[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1434-1435]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  CUBA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, earlier this month I had a chance to visit 
Cuba with a delegation of Senators and House Members. We met with Cuban 
Archbishop Jaime Ortega, who shared the wonderful story of Pope 
Francis's efforts to improve relations between the United States and 
Cuba and to secure the release of American prisoner Alan Gross.
  We met with many Cuban reformers and activists, Cuban Foreign 
Minister Bruno Rodriguez, foreign ambassadors from many countries, 
various ministry officials, agriculture, telecommunications, science 
and technology, and the environment--all areas of considerable 
potential for the greater U.S.-Cuban cooperation.
  Our visit came 1 month after President Obama secured the release of 
Alan Gross and made the historic decision to restore full diplomatic 
relations with Cuba and begin rolling back over 50 years of failed 
policies toward that island.
  As I have said many times, I am not a fan of the Castro regime. It 
has a

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troubling history of human rights abuse and suppressing peaceful 
political dissent. It has squandered the talents of so many of its own 
people with a frozen economic and political system, and it has refused 
to provide a full accounting of the tragic death of Cuban activist and 
patriot Oswaldo Paya.
  But I have also argued that our policy toward Cuba, which has spanned 
11 different U.S. Presidents, has failed--and failed miserably--to 
bring reform and change in Cuba. Our policy toward Cuba has also hurt 
the United States and our diplomatic standing in the rest of Latin 
America and the Caribbean, where many--fairly or unfairly--regard U.S.-
Cuban policy as an outdated relic of the Cold War.
  So I was delighted and fully supportive when President Obama took 
this bold move. During my visit I could already see the dividends, most 
notably in the expressions of hope by the Cuban people. If you go down 
the streets of Havana, on their pedicabs there are American flags. That 
would have been unthinkable 2 months ago. Now it is part of their 
statement that it is time for a new relationship between Cuba and the 
United States.
  As one Cuban activist starkly told me, her talks with others around 
the island highlighted something she thought had been lost to the Cuban 
people--a sense of hope.
  We need to do all we can to fulfill the hopes of the Cuban people, 
and one easy way is to provide greater engagement with America, with 
ideas, with energy, with the vibrancy that our Nation can offer.
  I am going to join today with my colleagues: Republican Senators 
Flake, Enzi, Moran, and Boozman, as well as Democratic Senators Leahy, 
Udall, and Whitehouse, to introduce legislation that will lift the 
remaining travel restrictions on American travel to Cuba. 
Representatives Sanford and McGovern will have a similar bill in the 
House.
  President Obama recently eased these restrictions, but we need to do 
our part in Congress. It is not only the right thing for the Cuban 
people; it is the right thing for America. Americans shouldn't have 
restrictions on their freedom to travel. We don't restrict Americans 
from traveling to nations with whom we fought wars such as Vietnam, and 
we don't restrict Americans from traveling to countries with troubling 
regimes--North Korea, Iran, and Uzbekistan.
  During the height of the Cold War, Americans were allowed to travel 
to the Soviet Union. So why not Cuba? Why do we still isolate this 
country? Some say that this is a repressive regime, and we don't want 
to show recognition to this regime.
  It is just within this week that our President visited Saudi Arabia 
to attend the memorial service for the late King of that country. I 
would daresay there are aspects of the human rights policy of Saudi 
Arabia which aren't even close to American standards, and yet we 
consider them a valuable ally.
  There is also a lesson in history. When the Soviet Union started to 
come down, it was cracking on the edges, in the Baltics, and in the 
Warsaw Pact. As the other republics saw the outside world, they saw the 
opportunity and the need for change.
  We have not prevailed with isolation. Let's engage the Cuban people. 
Let's engage their economy. Let's engage their minds in thinking about 
a 21st century far different than the dark days of communism which they 
have lived under for so many decades.
  I know that several of my colleagues here--particularly those of 
Cuban descent--have strong, strong personal and family feelings about 
our relationship with Cuba. I don't diminish that one bit. There is 
real suffering that has taken place by their families and many others.
  But I hope we can look to the future, look to the next generation, 
and look to the possibility that we can engage Cuba in a positive way. 
Ultimately, it will be this new flow of American engagement and ideas 
that will help open Cuba and improve the lives of their people.
  Certainly, we ought to try something different. There have been 50 
years of isolation, and those 50 years have not worked. Today we are 
taking the first few steps on a path which I strongly support.
  I yield the floor.

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