[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 220-222]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CUBA AND HAITI

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last week, I had the opportunity to visit 
two island nations near our shores, Cuba and Haiti. Each is facing 
enormous problems--in Cuba, how to reform a Communist dictatorship of 
over half a century into a modern democratic member of the community of 
nations, and in Haiti how to rebuild from a devastating earthquake of 2 
years ago in a nation already one of the poorest on Earth.
  I concluded the trip more optimistic about Haiti, despite all its 
challenges, than Cuba, which quite simply appeared frozen in time in an 
ideology which should be cast aside for a more modern view of how to 
progress in the 21st century.
  Let me start with Cuba. I am no fan of the Castro regime, but I am 
also no fan of the foreign policy of the United States. When I look 
back at what we tried to achieve for over 50 years in Cuba, any honest, 
objective analysis will have to tell you we did not achieve our goal. 
Fidel Castro is not a casualty of our own foreign policy; he is a 
casualty of old age. He is still there, and his brother now reins as 
his successor in Cuba.
  Despite some notable achievement in this nation of Cuba, in areas 
such as health and education--and I saw firsthand as I traveled around 
some of these achievements--the government has maintained a grip on 
this island which is unfair to many of the people who live there.
  Political opposition is swiftly and harshly repressed, often with 
severe prison sentences and deeply troubling harassment. Those pursuing 
greater political freedom of government accountability at times even 
find their young children threatened, as was sadly noted in the New 
York Times on Sunday.
  In this most recent incident, Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales found 
herself repeatedly harassed by government officials for associating 
with the Ladies in White, a group of wives, mothers, and daughters, of 
political prisoners. Incredibly, state security officers threatened to 
take away her 5- and 7-year-old daughters.
  Other brave Cubans, such as Oswaldo Paya, who collected thousands of 
signatures on a petition calling for modest political change, found 
himself and his colleagues harassed and in some cases jailed. 
Tragically, the petition process for change was actually called for in 
the Cuban Constitution. He was only following the Constitution of his 
country, and he ended up being harassed and many who supported him 
arrested.
  Nonetheless, under President Raul Castro, there has been some modest 
reform, the conditional release of some political prisoners, and some 
economic reform. There has also been some serious oil exploration 
underway off the coast of Cuba. I wanted to go to Cuba for the first 
time to visit that part of Cuba, other than Guantanamo, to see what 
changes had taken place, to see what preparations the Cuban Government 
had made for offshore oil drilling within 50 miles of the State of 
Florida's coast, to see if the United States and Cuba could work 
together on potential environmental concerns related to such offshore 
drilling, to see if the 50-plus years of U.S. isolation were having the 
intended affect of creating a climate of political and economic reform.
  Most important, I wished to talk to the Cuban Government about a 62-
year-old American development worker, Alan Gross of Maryland, who has 
been imprisoned by the Cuban regime for more than 2 years. Gross was 
sentenced to 15 years for bringing Internet equipment to Cuba for the 
island's small Jewish community--15 years for bringing equipment to 
Cuba which any American could purchase at Radio Shack.
  Fifteen years in prison, can anyone imagine that in today's world? 
That is a fact in Cuba. I sat for 2 hours with Mr. Gross. I am grateful 
the government let me do that. I did not know him in advance. I had 
heard a lot about

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him, but I took the measure of a man who is living under the most 
trying circumstances during that 2-hour meeting.
  Alan Gross is no spy. He is no terrorist. He is no threat to Cuba or 
its future. He is a humble and kind man. He was not trying to overthrow 
their government. He was simply trying to expand communications and 
openness in Cuba. Now, while his family suffers in his absence back 
home, he languishes in a Cuban military hospital, a prisonlike 
atmosphere.
  He told me what happened when he came to Cuba. He said: Understand, I 
used my American passport with my name and flew in on a Cuban-owned 
airline, landed in Havana and took every piece of equipment I was 
bringing in through Customs and stood there while they took each piece 
out of the box and inspected it. At one point, the Customs official 
said to him: What is this?
  He said: It is a router.
  He said: I am not sure you can bring it in.
  At which point, Gross said: Then keep it. Just give me your name. I 
will come back and claim it as I leave the country.
  The man said: No, wait a minute. Maybe if I charge you a duty you can 
bring it in.
  Gross said: How much is the duty?
  The man said: How much did it cost? Because it is 100 percent we are 
going to charge you.
  He said: It cost $100.
  The duty is $100 then.
  He paid the $100 and all the equipment passed through Customs, right 
on the table, inspected piece by piece. He brought it into the country. 
He stayed at a Cuban hotel. They knew where he was and his travels were 
well known, as most travels are, to the Cuban Government. Then they 
arrested him and said he was guilty of trying to overthrow the 
government. It is hard to say with a straight face that Alan Gross was 
some agent of a government trying to overthrow the Cuban Government.
  He languishes now over 2 years because of these accusations. They 
have taken away his shoes. He said at one point he could not have 
shoestrings because he might try to hang himself. It took him 7 months 
to convince them to allow his wife to bring him dental floss. He uses 
the dental floss for shoestrings. They took away his iPod. He has no 
access to music, and he sits there day after weary day. He told me his 
routine. It is a routine which I would find hard to imagine for any 
long period of time. He gets up at 6 o'clock. He is in a room with two 
other prisoners. He has mapped out a course on the floor he has 
measured that he walks every morning, back and forth and back and 
forth, for an hour and a half.
  He says: If I do that route 500 times, it is the equivalent of 5 
miles. So I walk that back and forth every morning when I get up. Then 
I get a little breakfast and listen to Cuban news. Finally, in the 
afternoon, they get a chance to go outside--1 hour outside. He says: 
They have some rebar hanging over a patio, and I do pullups to try to 
keep myself in decent physical condition.
  He is suffering from a deteriorating back problem, which causes 
partial paralysis in his right leg. They wanted to treat him with 
chemotherapy, but he refused. I find it hard to imagine how 
chemotherapy could apply to that situation. He is a man who has other 
medical issues of arthritis and other problems, gout and other 
conditions, which do not make for a very comfortable life and, of 
course, the wear and tear on his mind from being separated from his 
family for so long.
  I was very moved by my discussion with Alan Gross--his bravery and 
particularly his warmth toward the Cuban people. I said to one of the 
ministers of the government afterwards: You ought to sit down and talk 
to this man. He doesn't hate Cuba or the people of Cuba. He certainly 
wasn't coming in to overthrow your government. He would come back to 
America and say we need a better, stronger relationship between our two 
nations. Much different than some might expect.
  I appealed to the Cuban Government when I was there--twice, three 
times, in fact--to consider a humanitarian release of Alan Gross, to 
show some compassion for this man, to show a gesture that could help 
improve relations between our two countries that have seen enough 
division and animosity.
  I know our Interests Section under the Chief of Mission, John 
Caulfield, has worked tirelessly on this issue as well. Sadly, the 
Cuban Government seems determined to keep Alan Gross as a pawn, an 
innocent hostage in the endless and dated standoff between our two 
nations. I hope I am wrong in that conclusion, but I left Cuba feeling 
this poor man was a victim of international horse trading which has 
been going on for five decades. I hope the government will show 
compassion and mercy to Mr. Gross and let him come home after 2 years 
of imprisonment.
  Recently, President Raul Castro released over 290 political 
prisoners, including some Americans. Alan Gross was not included. He 
should have been. There is still a chance--a chance for the Cuban 
Government to do the right thing for Alan Gross and do something that 
will allow us to say there is real progress when it comes to dealing, 
at least in this instance, with a man who I believe has been falsely 
accused.
  I hope there are some in the Cuban leadership who are tired of the 
old way of doing things--tired of decades of isolation and worn-out 
slogans blaming the superpower United States for every problem in Cuba, 
tired of a system of political and economic isolation that has nothing 
to do with the United States anymore and a system that keeps its people 
from joining the community of nations and sharing the many impressive 
talents of the Cuban people.
  Nonetheless, while deeply troubled by Cuba's political repression and 
the impasse on Alan Gross, I continue to believe we should look for new 
ways to establish a relationship with Cuba. I believe that dramatically 
opening Cuba to the world at large, and America in particular--the 
ideas and the energy of the American people--is the best way to bring 
real and lasting change to that island. We have tried isolation for 
more than 50 years with, at best, mixed results.
  It became clear to me during my visit that some of the hard-liners 
who were part of that revolution back in the 1950s are still in power 
and still clinging to their old ideology. It is time for something new 
in Cuba, and it is time for something new in our policy--a new 
diplomacy with Cuba. There are a lot of people who disagree with me on 
this issue in this Chamber and on the outside, including many of my 
close friends. But ultimately we have the same goal: We want real 
freedom in Cuba and we want to work to make sure the United States has 
a friend 90 miles off our shore. I hope that day is near.
  Mr. President, I then visited Haiti. It was my third trip to that 
poor country. It is the poorest nation on our side of the globe. And, 
of course, the poverty preceded an earthquake of a little over 2 years 
ago. It is a flight of about 90 minutes from Miami, but in many ways it 
is a world apart. Its proud and kind people have suffered unimaginable 
misfortune, both at the hands of repressive dictators and from Mother 
Nature.
  The history of Haiti is fascinating. They overthrew slavery, took 
control of their nation, and for almost 50 years waited for the U.S. 
Government to recognize them as a nation. Because we were divided in 
our country over the issue of slavery, it was too hot to handle. It was 
an issue we wouldn't touch until the Civil War began. Abraham Lincoln 
was President, and he recognized the Republic of Haiti for the first 
time as a sovereign nation.
  Two years ago, the world showed an outpouring of generosity and 
humanity to help this country when it was devastated by an earthquake. 
As you travel around Port au Prince, as we did last week, you can still 
see the rubble, you can still see the pancaked buildings where so many 
people died. Thousands responded, donating time and endless efforts, 
and they still do.
  The plane from Miami to Port au Prince was loaded with Americans--
many of them wearing crosses around their necks, tee shirts advertising 
the charitable causes they were supporting--headed to Haiti to help. 
That

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spirit of giving has sustained the Haitian people through a very 
difficult time. Former Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush helped 
raise money for those efforts and the rebuilding efforts that followed.
  Today, more than half of the 1 million displaced persons have left 
the camps in Port au Prince and around the Island of Haiti and found 
homes. Believe me, their homes are modest by American standards. To 
walk into an 8-foot-by-8-foot room and have the woman there tell me 
time and again that four or five people live in that room is hard for 
many Americans to imagine, but for these Haitians it is an improvement 
over where they were before.
  Many of the changes in Haiti are fragile and there is a great deal of 
work to be done, but improvements are real. I recommend to those who go 
to Port au Prince to visit one project--several, actually, but one in 
particular--a group called GHESKIO, in partnership with the Centers for 
Disease Control. This group is showing what can happen with a modest, 
small investment by the United States.
  Many years ago, I worked to pass legislation known as the Paul Simon 
Water for the Poor Act. It was not funded at any great level, but it 
was an opportunity to have some money available for developing nations 
around the world to find portable, clean, safe drinking water. How 
important is that? Right now, Haiti faces the threat of a cholera 
epidemic, which literally kills innocent people, and it is because they 
do not have safe drinking water.
  But smack dab in the middle of Port au Prince, at this GHESKIO 
project, Dr. Deschamps--an amazing woman, who took me on a tour--
pointed to the ground to a little piece of equipment and said: This is 
our well, and you built it with the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act.
  She said: We had to drill down 600 feet, but we found crystal clear 
water, and we bring it up, put it in a holding tank, treat it with 
chlorine, and we provide water for 100,000 people.
  I asked her: How much did it cost to build the project? She said 
$25,000. Imagine, $25,000. Think of the cost in human terms, not to 
mention economic terms, of a cholera epidemic and the suffering that 
would follow.
  This is a lesson for us in America, to learn that small contributions 
in the right places can dramatically change lives in the poorest places 
on Earth. The people in that camp and those who are served know the 
American people cared enough to let them drill a well which gives them 
safe water for their children and families. We can and should do more, 
even with our limited means.
  We witnessed a group called Partners in Health led by a fellow by the 
name of Dr. Paul Farmer, an inspiring man whom I read about and have 
come to know personally. He continues to extend the reach of care and 
health care to the poorest people on that Haitian island. We visited 
one of his camps, where literally the day after the earthquake they 
went into a hospital and found 40 children in a hospital ward 
unattended. Because of the earthquake, people fled and died in the 
process, but these kids survived. It was Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in 
Health who brought them in.
  About one-fourth of these children are special needs children who 
could not survive were it not for his leadership. They are there being 
fed and cared for and clothed because of the kindness of this man and 
the wonderful volunteers who are part of his organization.
  We went back to a project I visited years ago with Senator Mike 
DeWine from the State of Ohio. He and his wife Fran invited me down to 
meet Father Tom Hagan of Philadelphia, who in 1985 went down to Haiti 
with a group of students from Lafayette College and decided this was 
where he needed to spend the rest of his life. He created a group 
called Hands Together, and now that organization literally educates and 
feeds hundreds of poor children and elderly people in Haiti.
  It is refreshing and rewarding to go see this work and to realize 
that amidst all the storm and fury of our political debate there are 
good people, many from our own country, who do such amazing things with 
little or no recognition. Father Tom Hagan of Hands Together in Port au 
Prince, in one of the poorest sections, is a living example of that.
  I wanted to thank our own embassy staff, our Ambassador Ken Merten in 
Port au Prince. This is his third or fourth assignment in Haiti. He and 
his wife love Haiti. They speak Creole. He is a wonderful 
representative of the United States and works tirelessly to help these 
poor people.
  We had a meeting with the new President of Haiti, President Martelly. 
I didn't know what to expect, Mr. President. Here is a man who made his 
name as a punk Reggae rap star and got elected President. So I didn't 
know what I was going to find when I walked in the room. But what I 
found was a bundle of energy leaping off the couch and saying: Let's 
get these things done. Cut through the redtape. My people need it and 
they need it now. What a dramatic, positive change over some of his 
predecessors, and I was happy to meet with him.
  Then, Prime Minister Conille, a medical doctor from Haiti who was 
working in the United Nations in New York making over $200,000 a year 
as Chief of Staff to former President Clinton in his role as envoy from 
the United Nations to Haiti, gave up that post in New York to take the 
job of Prime Minister in Haiti for $35,000 a year. This is a medical 
doctor and a wonderful man who clearly has no separate personal agenda. 
He just wants to help the people of this island.
  I left Haiti very heartened by my meetings with those two 
individuals. Their energy, determination, and thoughtfulness give me 
hope for Haiti--a nation that needs so much more. They recognize Haiti 
will never be on the full path to recovery and long-term stability 
without educating its people and employing them and bringing the kind 
of leadership and foreign investment so that their nation can grow. We 
in the United States should support that effort.
  I am going to urge Chairman John Kerry of the Foreign Relations 
Committee--a committee on which the Presiding Officer and I serve--to 
advance the Haiti Reforestation Act. That is an issue which was brought 
up by many of the leaders we met with. I introduced it originally with 
Senator Susan Collins and Senator Kerry some months ago. We want to 
tackle one of Haiti's most entrenched, long-term problems, which has a 
spillover effect on a lot of key issues such as agriculture and the 
flooding that can hit this poor nation.
  The last night we were in Haiti, in our room, there was a violent 
thunderstorm. The lady who ran our gathering place in the inn came to 
me and said: I will guarantee you in the morning there will be press 
reports that two or three people drowned and died because of this 
rainstorm. It is not uncommon in Haiti. That is why reforestation is 
part of the solution to that terrible problem.
  I want to make sure my colleagues understand how important our 
involvement is. I asked how many groups had come down recently from 
Congress to visit Haiti. I was told that my colleague, Senator Mark 
Rubio from the State of Florida, had been there a few days before. I 
know Senator Bill Nelson has spent time there with his wife making the 
right contacts and stopping in this nation. But for those in the Senate 
and House, of both political parties, who are looking for an 
opportunity to see where a small amount of American taxpayer dollars is 
making a huge difference in the lives of some of the poorest people in 
the Western Hemisphere, that hour-and-a-half trip from Miami to Haiti 
is worth your time.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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