[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S53-S56]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CUBA AND HAITI
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last week, I had the opportunity to visit
two island nations near our shores, Cuba and Haiti. Each is facing
enormous problems--in Cuba, how to reform a Communist dictatorship of
over half a century into a modern democratic member of the community of
nations, and in Haiti how to rebuild from a devastating earthquake of 2
years ago in a nation already one of the poorest on Earth.
I concluded the trip more optimistic about Haiti, despite all its
challenges, than Cuba, which quite simply appeared frozen in time in an
ideology which should be cast aside for a more modern view of how to
progress in the 21st century.
Let me start with Cuba. I am no fan of the Castro regime, but I am
also no fan of the foreign policy of the United States. When I look
back at what we tried to achieve for over 50 years in Cuba, any honest,
objective analysis will have to tell you we did not achieve our goal.
Fidel Castro is not a casualty of our own foreign policy; he is a
casualty of old age. He is still there, and his brother now reins as
his successor in Cuba.
Despite some notable achievement in this nation of Cuba, in areas
such as health and education--and I saw firsthand as I traveled around
some of these achievements--the government has maintained a grip on
this island which is unfair to many of the people who live there.
Political opposition is swiftly and harshly repressed, often with
severe prison sentences and deeply troubling harassment. Those pursuing
greater political freedom of government accountability at times even
find their young children threatened, as was sadly noted in the New
York Times on Sunday.
In this most recent incident, Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales found
herself repeatedly harassed by government officials for associating
with the Ladies in White, a group of wives, mothers, and daughters, of
political prisoners. Incredibly, state security officers threatened to
take away her 5- and 7-year-old daughters.
Other brave Cubans, such as Oswaldo Paya, who collected thousands of
signatures on a petition calling for modest political change, found
himself and his colleagues harassed and in some cases jailed.
Tragically, the petition process for change was actually called for in
the Cuban Constitution. He was only following the Constitution of his
country, and he ended up being harassed and many who supported him
arrested.
Nonetheless, under President Raul Castro, there has been some modest
reform, the conditional release of some political prisoners, and some
economic reform. There has also been some serious oil exploration
underway off the coast of Cuba. I wanted to go to Cuba for the first
time to visit that part of
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Cuba, other than Guantanamo, to see what changes had taken place, to
see what preparations the Cuban Government had made for offshore oil
drilling within 50 miles of the State of Florida's coast, to see if the
United States and Cuba could work together on potential environmental
concerns related to such offshore drilling, to see if the 50-plus years
of U.S. isolation were having the intended affect of creating a climate
of political and economic reform.
Most important, I wished to talk to the Cuban Government about a 62-
year-old American development worker, Alan Gross of Maryland, who has
been imprisoned by the Cuban regime for more than 2 years. Gross was
sentenced to 15 years for bringing Internet equipment to Cuba for the
island's small Jewish community--15 years for bringing equipment to
Cuba which any American could purchase at Radio Shack.
Fifteen years in prison, can anyone imagine that in today's world?
That is a fact in Cuba. I sat for 2 hours with Mr. Gross. I am grateful
the government let me do that. I did not know him in advance. I had
heard a lot about him, but I took the measure of a man who is living
under the most trying circumstances during that 2-hour meeting.
Alan Gross is no spy. He is no terrorist. He is no threat to Cuba or
its future. He is a humble and kind man. He was not trying to overthrow
their government. He was simply trying to expand communications and
openness in Cuba. Now, while his family suffers in his absence back
home, he languishes in a Cuban military hospital, a prisonlike
atmosphere.
He told me what happened when he came to Cuba. He said: Understand, I
used my American passport with my name and flew in on a Cuban-owned
airline, landed in Havana and took every piece of equipment I was
bringing in through Customs and stood there while they took each piece
out of the box and inspected it. At one point, the Customs official
said to him: What is this?
He said: It is a router.
He said: I am not sure you can bring it in.
At which point, Gross said: Then keep it. Just give me your name. I
will come back and claim it as I leave the country.
The man said: No, wait a minute. Maybe if I charge you a duty you can
bring it in.
Gross said: How much is the duty?
The man said: How much did it cost? Because it is 100 percent we are
going to charge you.
He said: It cost $100.
The duty is $100 then.
He paid the $100 and all the equipment passed through Customs, right
on the table, inspected piece by piece. He brought it into the country.
He stayed at a Cuban hotel. They knew where he was and his travels were
well known, as most travels are, to the Cuban Government. Then they
arrested him and said he was guilty of trying to overthrow the
government. It is hard to say with a straight face that Alan Gross was
some agent of a government trying to overthrow the Cuban Government.
He languishes now over 2 years because of these accusations. They
have taken away his shoes. He said at one point he could not have
shoestrings because he might try to hang himself. It took him 7 months
to convince them to allow his wife to bring him dental floss. He uses
the dental floss for shoestrings. They took away his iPod. He has no
access to music, and he sits there day after weary day. He told me his
routine. It is a routine which I would find hard to imagine for any
long period of time. He gets up at 6 o'clock. He is in a room with two
other prisoners. He has mapped out a course on the floor he has
measured that he walks every morning, back and forth and back and
forth, for an hour and a half.
He says: If I do that route 500 times, it is the equivalent of 5
miles. So I walk that back and forth every morning when I get up. Then
I get a little breakfast and listen to Cuban news. Finally, in the
afternoon, they get a chance to go outside--1 hour outside. He says:
They have some rebar hanging over a patio, and I do pullups to try to
keep myself in decent physical condition.
He is suffering from a deteriorating back problem, which causes
partial paralysis in his right leg. They wanted to treat him with
chemotherapy, but he refused. I find it hard to imagine how
chemotherapy could apply to that situation. He is a man who has other
medical issues of arthritis and other problems, gout and other
conditions, which do not make for a very comfortable life and, of
course, the wear and tear on his mind from being separated from his
family for so long.
I was very moved by my discussion with Alan Gross--his bravery and
particularly his warmth toward the Cuban people. I said to one of the
ministers of the government afterwards: You ought to sit down and talk
to this man. He doesn't hate Cuba or the people of Cuba. He certainly
wasn't coming in to overthrow your government. He would come back to
America and say we need a better, stronger relationship between our two
nations. Much different than some might expect.
I appealed to the Cuban Government when I was there--twice, three
times, in fact--to consider a humanitarian release of Alan Gross, to
show some compassion for this man, to show a gesture that could help
improve relations between our two countries that have seen enough
division and animosity.
I know our Interests Section under the Chief of Mission, John
Caulfield, has worked tirelessly on this issue as well. Sadly, the
Cuban Government seems determined to keep Alan Gross as a pawn, an
innocent hostage in the endless and dated standoff between our two
nations. I hope I am wrong in that conclusion, but I left Cuba feeling
this poor man was a victim of international horse trading which has
been going on for five decades. I hope the government will show
compassion and mercy to Mr. Gross and let him come home after 2 years
of imprisonment.
Recently, President Raul Castro released over 290 political
prisoners, including some Americans. Alan Gross was not included. He
should have been. There is still a chance--a chance for the Cuban
Government to do the right thing for Alan Gross and do something that
will allow us to say there is real progress when it comes to dealing,
at least in this instance, with a man who I believe has been falsely
accused.
I hope there are some in the Cuban leadership who are tired of the
old way of doing things--tired of decades of isolation and worn-out
slogans blaming the superpower United States for every problem in Cuba,
tired of a system of political and economic isolation that has nothing
to do with the United States anymore and a system that keeps its people
from joining the community of nations and sharing the many impressive
talents of the Cuban people.
Nonetheless, while deeply troubled by Cuba's political repression and
the impasse on Alan Gross, I continue to believe we should look for new
ways to establish a relationship with Cuba. I believe that dramatically
opening Cuba to the world at large, and America in particular--the
ideas and the energy of the American people--is the best way to bring
real and lasting change to that island. We have tried isolation for
more than 50 years with, at best, mixed results.
It became clear to me during my visit that some of the hard-liners
who were part of that revolution back in the 1950s are still in power
and still clinging to their old ideology. It is time for something new
in Cuba, and it is time for something new in our policy--a new
diplomacy with Cuba. There are a lot of people who disagree with me on
this issue in this Chamber and on the outside, including many of my
close friends. But ultimately we have the same goal: We want real
freedom in Cuba and we want to work to make sure the United States has
a friend 90 miles off our shore. I hope that day is near.
Mr. President, I then visited Haiti. It was my third trip to that
poor country. It is the poorest nation on our side of the globe. And,
of course, the poverty preceded an earthquake of a little over 2 years
ago. It is a flight of about 90 minutes from Miami, but in many ways it
is a world apart. Its proud and kind people have suffered unimaginable
misfortune, both at the hands of repressive dictators and from Mother
Nature.
The history of Haiti is fascinating. They overthrew slavery, took
control of their nation, and for almost 50 years waited for the U.S.
Government to recognize them as a nation. Because we
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were divided in our country over the issue of slavery, it was too hot
to handle. It was an issue we wouldn't touch until the Civil War began.
Abraham Lincoln was President, and he recognized the Republic of Haiti
for the first time as a sovereign nation.
Two years ago, the world showed an outpouring of generosity and
humanity to help this country when it was devastated by an earthquake.
As you travel around Port au Prince, as we did last week, you can still
see the rubble, you can still see the pancaked buildings where so many
people died. Thousands responded, donating time and endless efforts,
and they still do.
The plane from Miami to Port au Prince was loaded with Americans--
many of them wearing crosses around their necks, tee shirts advertising
the charitable causes they were supporting--headed to Haiti to help.
That spirit of giving has sustained the Haitian people through a very
difficult time. Former Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush helped
raise money for those efforts and the rebuilding efforts that followed.
Today, more than half of the 1 million displaced persons have left
the camps in Port au Prince and around the Island of Haiti and found
homes. Believe me, their homes are modest by American standards. To
walk into an 8-foot-by-8-foot room and have the woman there tell me
time and again that four or five people live in that room is hard for
many Americans to imagine, but for these Haitians it is an improvement
over where they were before.
Many of the changes in Haiti are fragile and there is a great deal of
work to be done, but improvements are real. I recommend to those who go
to Port au Prince to visit one project--several, actually, but one in
particular--a group called GHESKIO, in partnership with the Centers for
Disease Control. This group is showing what can happen with a modest,
small investment by the United States.
Many years ago, I worked to pass legislation known as the Paul Simon
Water for the Poor Act. It was not funded at any great level, but it
was an opportunity to have some money available for developing nations
around the world to find portable, clean, safe drinking water. How
important is that? Right now, Haiti faces the threat of a cholera
epidemic, which literally kills innocent people, and it is because they
do not have safe drinking water.
But smack dab in the middle of Port au Prince, at this GHESKIO
project, Dr. Deschamps--an amazing woman, who took me on a tour--
pointed to the ground to a little piece of equipment and said: This is
our well, and you built it with the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act.
She said: We had to drill down 600 feet, but we found crystal clear
water, and we bring it up, put it in a holding tank, treat it with
chlorine, and we provide water for 100,000 people.
I asked her: How much did it cost to build the project? She said
$25,000. Imagine, $25,000. Think of the cost in human terms, not to
mention economic terms, of a cholera epidemic and the suffering that
would follow.
This is a lesson for us in America, to learn that small contributions
in the right places can dramatically change lives in the poorest places
on Earth. The people in that camp and those who are served know the
American people cared enough to let them drill a well which gives them
safe water for their children and families. We can and should do more,
even with our limited means.
We witnessed a group called Partners in Health led by a fellow by the
name of Dr. Paul Farmer, an inspiring man whom I read about and have
come to know personally. He continues to extend the reach of care and
health care to the poorest people on that Haitian island. We visited
one of his camps, where literally the day after the earthquake they
went into a hospital and found 40 children in a hospital ward
unattended. Because of the earthquake, people fled and died in the
process, but these kids survived. It was Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in
Health who brought them in.
About one-fourth of these children are special needs children who
could not survive were it not for his leadership. They are there being
fed and cared for and clothed because of the kindness of this man and
the wonderful volunteers who are part of his organization.
We went back to a project I visited years ago with Senator Mike
DeWine from the State of Ohio. He and his wife Fran invited me down to
meet Father Tom Hagan of Philadelphia, who in 1985 went down to Haiti
with a group of students from Lafayette College and decided this was
where he needed to spend the rest of his life. He created a group
called Hands Together, and now that organization literally educates and
feeds hundreds of poor children and elderly people in Haiti.
It is refreshing and rewarding to go see this work and to realize
that amidst all the storm and fury of our political debate there are
good people, many from our own country, who do such amazing things with
little or no recognition. Father Tom Hagan of Hands Together in Port au
Prince, in one of the poorest sections, is a living example of that.
I wanted to thank our own embassy staff, our Ambassador Ken Merten in
Port au Prince. This is his third or fourth assignment in Haiti. He and
his wife love Haiti. They speak Creole. He is a wonderful
representative of the United States and works tirelessly to help these
poor people.
We had a meeting with the new President of Haiti, President Martelly.
I didn't know what to expect, Mr. President. Here is a man who made his
name as a punk Reggae rap star and got elected President. So I didn't
know what I was going to find when I walked in the room. But what I
found was a bundle of energy leaping off the couch and saying: Let's
get these things done. Cut through the redtape. My people need it and
they need it now. What a dramatic, positive change over some of his
predecessors, and I was happy to meet with him.
Then, Prime Minister Conille, a medical doctor from Haiti who was
working in the United Nations in New York making over $200,000 a year
as Chief of Staff to former President Clinton in his role as envoy from
the United Nations to Haiti, gave up that post in New York to take the
job of Prime Minister in Haiti for $35,000 a year. This is a medical
doctor and a wonderful man who clearly has no separate personal agenda.
He just wants to help the people of this island.
I left Haiti very heartened by my meetings with those two
individuals. Their energy, determination, and thoughtfulness give me
hope for Haiti--a nation that needs so much more. They recognize Haiti
will never be on the full path to recovery and long-term stability
without educating its people and employing them and bringing the kind
of leadership and foreign investment so that their nation can grow. We
in the United States should support that effort.
I am going to urge Chairman John Kerry of the Foreign Relations
Committee--a committee on which the Presiding Officer and I serve--to
advance the Haiti Reforestation Act. That is an issue which was brought
up by many of the leaders we met with. I introduced it originally with
Senator Susan Collins and Senator Kerry some months ago. We want to
tackle one of Haiti's most entrenched, long-term problems, which has a
spillover effect on a lot of key issues such as agriculture and the
flooding that can hit this poor nation.
The last night we were in Haiti, in our room, there was a violent
thunderstorm. The lady who ran our gathering place in the inn came to
me and said: I will guarantee you in the morning there will be press
reports that two or three people drowned and died because of this
rainstorm. It is not uncommon in Haiti. That is why reforestation is
part of the solution to that terrible problem.
I want to make sure my colleagues understand how important our
involvement is. I asked how many groups had come down recently from
Congress to visit Haiti. I was told that my colleague, Senator Mark
Rubio from the State of Florida, had been there a few days before. I
know Senator Bill Nelson has spent time there with his wife making the
right contacts and stopping in this nation. But for those in the Senate
and House, of both political parties, who are looking for an
opportunity to see where a small amount of American taxpayer dollars is
making a huge difference in the lives of some of the poorest people in
the Western Hemisphere, that hour-and-a-half trip
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from Miami to Haiti is worth your time.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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