[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 44 (Monday, March 21, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H1467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           LADIES IN WHITE AND PRESIDENT OBAMA'S TRIP TO CUBA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, when President Obama announced his 
efforts to normalize relations with Cuba in December 2014, many of us 
believed that his decision would only embolden the regime and end up 
hurting the Cuban people. Well, almost a year and a half later, we can 
say, unfortunately, as expected, that our suspicions have been 
warranted. This is indeed what has happened.
  President Obama is only worried about legacy shopping and is willing 
to ignore the plight of the Cuban people who continue to suffer under 
Castro, and this normalization effort has been an abject failure for 
freedom and democracy on the island.
  The lives of the Cuban people have not improved. A record number of 
them are fleeing the island to escape Castro's tyranny; and freedom and 
liberty, unfortunately, no longer seem to be the goals of this 
administration for the people of Cuba.
  In December 2015, President Obama said in an interview that he would 
go to Cuba only when the human rights situation on the island had 
improved. Well, Mr. Speaker, this is what human rights looks like on 
the island, the valiant Ladies in White, who walk peacefully in Cuba to 
their church--and you see one being dragged away in the lower corner. 
This is what happens to them every week in Castro's Cuba. They are 
harassed. They are beaten. This is not what an improved human rights 
situation looks like at all, Mr. President.
  Hours before the President arrived in Cuba, hundreds of pro-democracy 
advocates were arrested. Listen to that, ladies and gentlemen. Hundreds 
of pro-democracy advocates were arrested just hours before the 
President's Air Force One touched down. Many of them were members of 
the Ladies in White, Las Damas de Blanco.
  The Ladies in White are mothers, wives, daughters, sisters of current 
or former political prisoners. These brave women continue to speak out 
for justice and freedom against the regime that oppresses them daily 
and arrests them every Sunday when they walk peacefully to church.
  Two weeks ago, the Ladies in White leader, Berta Soler--and we saw 
her in one of the posters--asked President Obama very pointedly--and 
there they are getting arrested, harassed, as they do all the time. She 
said: Please visit Gandhi Park, where we meet. Meet with the victims of 
Castro's repression.
  Well, President Obama responded by stating: ``No one should face 
harassment, arrest, or physical assault simply because they are 
exercising a universal right to have their voices heard.''
  That is absolutely true.
  And then he added that he would raise these issues directly with 
their oppressor, Raul Castro.
  But once you have already embraced the oppressor of the Ladies in 
White and legitimized his regime on the world stage, what does this 
empty rhetoric and phrases matter to any of them?
  In February 2015, Berta Soler testified before our House Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, and she stated: ``Our demands are quite concrete: 
freedom for political prisoners, recognition of civil society, the 
elimination of all criminal dispositions that penalize freedom of 
expression and association, and the right of the Cuban people to choose 
their future through free, plural elections.''
  Elections in Cuba? Fidel Castro famously said, elections for what? 
They don't have any political system at all. There is only one party 
that is allowed to operate; that is the Communist Party. They have 
selections, not elections.
  The Cuban people deserve more than just lip service and platitudes 
from the White House. They are demanding actions and reforms in Cuba to 
unclench the fist of the Castro control.
  But solely a meeting with Cuban civil society is a very low bar, Mr. 
Speaker. It is not enough to help the Cuban people, especially after 
shaking the hand of a murderous tyrant like Raul Castro.
  However, even this meeting with civil society is being undermined by 
Castro's thugs, even this low bar. Gee, if I just meet with 
dissidents--check off the list--then my trip will have been a success.
  Many civil society members have stated that they are now under house 
arrest, as I speak, and that Castro's security agents are preventing 
them from leaving their own homes until President Obama leaves Cuba.
  In Cuba's communist newspaper, called Granma, the regime noted that 
President Obama's trip to Havana dispels the myth that human rights are 
being violated on the island. They are no fools. They understand the 
image is worth a thousand words. The image of President Obama in Cuba 
says no human rights are being violated. And the regime knows that all 
of the concessions that President Obama has given come with no strings 
attached.
  I will end with this, Mr. Speaker:
  No reforms are needed. No changes need to be made. In fact, the 
Castro regime has already stated that it will not change one bit after 
all of these concessions.
  The Cuban people deserve better.
  The American people deserve better.

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