditionally and continue to face legal hurdles. And that several of them have been re-arrested including Marcelino Abreu Bonora who was violently beaten by Cuban Security the day after Christmas and detained for two weeks,” he said.
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