[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 796 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 796

  Calling for accountability for grave violations of internationally 
   recognized human rights in Cuba and malign activities against the 
   United States and democratic countries in the Western Hemisphere 
               committed by the Communist regime in Cuba.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2024

    Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Scott of Florida) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Calling for accountability for grave violations of internationally 
   recognized human rights in Cuba and malign activities against the 
   United States and democratic countries in the Western Hemisphere 
               committed by the Communist regime in Cuba.

Whereas Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2024 Report states, ``Cuba's one-
        party Communist state outlaws political pluralism, bans independent 
        media, suppresses dissent, and severely restricts basic civil 
        liberties.'';
Whereas the Department of State's 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices, in addition to numerous international human rights 
        organizations, established that the Communist regime in Cuba continues 
        to violate the tenets of the Covenant Against Torture and Other Cruel, 
        Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted at New York 
        December 10, 1984, to which Cuba is a signatory;
Whereas the Cuban regime has imprisoned or continues to harass thousands of 
        Cuban citizens, including youths who participated in the unprecedented 
        July 11, 2021, demonstrations on behalf of freedom for Cuba;
Whereas the Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report continues 
        to cite Cuba as a Tier 3 country due to its failure to fully comply with 
        the minimum standards against human trafficking, and further designates 
        Cuba as a state sponsor of human trafficking;
Whereas, in this regard, the Cuban regime sends medical personnel overseas into 
        servitude in Mexico and other countries in which they are paid only 10 
        to 25 percent of what the host nation compensates Cuba for their 
        services and denies them their fundamental rights;
Whereas Cuba continues to a be source of regional instability, as noted by a 
        United Nations independent fact-finding mission report in 2022 that 
        found Cuban personnel were advising and instructing Venezuelan 
        intelligence agencies committing crimes against humanity in Venezuela;
Whereas Cuban security assistance to Venezuelan narco-terrorist dictator Nicolas 
        Maduro emboldens him to continue to resist free and fair elections in 
        Venezuela and has resulted in thousands of Venezuelans fleeing the 
        country and contributing to overwhelming numbers of illegal United 
        States border crossings;
Whereas the Cuban regime uses illegal immigration as a weapon to overwhelm the 
        United States border by profiting from international smuggling, 
        exporting dissent, infiltrating spies, and fortifying a self-serving 
        black market economy;
Whereas the Cuban regime maintains mutually supportive relationships with Iran, 
        Syria, and North Korea, the three other countries the United States has 
        designated as state sponsors of terrorism;
Whereas Cuba harbors United States fugitives from justice wanted on charges of 
        political violence, including the murders of United States law 
        enforcement officers, including fugitives who have resided in Cuba for 
        decades and criminals such as Joanne Chesimard, Guillermo Morales, 
        Charlie Hill, Victor Manuel Gerena, who are responsible for planning and 
        carrying out violent crimes against Americans;
Whereas the Cuban regime maintains mutually supportive relationships with groups 
        the United States has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, 
        including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Colombia's National Liberation Army;
Whereas the Cuban regime also maintains mutually supportive relationships with 
        anti-American countries such as Iran, Russia, and China;
Whereas the Cuban regime has been one of the most active defenders of Vladimir 
        Putin's invasion of Ukraine, providing diplomatic support and votes in 
        international fora, serving as an amplifier of Russian propaganda on a 
        global scale, and sending Cubans to fight on behalf of Putin;
Whereas the Cuban regime has allowed Russian warships, including a nuclear-
        powered submarine, to conduct military exercises in the Caribbean, 
        bringing the flotilla within 30 nautical miles from the United States' 
        coast;
Whereas the Wall Street Journal reported in June 2023 that the Cuban regime has 
        allowed China to establish an electronic surveillance facility on the 
        island, which ``would allow Chinese intelligence services to scoop up 
        electronic communications throughout the Southeastern U.S., where many 
        military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic''; and
Whereas it has been the longstanding goal of United States policy to bring about 
        freedom, prosperity, and democracy to the Cuban people: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) opposes any revision of United States policy towards 
        Cuba as established in United States law until the Cuban regime 
        changes the above policies and its hostility towards the United 
        States;
            (2) believes that the promotion of democracy abroad is a 
        core foreign policy objective of the United States Congress;
            (3) believes that the spread of democracy globally 
        preserves the security of the United States and enhances our 
        Nation's prosperity;
            (4) calls on the United States Government to use every 
        diplomatic tool to persuade foreign governments and 
        international organizations to join its efforts and coordinate 
        activities to bring freedom and democracy to Cuba;
            (5) believes that the United States should work with allies 
        and like-minded democracies to seek Cuba's expulsion from the 
        United Nations Human Rights Council;
            (6) believes that, due to Cuba's mutually supportive 
        relationships with foreign terrorist organizations and state 
        sponsors of terrorism, the Secretary of State should maintain 
        Cuba on the Department of State's State Sponsors of Terrorism 
        list;
            (7) encourages the United States Trade Representative to 
        enter in consultations with the Government of Mexico and all 
        the other countries that engage in the trafficking of Cuban 
        doctors, not just in Mexico but in all other countries that are 
        in violation of the labor provisions of the United States-
        Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA);
            (8) calls on the Department of State to submit biannual 
        reports to Congress on March 1st and September 1st of each year 
        on its efforts to bring freedom and democracy to Cuba based on 
        the principles outlined in this resolution; and
            (9) emphasizes the readiness of the people of the United 
        States to assist the Cuban people, who are emerging from a 
        decades-long authoritarian nightmare, to rebuild their lives 
        and country and to rejoin the community of free, peaceful, and 
        democratic nations.
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