[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5132-S5135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  Cuba

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise today to urge leaders across the 
United States and governments around the world to stand in solidarity 
with the people of Cuba as they cry out for freedom--for ``libertad''--
and for an end to decades of dictatorship.
  What is happening in Cuba today is nothing short of historic. Yes, we 
have seen protests take place in years past, but the demonstrations 
that began on July 11 stand apart.
  What began as one small pro-democracy protest in San Antonio de los 
Ba os spread across the island in a matter of hours. Cubans from all 
walks of life took to the streets in a courageous call for democratic 
change. Among those clamoring for freedom were Afro-Cubans demanding an 
end to discrimination and injustice, young people dreaming of a 
brighter future in their country, artists and activists from the San 
Isidro Movement singing ``Patria y Vida'' and ordinary citizens facing 
widespread food shortages, poor access to healthcare, and little to no 
protection from the ravages of COVID-19.
  The people of Cuba are crying out for freedom, and we must hear them.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       The Cuban people are asking for what is fair, which is 
     freedom, and we must listen to their cry.

  This is not about politics or ideology. The free world has a 
responsibility to stand with those who are not yet free, and the people 
of Cuba are anything but free.
  Let's dispel the myths about what life is under the Cuban regime. For 
decades, the regime's ruthless and repressive tactics have systemically 
silenced the Cuban people while party insiders and cronies enrich 
themselves at their expense.
  Today, Cuba remains a one-party communist state, where the basic 
principles of political pluralism and representative democracy are 
outlawed--outlawed. There are no free and fair elections in Cuba. 
Miguel Diaz-Canel may have appeared on a ballot, but there were no 
other candidates. He was not chosen by the people but handpicked by the 
Castros as their successor. He has the same ideology. He says the same 
things. He talks about ``la continuation,'' the continuation--
continuation of oppression.
  There is no freedom of the press in Cuba. Independent journalists are 
routinely targeted with violence, harassment, imprisonment, and raids 
on their homes and offices.
  There is no internet freedom in Cuba. The regime monitors online 
traffic, blocks sites, and charges so much money for data that most 
Cubans cannot afford access. And when the regime gets scared about what 
the Cuban people are saying and doing, they shut down the whole 
internet. Yes, they shut down the whole internet. The only reason a 
government shuts down the internet is because they fear their own 
people.
  But this has consequences. I recently had a Catholic priest visiting 
here in Washington from Cuba. He told me an incredibly powerful story. 
He said this young man came to see him in church and said: I would 
fight. I would give my life for the cause of freedom if only someone 
would know that I died.
  If only someone would know that I died.
  There is no freedom of expression in Cuba. Hundreds of activists, 
artists, and political dissidents are taken prisoner every year without 
due process. Others are beaten in the streets or terminated from their 
jobs for daring to

[[Page S5133]]

express a contrary opinion. Cubans can even be imprisoned for the 
Orwellian offense of ``precriminal dangerousness.'' You heard me right, 
precriminal dangerousness. Let that sink in. The political police can 
arrest you if they decide you might commit a political crime in the 
future.
  Fortunately, the regime's brutality has failed to extinguish the 
flame of liberty alive in the hearts of the Cuban people. Their 
courageous call for freedom is truly awe-inspiring. Yet the regime 
responded to these protests--as all authoritarian governments do--with 
repression, with censorship, with violence. The regime's internet 
outages tried to stop the Cuban people from using social media to open 
the eyes of the world to the repression and injustice they live with 
each and every day.
  Yet it was too late. The truth went viral. Images of everyday Cubans 
chanting ``abajo la dictadura'' or ``down with the dictatorship'' and 
singing ``Patria y Vida'' or ``Homeland and Life'' spread around the 
world.
  And so did countless videos of the regime's violent crackdown. Make 
no mistake, the incitement of violence came from the very top itself. 
It was Miguel Diaz-Canel, ostensibly the President of Cuba, who 
encouraged supporters to attack peaceful protesters, declaring in a 
televised address: ``The order to fight has been given--into the 
streets,'' and he pledged his supporters' lives: ``Over our dead 
bodies. We are prepared to do anything.''
  What leader of a country invokes the people of the country to turn 
against their brothers and sisters in the country in violence? Who does 
that? Diaz-Canel did that.
  The regime has confirmed just one death. Yet independent reports 
suggest additional lives were lost as well as numerous cases of 
violence and even torture. I have seen many of the videos. We can't 
show videos here on the Senate floor, but I tell you, if we could, it 
would be incredibly compelling and incredibly graphic and incredibly 
violent.
  International human rights groups believe that more than 500 people 
have likely been detained, most facing arbitrary charges. Likewise--
don't take my word for it--the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, 
Michelle Bachelet, expressed her concern about ``the excessive force 
against demonstrators in Cuba and the arrest of a large number of 
people, including journalists. It is particularly worrying,'' she said, 
``that these include individuals allegedly held incommunicado and 
people whose whereabouts are unknown.''
  And, in fact, we have seen many videos and many stories of families 
trying to find out, Where are their loved ones? Where are their loved 
ones?
  Already the regime is preparing summary trials for protesters that 
deny them access to legal representation, subject them to sham 
sentences, and make a mockery of due process
  Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, a leader of the San Isidro Movement of 
artists, known globally for their efforts to promote freedom of 
expression, has been jailed and charged with ``resistance'' and 
``public disorder.'' For what? For merely announcing on social media 
that he intended to join the peaceful protests--for merely announcing 
that he intended the join the peaceful protests. This artistic leader, 
this individual, as one of the leaders of the San Isidro Movement, 
jailed. For what? For nothing.
  Jose Daniel Ferrer, head of the Patriotic Unit of Cuba, or UNPACU, is 
already behind bars. He is a renowned civil society leader who spent 8 
years in prison for organizing an entirely legal electoral referendum 
under the existing Cuban constitution and was declared a ``prisoner of 
conscience'' by Amnesty International.
  The regime has also unjustly detained multiple journalists for 
courageously reporting on the events of July 11, including Camilla 
Acosta, Luz Escobar, and Henry Constantin. Regime security forces also 
violently assaulted Ramon Espinosa, a photographer for the Associated 
Press.
  Arrests have surged in recent days, but the politically motivated 
arrests have taken place throughout 2021. Rapper and Afro-Cuban artist 
Maykel Osorbo has been in prison since May. He is one of the artists 
featured in the protest's anthem ``Patria y Vida. Patria y Vida.'' Yes, 
in Cuba, you can be arrested for singing.
  Today's protest movement builds on decades of efforts by Cuban 
patriots to advance the cause of freedom.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       In the decades of the Castro oppression, the Cuban people 
     have never stopped looking for their freedom. Despite the 
     little attention some heroes have received, they have made 
     possible this moment in Cuban's history.

  From the Patriotic Union of Cuba's efforts to unite activists in 
support of democracy to Berta Soler and the intrepid leaders of the 
Ladies in White--these are the spouses, daughters, mothers of political 
prisoners who repeatedly faced violence for attending church services 
and walking peacefully in white to Havana's streets with a gladiola in 
their hands, beaten, beaten, for walking peacefully along the streets 
of Havana dressed in white with a gladiola in her hands; I was 
privileged to have Berta here at the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee--to the Christian Liberation Movement's work exploiting tools 
afforded by the regime's own constitution to advance democratic change.
  This month marks 9 years since the movement's leader, Oswaldo Paya, 
died in a suspicious car crash that has never been fully investigated 
due to the regime's obstruction. I believe he was assassinated.
  Decade after decade, Cuban patriots have dedicated their lives and 
given their lives to the cause of democracy and freedom. They have 
struggled to rebuild communities and preserve values relentlessly 
attacked by Cuba's Communist leaders. They have worked tirelessly to 
alleviate the hardships that forced hundreds of thousands of Cuban 
families to abandon their homeland in search of opportunities abroad.
  The suffering that the Cuban regime inflicts on its own people 
extends beyond its borders. For over two decades, Cuba has provided 
military and intelligence assistance to Venezuela's dictatorship. It 
has exploited its repressive tactics from Havana to Caracas. It has 
shared its failed economic model with Venezuela's kleptocrats. And it 
should be no surprise that Venezuela is now a failed state with a 
devastating humanitarian crisis.
  Cuba also provides safe haven to members of Colombia's ELN guerrilla 
group, designated by the United States as a ``foreign terrorist 
organization.'' The regime continues to deny extradition requests from 
the Colombian Government.
  In addition, Cuba has also harbored and still harbors American 
fugitives evading the U.S. justice system. They include Joanne 
Chesimard, who remains on the FBI's Most Wanted List for her role in 
the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster; and William 
``Guillermo'' Morales, a terrorist who took part in several bombings in 
the United States, including Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan in 1975.
  As it exports criminality and repression across the Americas, the 
Cuban regime is a cancer that spreads instability across our 
hemisphere.
  Against this backdrop, the people of Cuba cry out for freedom, and I 
urge our partners in the international community to listen to their 
voices, hear their cries of desperation.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       It is time the international community listens to the Cuban 
     people and act. Not only to say they're sympathetic to their 
     cause, but to take action.

  They want freedom from a system that denies them basic human rights 
and control over their own destiny. They want freedom from an economic 
model that places the interests of corrupt party and military oligarchs 
above those of the people.
  But there is no freedom today in Cuba. There is no economic 
opportunity. There is no justice. The regime has turned a blind eye to 
reports documenting a disturbing rise in femicide and violence against 
women. It continues to treat Afro-Cubans as second-class citizens 
unworthy of political representation and opportunity, even while they 
are the leaders of the freedom movement inside of Cuba.
  And it continues to deploy Cuban doctors to foreign countries against 
their will and under conditions that meet the definition of human 
trafficking. The regime sends Cuban doctors abroad, takes away their 
passports, monitors their activities, threatens retribution against 
their families,

[[Page S5134]]

all the while garnishing 75 percent of the wages that that country is 
paying for that doctor. These medical missions aren't humanitarian aid; 
they are forced labor.
  The regime continues to engage in gross economic mismanagement. Money 
that could be spent caring for the sick or vaccinating people against 
COVID-19 instead goes to new hotels and tourist destinations.
  Despite the growing number of international companies there, Cuban 
workers cannot be hired directly by those companies. So you own a 
hotel, like the Spaniards do, in Cuba. You don't hire the worker 
directly; you go to the state employment agency, and they send you the 
worker. You pay the state employment agency, which means the regime, in 
dollars, and they pay the worker a fraction of what the regime is 
getting paid. They have no rights. If you have a problem with that 
employee, send him back to us, and we will send you someone else. Fire 
them at will. They have no rights. Cuban workers cannot be directly 
hired by them. Instead, they are contracted by state-owned employment 
agencies that garnish their wages and, ironically, deny them the right 
to organize outside of the Communist Party-controlled union.
  As the Cuban people push for a new dawn in their country, a vibrant 
Cuban-American community here has never wavered in their support for 
their brothers and sisters on the island. They have worked tirelessly 
to support family members in Cuba to ensure their cries for help are 
heard around the world. In rallies and demonstrations in my home State 
of New Jersey, in Florida, and, yes, here in Washington, Cuban 
Americans are standing with loved ones on the island and diaspora 
living around the world and calling for an end to a system that has 
robbed generations of Cuban families of their dignity.
  For me, in my 30 years in Congress, this has been a constant 
struggle, from my days in the House of Representatives, helping pass 
the Cuban Democracy Act; to the tragic downing of the Brothers to the 
Rescue, civilians who were just flying over the Straits of Florida 
between Cuba and the United States, looking for those people who had 
taken to the to try to seek freedom and were shot down, which led to 
the LIBERTAD Act, otherwise known as Helms-Burton, which I helped 
write; from my visit to Guantanamo, our base, with former 
Congresspeople Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, where 
thousands of Cubans were being held at one time when the boatlifts were 
making their way to the United States and where we eventually brought 
them back to the United States; from presentations in Geneva, at the 
U.N. Human Rights Council, leading to a resolution there condemning the 
regime and here, as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, leading to a resolution, a bipartisan resolution--a 
bipartisan resolution--that unanimously passed out of the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee today; and so much more. So I marvel at 
some of my Cuban brothers and sisters with their insulting remarks 
toward me.
  Since July 11, President Biden and Secretary Blinken have repeatedly 
spoken in support of the Cuban people and made clear the United States 
stands with them in their call for freedom.
  More importantly, the administration is backing up its words with 
action. Last week, President Biden invoked the Global Magnitsky Act, 
which is a law that we use, passed by the Congress of the United 
States, to sanction human rights violators across the globe. The 
President invoked the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction Cuban Defense 
Minister General Lopez Miera and the Black Berets SWAT unit for their 
violent and repressive actions against peaceful protesters. Secretary 
Blinken, the Secretary of State, has made clear the administration will 
continue to hold human rights abusers accountable.
  I urge the administration to consider additional Global Magnitsky 
designations and also to revoke the existing visas of senior Cuban 
officials. Such steps are greatly needed.
  With the Diaz-Canel regime wielding internet connectivity as a 
political weapon against its citizens, the administration is also 
pursuing ways to help Cubans gain unrestricted access to the internet. 
They need unfettered access to information. They need to be able to 
communicate with each other. They need to be able to tell each other 
what is happening in their country. They need to be able to organize 
peacefully to create change in their country, and we must accelerate 
our efforts to provide them with the tools they need to do so, whether 
that is satellite feeds, whether that is tethered global balloons, 
whether that is a multiplicity of options. Because a beam can be 
jammed, we need to find a way to get the people of Cuba internet 
connection.
  The United States also must continue working with international 
partners in support of democracy and human rights in Cuba.
  Last week, I was proud to lead a joint statement for the first time 
ever in support of the Cuban people with my counterparts who chair the 
Foreign Affairs Committees of the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, 
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This week, the Foreign Ministers of 20 
nations joined Secretary Blinken to ``condemn the mass arrests and 
detentions of protestors in Cuba and call on the government to respect 
the universal rights and freedoms of the Cuban people.'' Many of these 
countries have never ever expressed themselves in solidarity with the 
Cuban people.
  I am proud to see Secretary Blinken and the administration make that 
happen. I applaud those governments that joined Secretary Blinken, but 
I also note the absence of those, including Canada and Spain and the 
European Union. Does Spain care more about Spanish hotel investments 
than it does about the human rights of the Cuban people?
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
       Is it more important the business you conduct on the island 
     than the freedom and democracy of the oppressed people? Do 
     you care more about those investments?

  Does Canada place more priority on mining investments than it does on 
fundamental freedoms? I would hope not.
  These universal principles should unite all of us.
  The administration is also convening a working group to study options 
for the restoration of some remittances. For too long, the Cuban 
military's economic conglomerate has managed the remittances that Cuban 
Americans send their families on the island, using fees and currency 
conversion to enrich itself. The United States would never allow the 
Spanish, the Mexican, or the Argentine military to control the flow of 
remittances to their countries. It is time that we insist that Cuban 
Americans be able to freely and directly support their loved ones.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       It's only fair that the hard working Cuban American 
     families can send money to their families instead of that 
     money being used to enrich the elite of the Cuban Communist 
     Party.

  The steps taken thus far by the Biden administration are important, 
but we must do more.
  Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved my resolution, 
along with colleagues on both the Republican and Democratic sides, 
expressing our solidarity with the Cuban people and condemning the 
regime's abuses. This bipartisan, bicameral initiative deserves the 
support of the full Senate, and I hope we will pass it on the floor 
this week.
  It is also time for the Biden administration to issue a new Executive 
order to provide direction for U.S. policy toward Cuba. The order 
should hone our accountability measures for persons involved in human 
rights abuses and those who materially support them. It should solidify 
our strategies on internet access and support for the Cuban people. 
Congress should review options to increase funding for U.S. democracy 
programs as well as internet freedom initiatives.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       We must continue putting pressure on who violate human 
     rights and elevate our support to the Cuban people
  The United States must also find new ways to work with trusted, 
impartial international partners, including international 
organizations, to provide vaccines and other aid directly to the Cuban 
people. The Cuban regime has grossly mismanaged its pandemic response. 
It has refused to participate in

[[Page S5135]]

COVAX and continues to promote its own vaccine, which is either 
ineffective or unavailable because people in Cuba are dying. As a 
result, everyday Cubans continue to suffer.
  The United States must lead a serious effort to push for the 
demilitarization of the Cuban economy. The military-owned umbrella 
company GAESA reigns supreme over the Cuban economy. It is run by whom? 
By Raul Castro's son-in-law, Luis Alberto Lopez-Callejas, fueling the 
rise of a new generation of regime oligarchs. The Cuban people will 
never achieve economic prosperity while regime military companies 
control the economy.
  After years of efforts by the Trump administration to slash funding 
for programs that we continuously had to fight to bring back that 
provide lifelines to Cuban activists and civil society, I am very 
pleased to see that the Biden administration has requested $20 million 
for these programs and made clear that America will continue standing 
with those on the frontlines of Cuba's pro-democracy movement.
  It is time also for the United States to launch a campaign in support 
of labor rights inside of Cuba. There is no acceptable explanation for 
why Cuban men and women are unable to be directly hired and directly 
paid by international companies and organizations that are present in 
Cuba. If we are serious about empowering the Cuban people, they must 
have a direct say in their livelihoods.
  The Biden administration should pursue the success of past campaigns, 
such as the Sullivan Principles in South Africa, to lead efforts that 
require businesses to engage directly with the Cuban people and their 
employment.
  The Biden administration should also maintain the State Department's 
Cuba Restricted List, which can help businesses and organizations 
directly engage with the Cuban people instead of regime conglomerates.
  Additionally, the United States and our allies must send a message to 
members of the Cuban military. The Cuban military's slogan is that it 
draws its power from the people. Well, the people are protesting. In 
reality, you should not use your power against the people.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       The Cuban Army has to understand that if their mandate 
     comes from the people, the people is protesting; the people 
     wants freedom. Don't use your arms against your brothers and 
     sisters if you want to have a future in Cuba.

  Additionally, let's be clear. When we send that message to the Cuban 
military not to turn its arms against its brothers and sisters, the 
world is watching what is happening in Cuba. There is a future in a 
democratic Cuba under civilian control for members of the military who 
refuse to repress their fellow citizens, but if you are involved in 
human rights abuses and have blood on your hands, you will be held 
accountable.
  It is also worth noting to Cuba's military leaders that their future 
with this regime is anything but certain. In the last 10 days--in the 
last 10 days--five Cuban generals have died under highly suspicious 
conditions that the regime seems intent on covering up. All of a 
sudden, five Cuban generals, in 10 days, have died. I don't know at 
this time that I would want to be a general in Cuba.
  To those who want to blame Cuba's misery on the U.S. embargo, I would 
say that it is the Cuban regime that needs to lift its embargo on its 
own population. It is the regime's own restrictive policies that have 
left the average Cuban destitute while oligarchs enjoy state-run stores 
that are brimming with dollar-denominated goods out of reach to the 
general population.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       The real embargo is the one the communist regime has 
     imposed against its own people who are not able to access 
     food, medicine or basic needs without its consent.

  The steps to end the embargo are laid out clearly in title II of the 
LIBERTAD Act, which is the law of the United States, which I wrote. 
Those steps include releasing political prisoners, legalizing political 
activity, and holding democratic elections.
  If the regime ends its iron-fisted rule over the Cuban people, title 
II of the LIBERTAD Act lays out what the United States stands ready to 
do to pursue a different relationship with the people of Cuba. The 
United States would work directly with a democratic government to take 
steps to remove the embargo, to engage in direct trade with Cuba, to 
support its return and membership to international financial 
organizations, and so much more. It is all there in U.S. law. This is 
not a promise of something that could happen; it is a promise of what 
would happen if there is a change in Cuba.
  It is time for the Cuban regime to take the steps and accept the 
demands of the Cuban people.
  Let me close on a personal note.
  I stand here on the floor of the U.S. Senate as the son of Cuban 
refugees who came to this country in search of freedom and opportunity.
  Today, we are bearing witness to something in Cuba that my parents 
never got to see.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       The day they dreamt about is the day millions of Cubans 
     around the world dream today, the day Cuba is set free.

  We are bearing witness to a historic moment in which Cubans from all 
walks of life are coming together to demand that same freedom. We are 
bearing witness to a deep discontent within the Cuban people with the 
status quo and life under one of the most repressive regimes ever 
known.
  For more than 60 years, they have lived without liberty and justice, 
without freedom of expression, without human rights and the ability to 
determine their own future.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       Don't be fooled. When the people went out to protest, they 
     are not asking for food, vaccines, or work. No.
       One word, and only one. Freedom, freedom, freedom.

  Freedom, because with freedom, everything else comes.
  Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. Let us not fall victim to 
tired myths. Let us embrace the facts over the fiction. Most 
importantly, let us hear the Cuban people's cries for freedom.
  It is our job to stand with them, to empower them, to ensure that the 
international community helps them achieve their dreams and 
aspirations.
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

       Because without freedom and democracy, there is no ``Patria 
     y Vida.'' But with freedom and democracy, there is a homeland 
     of life and many opportunities.

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). The Senator from Wyoming.