[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E31-E32]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     UNITED STATES-CUBAN RELATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 7, 2015

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I wish to begin by saluting Congresswoman 
Barbara Lee for hosting this Special Order, as well as her three 
decades of advocating for the normalization of relations between the 
U.S. and Cuba; and to Congressman Sam Farr for devoting years of 
service to this issue, and working with so many individuals and 
organizations to bring down the walls of division between the two 
countries.
  On December 17, 2014, President Obama announced a major prisoner 
exchange with the Cuban government. Alan Gross, a USAID contractor who 
had been held captive for five years was finally reunited with his 
family, as were three Cuban intelligence agents who had been imprisoned 
in the U.S. since 1998. Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, a cryptographer in 
Cuba's Directorate of Intelligence who reportedly provided information 
to the FBI, was also freed in the prisoner exchange.
  This announcement was highly significant and it is historic as well.
  In a televised address that followed the exchange, the President 
announced a major shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba: the reestablishment 
of diplomatic relations that were severed in 1961, thus drawing a 
curtain on many of the provisions of the longest standing embargo in 
U.S. history. The President stated that while the embargo was rooted in 
the ``best intentions,'' it ultimately failed in its goal to incite 
change in the communist government and has only served to isolate and 
hurt the Cuban people.
   I continue to harbor deep concerns about the reported human rights 
abuses in Cuba and limitations of speech and political expression,

[[Page E32]]

but it is clear that our current policy has failed to end these 
practices.
   So just how will these policy changes positively affect the Cuban 
people and the United States?
   Remittances from the U.S. are a vital resource to millions of Cubans 
and to humanitarian projects in Cuba. Between $1.4 and $2 billion in 
remittances are transferred from the U.S. to Cuba each year, often from 
Cubans who immigrated to the U.S. to seek new opportunity. Cubans rely 
on this money to pay for food, monthly electricity bills, or for the 
daily expenses of life. And humanitarian projects receiving this aid 
provide food, clean water, essential infrastructure and education to 
Cubans. When the average monthly salary in Cuba is a mere $20, the 
significance of this transfer of money comes into full view. Limits on 
remittances have stifled real progress, and raising these limits from 
$500 to $2,000 per quarter will usher in a new wave of much needed aid 
to counter the Cuban government's infliction of serious harm to the 
well-being of its people.
   Despite harsh government regulations, Cuba does have a nascent 
burgeoning private sector economy. I saw this firsthand last year when 
I visited Cuba as part of a Congressional delegation. During the trip, 
I participated in a roundtable with a number of Cuban female 
entrepreneurs to hear their concerns and discuss what can be done to 
support their efforts to create new business. I believe this shift in 
U.S.-Cuba relations will act as a healthy seed for entrepreneurial 
growth in Cuba. From authorizing expanded commercial sales and exports, 
to facilitating an expansion of travel to Cuba from the U.S., we will 
do more to empower the Cuban people than we have in the over 50-year 
embargo.
   Today, Cuba imports approximately 80 percent of its food, a stunning 
statistic. American agriculture has long supported an opening of 
relations and now Cuba's economy will be bolstered and this in turn 
will bring enormous value to American farmers.
   Even more empowering is an emboldening tool of democratization, the 
Internet. As we've seen in countless other countries around the world, 
the Internet is an individual's megaphone. It is the place for 
discourse. For collaboration. For free speech. For democracy! By 
extending telecommunications and technology services to Cuba, the Cuban 
people will have access to a tremendous exchange of knowledge and ideas 
with unparalleled power to inspire change.
   These efforts by the U.S. are not exhaustive. Only our vigilance and 
continued assessment of our relations with Cuba will provoke lasting 
change for Cubans. But it is also imperative for Latin American 
countries to reinvigorate their ties with Cuba's civil and political 
leaders. Democratic Latin American countries, such as Mexico and 
Brazil, can send a strong signal of support to the Cuban Democratic 
movement by reinvigorating their relations with Cuba, just as the U.S. 
is doing.
   I have supported a change in U.S.-Cuba policy since I was elected to 
Congress in 1992, and I welcome and celebrate the decision of the 
President to make this a reality. It's very exciting to look forward to 
heralding a new era of opportunity and democratic values for Cuba, a 
pragmatic partnership with the U.S., support from other Latin American 
countries, and the abandonment of oppression of the Cuban people by the 
U.S. embargo, as well as the Cuban government itself.

                          ____________________