[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4988-S4989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  CUBA

  Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, we have heard more about Cuba in the last 
week than probably the 10 years that I have been here combined.
  And yesterday we heard from the White House. The White House was 
having some sort of a meeting and conference call and came out and said 
that they are going to be looking at remittances and increasing and 
making it easier to get money to relatives in Cuba.
  That is not surprising. The people in charge of Cuba policy at the 
White House, at the National Security Council, and at the State 
Department--the people in charge of Cuba policy have long been 
advocates for dialogue with the regime and an economic opening to the 
regime. They have been for getting rid of the embargo and that sort of 
thing.
  I think it is important, given the fact that I recognize that most 
people in this country and in the Senate don't follow this issue on a 
regular basis, that we address that. Because the fundamental question 
being put to us is--so the people of Cuba are suffering. The people of 
Cuba are going through a difficult economic time. I would argue that 
they have done so for 62 years--why don't we get rid of the embargo? It 
would make life easier for them.
  And I want to address it. I want to address it especially to those 
who are not as familiar with this issue.
  First of all, let me begin by saying there are no American ships 
blockading Cuba, surrounding the island of Cuba. In fact, Cuba, 
frankly, does not have an embargo in the way people think.
  Cuba trades with the whole world. For example, Cuba, every year, 
exports $1.2 billion, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is a lot 
for an island of 11 million people. OK?
  They export $461 million to China; $127 million to Spain; $65 million 
to the Netherlands; $64 million to Germany. This is not a country that 
is isolated. They trade with every country in the world.
  They import $5.3 billion a year. With Spain alone, they export--they 
import, I am sorry, $1 billion from Spain; another $790 million from 
China; $327 million from Italy; $285 million from Canada and from 
Russia.
  So they import 5--over $5 billion. They export over $1.2 billion. 
Cuba is not isolated. They trade with every country--this regime trades 
with virtually every country on the planet.
  You know who else they trade with? The United States of America. Cuba 
trades with the United States of America. They import almost $280 
million a year; almost as much as they do with Canada and Russia. And 
no one accuses Canada and Russia of having a blockade on Cuba.
  Sixty-six percent of the chicken that is eaten in Cuba, which is the 
staple protein in Cuba, comes from the United States. Half their 
soybeans come from the United States.
  There is only one blockade in Cuba, and it is the blockade that this 
regime has imposed upon its people
  Now, yesterday, the President announced--or the White House announced 
they are going to stand up some remittances group to try to figure out: 
So how do we make it easier for relatives to send money to their 
relatives on the island of Cuba?
  Well, that work group is going to not have a long time to meet. They 
are not going to have to meet for very long because U.S. law allows 
that now. It is not illegal to send money to your relatives in Cuba.
  The only thing that is prohibited is you can't send the money--you 
can't send the money through this bank that the Cuban military set up 
in Panama. That is the only thing that is prohibited.
  And to the extent money can't reach the people of Cuba, it is because 
they refuse to allow anyone other than that bank to do these 
remittances.
  And, by the way, they have prohibited depositing dollars. Here is how 
it works for them: You send your relative $100. They take 10 percent of 
it. Then they take the dollars--they don't let them deposit it. They 
pocket the dollars, and they give them this worthless Cuban currency. 
So they have the dollars so they can buy things for themselves and on 
the global market.
  So the blockade, to the extent that there is something that is 
preventing remittances directly to the Cuban people, it is not U.S. 
policy; it is regime policy. They are the ones who need a work group.
  How about this argument that there is a blockade on travel? If only 
more American tourists could go to Cuba.
  By the way, Cuba is already filled with Canadian tourists and Italian 
tourists who enjoy 5-star accommodations. And I will be frank, many of 
them go there--these sick, disgusting men who go there to hook up with 
a 16- or 17-year-old girl.
  But that said, they talk about travel to Cuba. Well, let me tell you 
something. Travel is allowed now. An American can go to Cuba. You just 
can't stay at a military-owned hotel or eat at a military-owned 
restaurant or shop at a military-owned store. You can stay at the 
private homes of people who rent them out on Airbnb. You can do that. 
You can eat at a restaurant that is owned by a private person. You can 
shop at stores that are owned by private people.
  The reason why they have nowhere to stay, nowhere to eat, and nowhere 
to shop is not U.S. policy. It is that the Cuban regime won't allow 
privately owned hotels, privately owned shops, privately owned stores. 
They won't allow it--privately owned restaurants. They are the ones who 
have a blockade on travel, not the United States.
  What about medicine? That is another thing they have put out there. 
This is so cruel. We don't allow medicine in.
  Do you know what the Cuban regime announced last week? This is what 
they announced on their national television: We are going to lift the 
ban on the importation of medicine.
  What? You mean there was a Cuban ban, a regime ban on importing 
medicine? Yes, there was. They are the ones who weren't allowing 
medicine in. And to the extent they were allowing it in, they were 
putting a tariff on it. So there is no blockade on medicine. We sell 
them medicine.
  And you can donate medicine, unlimited amounts, under U.S. law. If 
there is a blockade on medicine, it is the regime's blockade.
  The other one I hear is the internet. I support the internet. Why 
don't we allow--I had somebody say this to me yesterday: Why don't we 
allow American companies to go and provide internet, then they would 
have internet? It is the embargo.
  And these people don't know what they are talking about. They 
literally are just parroting stupid, ridiculous talking points, because 
the law in the U.S. on trade with Cuba specifically exempts telecoms. 
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, every American telecom could go into Cuba 
tomorrow and offer phone and internet service.
  You know why they can't? Not our law. It is the Cuban regime because 
they want to control that.
  And you see a pattern here. Blockade on travel, blockade on private 
ownership of business, blockade on bringing in medicine, blockade on 
bringing in money. Why?
  Because the Cuban regime wants to control people. They don't want an 
individual Cuban to have a paycheck that they earn for themselves. They 
want what little you have to come from them because if you don't do 
what they tell you, they can take it from you. That is what they want.
  They don't want you to have internet companies offered by AT&T and 
Sprint

[[Page S4989]]

and Verizon or anybody else because they want to be able to shut it off 
when you are saying things they don't like and things against them.
  Same with medicine. They use all of these things as a tool. It is 
hard to fathom because we live here, but they use all of it as a tool. 
You want medicine? Are you posting stuff on the internet? Are you 
saying things against the regime? Are you speaking out? Are you not 
participating in these acts of repudiation that we force people to do? 
Because if you don't, you are not going to get your medicine.

  And they certainly don't want the cash flowing around. They don't 
want independent ownership. They don't want the people of Cuba to have 
liberty. This is all about control, all about control.
  And, by the way, in the law that codified the embargo, it has a 
clause that automatically triggers the end of the embargo. And you want 
to know what this tough standard is that is in the law? Free the 
political prisoners, free press, free and fair elections, multiparty 
elections. If the regime does those three things, the embargo ends 
automatically, automatically.
  There is no embargo on Cuba. There is an embargo on Cuban regime, an 
embargo on companies they own, because what they wanted to do is they 
wanted to take the Obama opening, funnel all that money through their 
companies--people say there are Spanish companies that own hotels. They 
don't own the hotels in Cuba. The regime owns the hotels.
  These hotel chains that open in Cuba on the beaches, they don't even 
pay their employees. They pay the Cuban Government. The Cuban 
Government pays the employees. Control.
  So the bottom line is this: Anybody who stands up and says there is 
an embargo, there is a blockade by the United States, and it is cruel 
and it is causing all these problems is one of two things: They don't 
know what they are talking about and they are just parroting some 
talking point or they are liars. Those are the only two options.
  This is not about an embargo. The people of Cuba did not take to the 
streets, did not have their heads cracked open, did not have their kids 
arrested and put in jail. Mothers, tomorrow, plan to march in Cuba 
because they don't know where their children are; arrested. They don't 
know where their kids are.
  They broke into homes. They grabbed 16-year-old boys, they gave them 
a bat. They said: You are going halfway across the country to beat 
people up in the street.
  They didn't stand up against all those things because of an embargo 
or because they wanted remittances. They stood up because they wanted 
liberty, libertad. That is what they wanted. That is what they are 
telling us.
  Why don't we listen to them? They have told us what they want. They 
want libertad. They want liberty. And if there are any people on this 
Earth that should understand that, it should be Americans.
  I yield the floor.

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