[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 3083-3085]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  CUBA

  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, a few minutes ago the body was treated to a 
report by the Senator from Iowa about his recent trip to Cuba. It 
sounds as if he had a wonderful trip visiting what he described as a 
real paradise. He bragged about a number of things he learned on his 
trip to Cuba which I would like to address briefly.
  He bragged about their health care system: Medical schools are free, 
doctors are free, clinics are free; their infant mortality rate may be 
even lower than ours.
  I wonder if the Senator, however, was informed that, No. 1, the 
infant mortality rate of Cuba is completely calculated on figures 
provided by the Cuban Government. And by the way, totalitarian 
Communist regimes don't have the best history of accurately reporting 
things. I wonder if he was informed that the forecast showed that Cuba 
was 13th in the whole world in infant mortality. I wonder if the 
government officials who hosted them informed him that in Cuba there 
are instances reported--including by defectors--that if a child only 
lives a few hours after birth, they are not counted as a person who 
ever lived and therefore don't count against the mortality rate.
  I wonder if our visitors to Cuba were informed that in Cuba any time 
there is any sort of problem with a child in utero, they are strongly 
encouraged to undergo abortions, and that is why they have an abortion 
rate that skyrockets and some say is perhaps the highest in the world.
  I also heard him talk about the great doctors they have in Cuba. I 
have no doubt they are very talented. I met a bunch of them. You know 
where I met them? I met them in the United States because they have 
defected. Doctors would rather drive a taxicab than be a doctor in 
Cuba.
  I wonder if they spoke to him about the outbreak of cholera they have 
been unable to control or the three-tiered system of health care that 
exists where foreigners and government officials get health care that 
is much better than what is available to the general population.
  I also heard him speak about baseball. I know Cubans love baseball 
since my parents are from Cuba and I grew up in a community surrounded 
by it. He talked about the great baseball players coming from Cuba, and 
they are. I wonder if they informed him--in fact, I bet they didn't 
talk about those players to him because every single one of those guys 
playing in the Major Leagues defected. They left Cuba to play here.
  He also talked about how people would come up to him in the streets 
and not a single person said anything negative about America. Nobody 
came up to him wagging their finger, saying, you Americans and your 
embargo are hurting us. I am glad to hear that because everyone who 
wants to lift the embargo is constantly telling us that the Castros use 
that to turn the people against us. So obviously that is not true. I am 
glad to hear confirmation of what I already knew to be true.
  I heard about their wonderful literacy rate and how everyone in Cuba 
knows how to read. That is fantastic. Here is the problem: They can 
only read censored stuff. They are not allowed access to the Internet. 
The only newspapers they are allowed to read are Granma or the ones 
produced by the government. I wish someone on that trip would have 
asked the average Cuban: With your wonderful literacy skills, are you 
allowed to read the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal or, for 
that matter, any blog? The answer is no.
  It is great to have literacy, but if you don't have access to the 
information, what is the point of it? I wish somebody would have asked 
about that on that trip.

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  We heard about Mr. Gross, who is not in jail. He is not a prisoner. 
He is a hostage. In the speech I heard a moment ago, I heard allusions 
to the idea--he didn't say it, but I know the language. I know the 
code. He made the allusion that maybe there should be a spy swap. Here 
is the problem: Mr. Gross is not a spy. Do you know what his crime was, 
if that is what you can call it? He went to Cuba to hand out satellite 
radios to the Jewish community. We are glad to hear the Cubans are so 
nice to him that they let him walk 10,000 steps a day, do pullups, and 
build a necklace out of bottle cap tops. It is very nice that they 
allow him to do those things. How generous.
  I wonder if anybody asked about terrorism, because Cuba is a state 
sponsor of terrorism. I wonder if anybody asked about the fact that 
just a few months ago a North Korean ship going from Cuba to North 
Korea was stopped in the Panama Canal, and it contained items in 
violation of international sanctions against the government in North 
Korea.
  A report just came out confirming what we already knew, that North 
Korea has death camps and prison camps. The Cubans are allowing them to 
evade these sanctions. Did that come up in any of the wonderful 
conversations in the socialist paradise of the Caribbean? I bet it 
didn't.
  Let me tell you what the Cubans are really good at. They don't know 
how to run their economy, they don't know how to build a country, and 
they don't know how to govern a people. What they are really good at is 
repression. What they are really good at is shutting off information to 
the Internet, radio, television, and social media. That is what they 
are really good at. They are not just good at it domestically, they are 
good exporters of these things.
  Do you want to see Exhibits A, B, C, and D? I will show them to you 
right now. They have exported repression in real time in our hemisphere 
right now.
  This is the first slide. This gentleman is the former mayor of a 
municipality in Caracas. His name is Leopoldo Lopez. This is the 
National Guard of Venezuela pulling him into an armored truck last 
week. Do you know why? He is protesting against the government. He is 
protesting against the Government of Venezuela, which are puppets of 
Havana. They are completely infiltrated by Cubans and agents from 
Havana. Not agents. Openly. There are foreign military affairs 
officials involved in Venezuela. Do you know why? Because the 
Venezuelan Government is giving them cheap oil--even free oil--in 
exchange for help in doing these sorts of repressions. He is sitting in 
jail right now because he is protesting against the government.
  Here is the next slide. This is Genesis Carmona. She is a beauty 
queen and student in a city called Valencia. She is on that motorcycle 
because the government in Venezuela and thugs--these so-called civilian 
groups that they have armed, which is another export from Cuba--shot 
her in the head. She died last week.
  This is the government that the Cubans support, not just verbally, 
not just emotionally, but with training and tactics. This is what they 
do, and she is dead. This is her being taken on a motorcycle to the 
hospital where they were unable to save her life because she was shot 
in the head by Venezuelan security forces.
  Here is another slide. Earlier I showed you Mr. Lopez. These are his 
supporters being hit by water cannons in the street because they are 
protesting against the government. This has been going on for 2 weeks. 
These are the allies of Cuba. Venezuela is a puppet of Cuba. This is 
what they do to their own people. They are using water cannons to knock 
people to the ground. Why? Because they are protesting the government.
  Here is another slide. This is a demonstrator detained by police. 
Look at how they dragged him through the streets. This is in Caracas, 
Venezuela.
  I will show another demonstrator. This is a student--by the way, 
these are all students in the street. This young man was also shot in 
the head by security forces and progovernment groups in Caracas. This 
happened on February 11.
  This is what they do in Venezuela. This is what the allies of the 
Castro regime do. This is what they export. This is what they teach. 
This is what they support.
  It doesn't stop here. Who are Cuba's allies in the world? North 
Korea; before he fell, the dictator in Libya; the dictator in Syria; 
the tyrant in Moscow. This is who they line up with. This is a 
wonderful paradise?
  What is happening in Venezuela deserves attention in and of itself. 
This is happening in our own hemisphere. It is shameful that only three 
heads of state in this hemisphere have spoken against what is 
happening. It is shameful that many Members of Congress who traveled to 
Venezuela and are friendly with Chavez--some even went to his funeral--
sit by and say nothing while this is happening in our own hemisphere. 
This is what the wonderful Cuban paradise government we heard about 
supports.
  Just this morning the dictator--who calls himself the President, even 
though he has never been elected to anything--Raul Castro announced he 
is there to do whatever they need to help them do this.
  I listened to the stuff about Cuba and what is happening in 
Venezuela, and it is very similar, not just in the repression part but 
the economic part. Venezuela is an oil-rich country with hard-working 
people. We don't have an embargo against Venezuela. They have a 
shortage of toilet paper and toothpaste. Why? Because they are 
incompetent, and communism doesn't work. They look more and more like 
Cuba economically and politically every single day.
  What is the first thing the Venezuelans did when this broke out? They 
cut off access to Twitter, Facebook, and the Internet. They ran CNN out 
of there. They closed down the only Colombian station. Years before 
they had to close down all the independent media outlets that 
criticized the government. Where did they learn that from? Cuba. Yet we 
have to listen to what a paradise Cuba is.
  I wonder. How come I never read about boatloads of American refugees 
going to Cuba? Why have close to 1\1/2\ million people left Cuba to 
come here, but the only people who leave here to move there are 
fugitives from the law and people who steal money from Medicare and go 
there to hide? Why? How come no American baseball players defect to 
Cuba? Why don't any American doctors defect to Cuba if it is such a 
paradise?
  He cited a poll that more Americans want normal relations with Cuba. 
So do I--a democratic and free Cuba. But you want us to reach out and 
develop friendly relationships with a serial violator of human rights 
that supports what is going on in Venezuela and every other atrocity on 
the planet? On issue after issue, they are always on the side of the 
tyrants. Look it up. This is who we should be opening up to? Why don't 
they change? Why doesn't the Cuban Government change? Why doesn't the 
Venezuelan Government change?
  Throughout this week, I will outline proposals and ideas about what 
we need to do and the sanctions we should be pursuing against the 
individuals responsible for these atrocities.
  We have sanctions against North Korea. Why? Because they have a 
terrorist and illegitimate government. We have sanctions against Iran. 
Why? Because they support terrorism and have an illegitimate 
government. We have sanctions against Cuba. Why? Well, you just saw 
why. Sanctions are a tool in our foreign policy toolbox. We, as the 
freest Nation on Earth, are looked to by people in this country and all 
around the world to stand by them in their moment of need when they 
clamor for liberty and human rights. They look for America to be on 
their side, not for America to be cutting geopolitical deals or making 
it easier to sell tractors to the government there. We should be clear 
about these things.
  Here is the great news. I don't know if they get C-SPAN in Cuba. I 
bet the government people do. I hope you see that in America we are a 
free society. You are allowed to stand on the floor

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and say and spread whatever you want. You think Cuba is a paradise? You 
think it is an example and model we should be following? You are free 
to say that here, in the press and anywhere you want. We are also free 
to come here and tell the truth. We are also free to come here and 
denounce the violations of human rights and brutality.
  I suggest to my colleagues that the next time they go to Cuba, ask to 
meet with the Ladies in White. Ask to meet with Yoani Sanchez. Ask to 
meet with the dissidents and the human rights activists who are jailed, 
repressed, and exiled. Ask to meet them. I bet you will hear something 
very different than what you heard from your hosts on your last trip to 
the wonderful socialist paradise called Cuba, because it is a joke. It 
is a farce. I don't think we should stand by with our arms crossed and 
watch these things happen in our hemisphere and say nothing about them.
  I will close by saying over the last week, I have tweeted about these 
issues. I get thousands of retweets from students and young people--
until they shut them out in Venezuela--who are encouraged by the fact 
that we are on their side. What they want is what we have, freedom and 
liberty. That is what all people want.
  If America and its policymakers are not going to be firmly on the 
side of freedom and liberty, who in the world will? Who on this planet 
will? If this Nation is not firmly on the side of human rights and 
freedom and the dignity of all people, what nation on Earth will? If we 
are prepared to walk away from that, then I submit to you that this 
century is going to be a dangerous and dark one, but I don't believe 
that is what the American people want from us, nor the majority of my 
colleagues.
  I thank the Presiding Officer for the opportunity to share these 
thoughts.

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