President Obama's Visit to Cuba

Floor Speech

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, President Obama's trip to Cuba is ill- conceived and premature. A fun trip, the President labeled it. The visit comes on the heels of declarations by the Communist Party that it will ``not give up a single inch in the defense of revolutionary and anti-imperialist ideals.''

Harrumph. This translates to over 2,555 arbitrary detentions of peaceful protesters between January and February of 2016 alone and over 8,000 arrests just last year.

The President's meeting with civil society is such a low benchmark, the official Cuban newspaper, Granma, stated that Obama's visit destroys the myth that Cuba violates human rights. The leader of the free world has chosen a legacy-shopping photo op enjoying a baseball game with a murderer and a thug.

In these critical moments for democracy on the island, we must support peaceful demonstrations like the one scheduled in south Florida at 11 a.m. on Sunday in front of the Bay of Pigs monument on 8th Street.

(English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

It will be led by Assembly of the Cuban Resistance from Exile, Forum for Democracy and Freedom in Cuba, and Organization for Foundation for the Judicial Rescue.

It will be led by La Asamblea de la Resistencia Cubana desde el exilio, el Foro por los Derechos y Libertades desde Cuba, y la organizacion Fundacion Rescate Juridico.

The exile community in Miami, who has welcomed many of Castro's former political prisoners, is painfully aware of the trampling of human rights still going on today. This is not a fun trip for peaceful dissidents.

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