[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 169 (Thursday, October 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6150-S6152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  CUBA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the travel section of the New York Times on 
Sunday, October 6, 2019, included a lengthy article about the 
extraordinary music of Cuba and the rich culture that has developed 
over many generations around the creation and performance of music in 
that country. The article is too long to insert into the Record, but I 
encourage all Senators to read it as it describes in colorful detail 
the unique creativity, ingenuity, and complexity of Cuban music that 
derives from the infinite variety of sounds, instruments, artistry, and 
talents of Cuban musicians drawing on their African, Haitian, and 
European heritage.
  I mention this because it is illustrative of the many aspects of 
Cuban society today that Americans should be able to experience for 
themselves. The Cuban people, who endure many hardships, are as 
resilient, ingenious, and hard-working as any people I have met. 
Despite an economy broken by mismanagement that discourages private 
initiative, a one-party political system that punishes dissent, racial, 
and gender inequality, and only dreams for a better future, they know 
how to enjoy life's pleasures and to make strangers feel welcome.
  Unfortunately, rather than encouraging Americans to travel to Cuba to 
experience Cuban society and build relations with the Cuban people, as 
we do with people living under other autocratic governments, President 
Trump has slammed the door.
  Egged on by a handful of Cuban-American hardliners in the White 
House, the State Department, and Congress--few, if any, of whom have 
ever set foot in Cuba--the President has adopted a bankrupt approach 
toward that country that is steeped in hypocrisy.
  These are the same people who for years have unreservedly supported

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spending hundreds of millions of dollars on TV and Radio Marti, despite 
abundant evidence that they were little more than anti-Cuba propaganda 
broadcasts masquerading as objective journalism. Finally, thanks to a 
recent investigation, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting has new 
leadership and reforms are underway. Those reforms should include 
relocating the Office to Washington, DC, where it would be less 
vulnerable to the political interference and ideological influence that 
has plagued it in the past.
  Every few weeks or months, this White House devises a new way to 
ratchet up pressure on the Cuban Government and, in doing so, cause 
greater hardship for the Cuban people on whose behalf the White House 
professes to act. The latest was announced last week, when the Commerce 
Department said it is revoking licenses for aircraft leases to Cuban 
airlines and will deny future applications for aircraft leases. It will 
also expand sanctions to cover more foreign goods containing as little 
as 10 percent U.S. content.
  Since this, like other sanctions against Cuba, will backfire, there 
is only one rational explanation: The White House, and their enablers 
in Congress, care little about the impact of these punitive policies on 
the Cuban people. They are motivated by personal and ideological 
animus.
  The White House has imposed onerous restrictions on travel by 
Americans who want, and have a right, to visit Cuba as they can to 
every other country, except North Korea, and by Cubans who want to 
visit or resettle in the United States. Just to apply for a U.S. visa, 
Cubans must now travel to a third country at a cost of hundreds of 
dollars that very few can afford. Cuban entrepreneurs, whose fledgling 
small businesses depend on American customers, have seen their incomes 
plunge as visits to Cuba by Americans have fallen by 50 percent.
  For the first time that I can remember, Cubans with claims of being 
threatened and arrested for their political activism in Cuba and who 
have requested asylum in this country have been locked up in U.S. jails 
and deported.
  The White House has severely limited remittances, on which many Cuban 
families depend. President Trump apparently believes it is his 
prerogative to dictate to Cuban-Americans how much--or how little--of 
their hard-earned income they can send to needy relatives.
  The State Department ordered the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel 
from Havana and Cuban Embassy personnel from Washington, which has 
brought diplomacy to a virtual halt. Discussions on a wide range of 
topics, from public health to climate change that began under President 
Obama have all but ceased, and our top diplomat, Secretary of State 
Pompeo, has nothing but praise for a failed policy that is completely 
at odds with the mission of his Department. Exhaustive investigations 
have not produced any evidence that illnesses suffered by U.S. 
Government personnel in Havana that triggered the ordered departure 
were caused by the Cuban Government, as some initially charged. Yet, 3 
years later, our Embassy is barely functioning with a skeleton staff, 
and the State Department has done nothing to try to mitigate the 
adverse impact this is having on our relations with Cuba.
  Under President Obama, negotiations began to seek a resolution of the 
thorny issue of expropriated property claims. The Trump White House 
summarily abandoned that process and has instead encouraged lawsuits 
against American companies that want to do business in Cuba, if doing 
so involves property confiscated during the Cuban revolution 60 years 
ago. Airports, seaports, warehouses, hotels, homes, and restaurants, 
many of which were once owned by Cuban elites who profited off the 
spoils of the U.S.-supported Batista dictatorship, are now off limits. 
This is a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed, but tying up 
U.S. courts for years and hurting American companies is not the way to 
do it.
  The White House has insisted that each of these and other punitive 
actions is designed to bring democracy to Cuba and human rights to the 
Cuban people. And I have little doubt that creative minds in the White 
House will conjure up additional sanctions in the coming months. None 
of them will achieve those goals or anything positive for Cuba or its 
people.
  Anyone who knows Cuba, and who knows the Cuban Government, 
understands the fallacy of the White House's approach. I wish it were 
otherwise, but human rights have not improved since President Trump 
announced his punitive policy 3 years ago. In fact the situation is 
worse, as the recent re-arrests of Jose Daniel Ferrer, Berta Soler, and 
other dissidents illustrates. As access to the Internet in Cuba has 
increased, so has persecution of critics of the government. With only a 
handful of staff at our Embassy in Havana, there is no one to regularly 
interact with the Cuban dissident community or their families.
  Cuba is no closer to being a multi-party democracy than it was 3 
years ago, nor is the Cuban Government any closer to withdrawing its 
support for Nicolas Maduro despite his corrupt, abusive, and disastrous 
reign in Venezuela. So yes, we have profound disagreements. But while 
the administration continues to tighten the screws on Cuba, making the 
lives of the Cuban people even more difficult, President Trump sings 
the praises of other foreign dictators and pretends to be concerned 
about corruption in Ukraine.
  He called Egypt's President al-Sisi a great leader. He invited 
President Erdogan to the White House. He admires Vladimir Putin and 
Roberto Duterte. He has spoken endearingly of Kim Jung Un, and he has 
praised Xi Jinping and the Saudi Crown Prince. How can one possibly 
reconcile embracing these ruthless, corrupt strongmen while at the same 
time throwing the book at Cuba, a tiny, impoverished country that poses 
no threat to the United States and whose people want closer ties with 
the United States?
  This is what happens when national policy is subverted by local 
politics, when promises derived from campaign contributions take 
precedence over the national interest, when family grievances and the 
personal vindictiveness of a few with political influence trample on 
the aspirations of the majority of Americans.
  This administration's policy toward Cuba is no different from past 
failed attempts to force the Cuban Government to transform itself into 
a democracy, or to incite the Cuban people to rise up and overthrow it. 
It has not worked, and it won't work. And in the meantime, the Russians 
are eagerly filling the vacuum, only this time it is 90 miles from 
Florida, not 6,000 miles away in Syria. Russia's Prime Minister 
Medvedev visited Cuba just 3 weeks ago.
  No one is saying that we should provide aid or sell weapons to the 
Cuban Government the way this administration does to despotic 
governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines.
  No one is saying that we should not criticize the Cuban Government 
for its repressive policies and its abuse of those who speak out for 
greater political, economic, and journalistic freedom.
  No one is saying that we should excuse Cuba's support for Maduro or 
for the corrupt and repressive Ortega Government in Nicaragua.
  What we are saying is that pursuing a policy that has failed for more 
than half a century is nonsensical, indefensible, and wrong. It has 
achieved none of its objectives, while it is harming the Cuban people 
and infringing on the rights of the American people.
  And if we are serious about controlling the spread of deadly viruses; 
mitigating the effects of climate change; combating organized crime, 
drug trafficking, and human trafficking; protecting fisheries and other 
marine resources; addressing the causes of migration; expanding export 
markets for American companies; and countering the influence of Russia 
and China in this hemisphere, we need to engage with every one of our 
neighbors whether we agree with their policies or not.
  I hope the new National Security Advisor will review this policy. I 
hope he will put it to the test of time and common sense. I hope he 
will assess whether it is achieving its objectives and whether it is 
serving our national interests. I hope he will ensure that the right 
people, who will put the national interest first, are the architects of 
our policy toward Cuba. And I hope he will consult widely on ways to 
improve our

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policy, rather than rely on a handful of extreme voices that are not 
representative of the majority of the American people or the majority 
of Members of Congress.

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