[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 142]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       POLICY CHANGES TOWARD CUBA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to strongly oppose the 
December 17 announcement by President Obama on policy changes toward 
the Cuban Communist regime. The Cuban regime from day one was planning 
on using Alan Gross as a pawn to receive concessions from the Obama 
administration, and their strategy worked.
  In April 2013, when asked about a possible swap for Mr. Gross, 
Secretary Kerry testified before Congress that ``We have refused to do 
that because there is no equivalency. Alan Gross is wrongly imprisoned, 
and we are not going to trade as if it is a spy for a spy.'' That 
turned out to not be true.
  President Obama unilaterally pardoned three convicted Cuban spies. 
These spies were responsible for the deaths of three American citizens 
and one U.S. resident, Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Mario de la 
Pena, and Pablo Morales, whose Brothers to the Rescue planes were 
unjustly shot down over international air space on direct orders of the 
Castro brothers.
  To make matters worse, we learned that the U.S. Government used 
resources to facilitate the artificial insemination of one of the wives 
of the Cuban spies. Good grief. So the White House ignores the fact 
that these innocent U.S. pilots were not able to have their own 
families, but rewards one of the persons responsible for their deaths.
  Not only did the dictatorship achieve the return of five convicted 
spies, it was also able to attain major concessions from our President 
in order to support Cuba's struggling economy.
  Cuba's largest supporters, Russia and Venezuela, are struggling due 
to their own fiscal crises, so the Castro brothers needed a bailout 
from a new source; and, sadly, they found one with President Obama.
  By increasing tourism travel on the island, the Obama administration 
will be injecting millions of dollars into the pockets of the Castro 
brothers. The Cuban police state runs the hotels.
  Let's examine the President's announcement very closely. First, the 
President claims that these new policy changes will empower the Cuban 
people. Well, the pro-democracy advocates on the island have stated 
that the changes will help their oppressor, not the people of Cuba.
  Second, the issue is not only impacting the people of Cuba, it also 
poses a greater threat to U.S. national security interests. Cuba is a 
designated state sponsor of terrorism and is an avowed enemy of the 
United States.
  With these concessions by the administration, the Castro brothers 
will use some of their new economic stream to invest more funds into 
their espionage activities, activities that are aimed against our 
Nation. With the ability to garner more intelligence against the U.S., 
the Castro brothers are likely to hit the black market and sell this 
intelligence to the highest bidder. This is not a theory; it is a fact.
  One example of this fact is the case of Ana Belen Montes. She was a 
convicted Cuban spy who worked for our U.S. Defense Intelligence 
Agency, collecting information for Castro so that it can be sold to our 
enemies.
  Third, the human rights situation on the island has not changed one 
bit. The President says that he got Raul Castro to agree to the release 
of 53 political prisoners, prisoners who should never have been in jail 
in the first place, yet the White House will not release the names of 
these 53 political prisoners. Why not? What do they have to hide? Plus 
what good is it for the Castro brothers to release these 53 when he 
doesn't stop capturing and detaining other prisoners, which he will?
  What has been happening in Cuba lately in these past few weeks? Well, 
according to reports, more than 80 Cubans have been detained. The Cuban 
coast guard sank a boat recently in international waters that was 
carrying over 30 people, causing the deaths of some of them on board. 
Hezbollah celebrated President Obama's announcement after a meeting 
with the Cuban Ambassador to Lebanon.
  Mr. Speaker, this misguided policy of the President will have serious 
implications for the United States and sends a signal to our enemies 
that we will cave and we will surrender at every turn. We in the 
Congress must do everything we can to prevent this disastrous policy 
from going into effect.
  This is a bad deal for U.S. national security and for the Cuban 
opposition, and it is a sweetheart deal for the repressive Cuban 
regime.

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