The Devil is in the Details

No pun intended.

Below is the Cuban Catholic Church's official statement on the potential release -- and forced deportation -- of political prisoners.

Note that the only thing that has been confirmed is the transfer of 6 more political prisoners from one prison to another, and the forced deportation of 5 to Spain.

As for the 47 other political prisoners that are being widely reported in the news, their release is pending for the next three to four months -- and will surely be subject to a number of concessions from the U.S. and the European Union.

Yet it only took the regime one day to imprison them.

Press Release by the Archdiocese of Havana

At noon today, Wednesday 7 July, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino was received by Cuban President Raúl Castro Ruz. Also participating in the meeting were the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, and the Minister of Foreign Relations of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.

Hours earlier, Cardinal Ortega held a joint working meeting with ministers Moratinos and Rodríguez Parrilla.

During those gatherings today, the participants talked about the process begun last 19 May, when President Raúl Castro Ruz received Cardinal Jaime Ortega and the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, Monsignor Dionisio García Ibáñez.

Until now, the development of that process has permitted the release of one prisoner and the transfer of 12 others to their provinces of residence.

In the course of the meetings today, and following the continuity of the aforementioned process, Cardinal Ortega was informed that in the next several hours six more prisoners will be transferred to their provinces of residence and five more will be freed and may leave soon for Spain in the company of their relatives.

Cuban authorities also informed that the 47 prisoners remaining from the ones who were detained in 2003 will be freed and may leave the country. This process will be carried out in a period of three to four months from this moment.

This process has taken into consideration the proposals previously expressed to Cardinal Ortega by the prisoners' relatives.

/s/ Orlando Márquez Hidalgo
Havana, 7 July 2010

Liberation or Deportation?

News reports have just begun to circulate regarding the potential release of a number of Cuban political prisoners.

While the details are still unclear, we echo the initial sentiments of Havana-based blogger Yoani Sanchez:

Whispers come and go. In them, the word "liberation" has been stuck to a term with nefarious connotations: "deportation." "They will go directly from the prisons to the planes," a gentleman who keeps his ear glued to the radio told me, based on what he ears on the prohibited broadcasts from the North. Forced expatriation, expulsion, exile, has been standard practice to get rid of dissenters. "If you don't like it, leave," they tell you from the time you're small; "Get up and go," they spit at you if you insist on complaining; "Why'd you come back?" is the greeting if you dare to return and continue to point out what you don't like. The ability to rid themselves of the inconvenient, the skill to push off the island platform anyone who opposes them, this is a talent in which our leaders are quite adept.

[Spain's Foreign Minister M.A.] Moratinos would have to have a very large plane to fit all those who obstruct the island's authoritarians. Not even a jumbo jet could transport all those potentially at risk of going to prison for their ideas or their civil actions. A veritable airline with weekly flights would be necessary to remove all those who don't agree with the administration of Raul Castro. But, as it turns out, many of us do not want to go. Because the decision to live here or there is something as personal as choosing a partner, or naming a child; it is not permissible that so many Cubans find themselves caught between the walls of prison and the sword of exile. It is immoral to force emigration on those who might be released in the coming days.

One question, simple and logical, jumps out at us with regards to this issue: Wouldn't it be better if the ones they carried on this plane were "them"?

Almeida: I'm Demanding My Rights

Don't miss this video clip of Juan Juan Almeida, son of the recently deceased 3rd highest-ranking official in the Castro regime, General Juan Almeida, as he single-handedly undertakes a street protest in Havana yesterday.

Almeida is being denied an exit permit to leave the island and receive medical attention abroad. His sign reads: "On Hunger Strike Demanding My Rights."

It concludes with his arrest at the end.


The music is courtesy of Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila.

The Church's Diplomatic Bailout

By Ambassador Armando Valladares:

As the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique François Joseph Mamberti has just made an extensive five-day official visit to communist Cuba on June 16-20.

Already on the first day of his stay, the prelate held a joint news conference with the Cuban Foreign Minister in which he welcomed the "ongoing dialogue" with the regime and expressed his hope that dialogue "will be strengthened" by his visit. He optimistically concluded that positive fruits "can already be seen." However, in his remarks, Archbishop Mamberti refused to include among those "fruits" of the dialogue with the communist regime, meetings with Cuban dissidents and visits to political prisoners. For lack of a better argument, he claimed he was merely carrying out an "official visit."

In short, the Vatican diplomat was all smiles toward the communist regime while frowning on the opposition and, ultimately, on the enslaved Cuban people.

Among the "fruits," the high-ranking prelate appeared to include "mediation" with the regime led by the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, who has a well-known track record as a collaborator of the regime. In fact, the only "fruits" the cardinal seems to have garnered do not go beyond the mere transfer of a dozen sick political prisoners. These were being tortured in prisons far from their homes but are now being tortured near their homes. He also obtained parole (which is not the same as unconditional release) for Ariel Sigler, a regime opponent who was a famous athlete and is now confined to a wheelchair because of privations and torture. Actually, by releasing him, the regime avoids the risk of having such a well-known political prisoner die in jail and become a martyr.

With his trip, statements and silence, Archbishop Dominique François Joseph Mamberti continued the mysterious, enigmatic and baffling collaborationist ritual of high-ranking Vatican officials who have traveled to the island prison over the last decades. These range from the infamous Nuncio, Archbishop Cesare Zacchi, who praised the alleged "Christian virtues" of dictator Fidel Castro, to the steps of his predecessor as Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, who in 1974 said that Cuban Catholics were "happy," all the way to the present Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a strong proponent of "dialogue" with the regime. In this regard, I have often found myself in the painful need of writing articles which are always well-documented yet never contested.

In fact, we are now witnessing more than "mediation." This is literally a "rescue" of the Cuban regime on both foreign and domestic levels, driven by the island's bishops and by Vatican diplomacy. On the foreign level, the European Union is allowing itself to be impressed and stunned by this ecclesiastical "rescue" operation and has thus postponed until September a possible hardening of its stance toward the Cuban dictatorship. Domestically, this "rescue" will demoralize the faithful Catholics of the island and those Cubans who heroically oppose their shepherds' collaboration with the communist wolves.

In this regard, the auxiliary bishop of Havana, Most Rev. Juan de Dios Hernández, during the visit by the Vatican envoy, acknowledged that "resistance" can be found among Catholic Cubans to the said rapprochement between clergy and wolves. He took advantage of the occasion to try to anesthetize the consciences of the faithful by claiming that "we must be patient."

With this diplomatic "bailout," the Holy See and the Cuban bishops not only benefit and contribute to the survival of the Castro regime, but also help, by the principle of communicating vessels, to strengthen the regimes of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua, ostensive allies of communist Cuba. In so doing, they also encourage revolutionary radical currents in Brazil and other countries in the region acting as Trojan horses. Accordingly, the responsibility of these churchmen before God and History is far from small. Indeed, at stake is the now over fifty-year regime of slavery of twelve million Cubans, the uncertain future of many countries in the region; and the very future of the continent with the world's largest Catholic population.

Armando Valladares, a former Cuban political prisoner, was U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and author of the book "Against All Hope."

"Unnewsworthy" Prisoners Released

Last week, two Cuban political prisoners, Armando de Jesús Medel Martín y Jorge Ramírez Calderón, were released.

They were not released due to the "newsworthy" intervention of the Catholic Church, the Spanish government or the "goodwill" of the Castro regime, which has -- thus far -- led to the release of one political prisoner (as a paraplegic in a wheelchair) and the transfer of others from one prison to another.

They were released pursuant to completing the entire unjust term they were handed down by the regime.

Medel Martin, a former Cuban intelligence officer, served 20 years for "rebellion."

Meanwhile, Ramirez Calderon served 2 years for "disobedience" due to his participation in the opposition party, Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre Frank País.

Apparently though, they were unnewsworthy.

Zapata Lives!

By Reina Luisa Tamayo in The Huffington Post:

Much has been said in the Cuban regime's official media about my son Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a young black man. Many lies have been told, and it has been said that my son was a criminal, and that he was not simply allowed to die. The truth is that my son was murdered. The truth is that my son was allowed to die on a hunger strike he held to demand respect for his rights, and to demand freedom for his people. Today, I would like to tell you just who Orlando Zapata Tamayo was: a defender of human rights, and my beloved son.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was born on May 15, 1967, a native of Santiago de Cuba. He spent his childhood in Santiago and Antilla in Holguin province, where he went to school through the ninth grade. He never spoke much, but he had a big heart for his family and all those who knew him, always giving the best of himself to his fellow man [...]

Zapata was arrested on December 6, 2002 in Havana's Lawton neighborhood while on his way to attend a meeting with Dr. Oscar Elias Bicet at the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, and he was then imprisoned. He was released three months later, without ever being tried. When he launched a protest fast with Marta Beatriz Roque and other activists against the continued jailing of activists, among them Dr. Biscet, he was arrested in the crackdown known as the Black Spring of 2003. Regime officials tried him based on his first arrest and sentenced him to three years imprisonment for resistance, disobedience and disorderly conduct for his position of opposition to the regime.

While in prison, his resistance led to additional charges with each one adding years to his sentence. Ultimately, the three year sentence was extended to 57 years and six months in prison. He remained a resistor, eating only what his family brought him. He only accepted water in prison, sleeping on the floor with bedding from home. His path through various prisons was one of physical and emotional abuse, which left their marks on his body. He underwent surgery for an intracrinal hematoma produced by a blow delivered by convicted criminals thrown into his sealed, maximum security solitary confinement cell. The prisons he went through were: Cien y Aldaboz, Villa Marista, Quivicán, Guanajay, Taco Taco, Holguín Provincial Prison, Cuba Sí, Kilo 8, and Combinado del Este in Holguin.

In Holguin, he suffered his last beatings, which were intended to end his life, on August 29, September 24, and October 26, of 2009. To demand respect for his rights, he carried out a water-only protest fast in intervals for 18 months. He would be shaved and have his hair cut only by force. He never wore a common prisoner's uniform, the uniform of a convicted criminal. While he was in Holguin Provincial Prison, State Security video taped him often [...]

Zapata began his final hunger strike in order to demand respect for his rights as a political prisoner. He spent one month and three days on the floor. He was denied water for 18 days in an attempt to break his defiance, which provoked two heart attacks while still being held at Kilo 8. Afterwards he was transferred to the Prisoners Ward at Amalia Simoni Hospital. This is when his family was able to see him briefly. They only allowed him one bottle of water, but not the one from which he wanted to drink.

He was transferred to a so-called "Intensive Care Unit" that was cobbled together on the spot exclusively for him, and where he was kept under guard by armed soldiers. This all created a delay that caused his health to worsen. He had to be transferred to the Prisoners' Hospital at Combinado del Este Prison, where his health worsened to a critical point. The authorities knew that the goal was to murder him, to eliminate him. He was then transferred to Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital where he died on February 23, 2010 at approximately 3:30 p.m.

We, Zapata's family and friends, have suffered a great deal of repression since his death. My son died for the sake of his belief in freedom. We have been attacked by groups of people organized by State Security, who want to prevent us from marching to the cemetery after leaving Mass on Sundays. My son's tomb was desecrated by them, the police.

The Castro brothers try to intimidate us, but what they don't know is that this family has never been afraid. This family has never knelt to anyone. Now, with even greater courage, dignity, and principles, we will follow the ideas and words of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who was murdered, who was tortured, and who was denied water for 18 days in order to do away with him. But nobody was ever able to subjugate my son. He never knelt before the dictatorship. He never gave in, and he preferred to die rather than to live on his knees.

This is why we say: Zapata Lives! We shout it in the streets. We shout it wherever we may be. Zapata lives on in our hearts. His example guides the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom.

Only Fidel and Raul Are Responsible

Excerpt from yesterday's statement by Cuban hunger striker, Guillermo Fariñas, who is reportedly near death:

"I'm conscious of my imminent death and I consider it an honor, for I'm trying to save the lives of 25 political prisoners that the homeland needs as leaders. The only ones responsible for my upcoming death are the brothers, Fidel and Raul Castro. I confide in the team of doctors and paramedics that are treating me. It is for this reason that I have rejected multiple offers to receive treatment in other countries. I want to die in my country under the noses of the dictators that possess all of the guns, rifles, cannons and bombs. My values stem from the people I come from, those at the bottom who have been deceived and held hostage for 51 years by those that possess the arms, violence, totalitarian laws and misrule from the top."

Fuzzy (and Dangerous) Math

Let's be absolutely clear -- one political prisoner is one too many.

Every effort must be made to ensure that every single political prisoner is freed -- not just released and forcibly exiled -- by the Castro regime.

Furthermore, every effort must be made to ensure that every Cuban is able to freely express their political views and opinions without the risk or fear of imprisonment.

Therefore, the media must be cautious in making non-factual assertions or to -- even unintentionally -- "gloss over" a single political prisoner.

For example, this headline by Reuters:

Number of Cuban political prisoners lowest since 1959

The number of political prisoners in Cuba has dropped to 167, the lowest total since the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power, a human rights group said on Monday.

The decline comes amid possible signs that the Cuban government is preparing to release more jailed dissidents, said Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights.

The 167 prisoners is a decline from 201 at the end of 2009 and "is the lowest number in 51 years," said Sanchez, who is a former political prisoner.

The commission, which issues a report on Cuban human rights every six months, said Cuba had more than 15,000 political prisoners 45 years ago.

It said the number has steadily dwindled over the past seven years as the government realized "it does not need to have so many political prisoners to maintain almost complete social control."

Yet, according to the State Department's Cuba country report:

The government incarcerates people for their peaceful political beliefs or activities. The total number of political prisoners and detainees is unknown, because the government does not disclose such information and keeps its prisons off-limits to human rights organizations and international human rights monitors. One local human rights organization lists more than 200 political prisoners currently detained in Cuba in addition to as many as 5,000 people sentenced for "dangerousness."

And as Human Rights Watch explains,

Raúl Castro government has relied in particular on the Criminal Code offense of "dangerousness," which allows authorities to imprison individuals before they have committed any crime, on the suspicion that they are likely to commit an offense in the future. This "dangerousness" provision is overtly political, defining as "dangerous" any behavior that contradicts Cuba's socialist norms.

They too are political prisoners and should not be "glossed over."

OZT Campaign Surpasses 50,000 Signatures

On July 4th, 2010, the #OZT I Accuse the Cuban Government campaign surpassed 50,000 signatures, including those of famed artists, intellectuals and political leaders, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all Cuban political prisoners, and the respect for human rights in Cuba.

The campaign was named after Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the Cuban prisoner of conscience that lost his life on February 23rd, 2010, after an eighty-five day long hunger strike demanding an end to the torture and abuse of the Castro regime, and democracy for his country. It honors the selflessness and courage of Orlando Zapata Tamayo in his pursuit of freedom for the Cuban people.

On July 23rd, 2010, the five-month anniversary of his death, the first 50,000 signatures will be officially delivered within Cuba and to the diplomatic representations of the Cuban government throughout the world.

Have you signed yet?

If not, click here.

Hunger Striker "Close to Death"

According to the BBC:

Cuba hunger striker Farinas 'close to death'

A Cuban political dissident who is on hunger strike is in danger of dying, doctors treating him say.

Guillermo Farinas, 48, has been refusing food since February to demand the release of ill political prisoners.

He is being fed intravenously in hospital, but doctors say he has developed a blood clot that could kill him.

The news was reported in Cuban state media, which usually ignore dissident protests.

The official communist party newspaper Granma published an interview with the doctor leading his treatment, Armando Caballero.

The BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says the article in Granma appears to be aimed at defusing international criticism should he die [...]

Mr Farinas is a psychologist who works as a freelance journalist reporting on Cuba in defiance of state media controls.

He began refusing food and water on February 28 after another dissident, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died while on hunger strike in jail.

He is demanding the release of 26 political prisoners who are ill.

"He would rather die than give up his strike," his mother, Alicia Hernandez, told Reuters news agency.

"His fundamental objective is very clear: free the prisoners who are most ill, otherwise he will go to the ultimate consequences."

Assad Took Castro's Advice to Heart

Looks like Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad took Castro's advice -- and example -- to heart during last week's meeting in Havana.

From The White House:

Statement by National Security Council (NSC) Spokesman Mike Hammer on Syrian Convictions of Human Rights Activists

We join the international community in condemning the recent decisions by the Syrian government to convict and sentence human rights lawyers, 79-year old Haitham Maleh on Sunday, July 4, and Muhanad al-Hasani on June 23 for publicly expressing their views. These actions are part of a worrying trend of actions taken by the government against lawyers and civil society activists. We also condemn the re-arrest of Damascus Declaration's National Council member Ali Abdullah, who was originally scheduled for release from prison on June 18, but now faces new charges.

We call on the Syrian government to meet its responsibilities under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to end its practice of arbitrary arrests and detention and to permit its citizens freedom of expression and association. As President Assad approaches the 10th anniversary of his presidency on July 20, Syria should demonstrate its commitment to international legal norms by releasing Maleh, al-Hasani, Abdullah, and other Syrian citizens who have been imprisoned solely for seeking to exercise their right to peaceful free expression and freedom of association.

The Ladies That Saved Washington

From Americas Quarterly:

The Fourth of July and Cuban Women

by Frank Calzon

On the eve of this 4th of July, I think about our servicemen and women whose lives are at risk defending U.S. interests and the cause of freedom around the world. I also think about Cuba, so close to the United States, where a despotic regime continues to misrule; and about the Ladies in White, a group of women -- mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives of Cuban political prisoners, punished for desiring the same freedoms that Americans will celebrate this weekend.

Again this Sunday, the Ladies in White will walk together to mass, all dressed in white, calling attention to the plight of their loved ones and the lack of freedom in Cuba. The women have been harassed, spat upon and insulted by mobs organized by the regime. Their mistreatment, detention and abuse by Cuban police has earned the condemnation of world leaders, including the First Lady of France, former Czech President Vaclav Havel and President Barack Obama.

Less known today, although they played a noble role in the war for American Independence, is another group of Cuban women, the "Ladies of Havana," who helped George Washington at a most critical moment.

The battle of Yorktown was about to start, and the British General Charles Cornwallis, believed he would defeat the Americans. According to Washington's aide, Count De Rochambeau, "the Continental troops [are] almost without clothes. The greater number [are] without socks or shoes. These people are at the very end of their resources. Washington will not have at his disposal half the number of troops he counts on having." The story is told by historian Stephen Bonsal in the book When the French Were Here, published in 1945.

In 1781, things did not look good, when General Washington sent French Admiral Francois De Grasse to seek funds in the Caribbean. What happened is told by Charles Lee Lewis, in his Admiral De Grasse and the American Independence, published by the United States Naval Institute.

Unfortunately, as Jean-Jacques Antier writes in Admiral de Grasse: Hero of L'Independence Americaine, when De Grasse got to Havana the Spanish fleet had left for Spain. There was no gold to be had, and the colonial government could not help. The Cubans, however, liked Washington and private contributions flowed in.

"Ladies even offering their diamonds. The sum of 1,200,000 livres was delivered on board,'' Antier wrote. De Grasse sailed back toward Philadelphia, where Rochambeau took a boat to Chester, Pennsylvania, in September 1781.

"We saw in the distance Gen. Washington, shaking his hat and a white handkerchief and showing signs of great joy" when he saw their boat approaching Chester, according to De Rochambeau's account in J.J. Jusserands's With Americans of Past and Present Days. "De Rochambeau had scarcely landed," Jusserand wrote, "when Washington, usually cool and composed, fell into his arms; the great news had arrived, De Grasse had come." And there was enough money to fund to continue fighting.

The campaign in the fall of 1781 -- and the war -- ended with Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown.

As Bonsal noted, "The million that was supplied by the ladies of Havana may be regarded as the 'bottom dollars' upon which the edifice of American independence was erected.''

Back in 1781, there was no United States, no United States Agency for International Development and no Cuba democracy program. While the worthiness of current U.S. efforts to promote a transition to democracy in Cuba are sometimes questioned, on this Fourth of July let's pray for our soldiers abroad, and remember the help given to George Washington by the "Ladies of Havana" so long ago.

Frank Calzon is a guest blogger to AmericasQuarterly.org. He is executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, which is based in Arlington, Va.

The Spy Who Loved Castro

By John Avlon in The Daily Beast:

El Diario's Vicky Pelaez, arrested as part of the Russia spy ring, glorified dictators Castro and Chavez in her columns and decried "American imperialism." John Avlon says her case is a wakeup call for fellow travelers.

In her writing, El Diario La Prensa columnist Vicky Pelaez managed to personify the stereotype of the reflexive leftist radical, attacking "American imperialism" and capitalism while lionizing dictators like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. In one column she compared Castro to Christ. Seriously.

"We had the moments of Christ, Mohammed, Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Newton, Pascal, Bolivar, Marti, Che Guevara, etc," she wrote. "Fidel Castro Ruz belongs to that glorious group of rebels!"

Pelaez, who along with her husband was among the 11 people arrested this week as part of the Russian spy ring, would be something of a late '60s museum piece, if her beliefs didn't now give urgent new meaning to the term "conviction journalism."

I spoke to her one-time editor and current columnist at El Diario, Gerson Borrero, who described her as "a pain in the ass" and "not my favorite colleague over the past 20 years" but said her arrest came as "a complete surprise."

"If you had told me that she'd been spying for Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, or China, I might have believed it, but Russia? I never heard her talk about Russia or the Soviet Union. Ever."

Read more here.

A Den of Terror

Last month, the Cuban Catholic Church began a series of negotiations with the Castro regime.

As a result of these negotiations, the Church heralded the transfer of 12 political prisoners to penitentiaries closer to their home provinces. Allow us to stress "transfer," not "release."

One of those transferred was Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, who is serving a 20-year sentence for his pro-democracy advocacy. Herrera was transferred from the Provincial Prison of Holguin to the Combinado de Guantanamo Prison -- The Real Guantanamo Prison.

So how does he feel about these transfers?

"I want to denounce to the international community that these transfers are nothing more than another farce by the regime. It is trying to win itself time. There's no good will gesture here, there's only physical and psychological torture," Herrera said.

An how does he feel about his new prison facility?

"It's a den of terror."

The following picture was drawn by a Cuban political prisoner -- and smuggled out -- for the world to witness what they suffer:

Don't Pack Your Bags Just Yet

By Achy Obejas in The Root:

Don't Book Your Travel to Cuba Just Yet

Farmers in Minnesota might have reason to celebrate recent legislation regarding the travel ban to the Caribbean island. But for those of us looking forward to partying in Havana -- not so much.

The Committee on Agriculture in the U.S. House passed legislation on Wednesday that suggests a possible lifting of the travel ban to Cuba, but Americans shouldn't make plans just yet.

For starters, while H.R. 4645, aka the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, is a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by 62 members of Congress and passed by the committee with a 25-20 vote, it still has to go through two more committee hurdles: Foreign Affairs and Financial Services. The real fight -- and thus the real bill, once it's been adjusted -- won't be revealed until later this summer, when, and if, it makes it through the other committees and is then taken up by the full House. Attempts were made in committee, in fact, to drop the travel section -- and no one should be surprised if it doesn't survive in future versions.

Read the entire article here.

LeMieux Statement on Ag Committee Markup

Sen. LeMieux Statement on Attempt to Weaken U.S. Policy Toward Cuba

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator George LeMieux (R-FL) today made the following statement regarding the U.S. House Agriculture Committee narrowly approving a bill that would lift the Cuba travel ban (HR 4645). The committee approved the legislation late yesterday.

Senator LeMieux said:

"This represents a blatant disregard of human rights violations the Castro regime commits against the Cuban people. This attempt to appease the Cuban dictatorship is wholly inconsistent with the United States' role as a beacon of freedom in this hemisphere, and around the world. This effort puts narrow corporate interests ahead of the need to protect the Cuban people from the Castro regime's brutal oppression.

Canadian and European tourists have long made their way to Cuba, despite the fact that the Cuban regime has grown more repressive and living conditions for a majority of Cubans have declined to unprecedented low levels. The money they spend there is handed over to the Castro regime's desperate totalitarian machine. Americans cannot allow themselves to be caught in the same trap of funding brutality.

Should this legislation reach the Senate, I will exercise every option at my disposal to prevent its passage. I am confident that many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join with me in that fight."

Chairman Peterson's Dictatorship

Today's New York Times headline on the House Agriculture Committee's markup reads, "House Panel Votes to Ease Cuba Travel."

Yet, Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) repeated yesterday -- ad naseum -- that the Agriculture Committee didn't have jurisdiction over the travel portion of this bill (H.R. 4645).

Furthermore, he whimsically denied consideration of an amendment by Congressmen Joe Baca (D-CA) and Tom Rooney (R-FL) that would have removed the travel provision from the bill.

Why? Because he knew it would have overwhelmingly succeeded.

While surely some Members of the committee support the travel provision, not one Member spoke-up in favor of it. Meanwhile, numerous Members -- from both parties -- expressed their opposition to the travel provision.

In the end, the Chairman agreed to attaching language to the committee report from Members that oppose the travel provision -- ironically, a majority -- but were denied an up-or-down vote on it.

So let's be clear, the House Agriculture Committee did not vote "to ease Cuba travel." According to the Chairman himself, they had no jurisdiction over it.

It voted to "facilitate food sales."

Now, naivete aside, everyone in that committee room witnessed the mockery of the process and is on to this legislative scam.

But that's why, perhaps fittingly, the House Agriculture Committee is Chairman Peterson's dictatorship.

Menendez Statement on Ag Markup

Menendez Statement on House Agriculture Committee Consideration of Cuba Travel Bill

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) released the following statement today on the House Agriculture Committee's markup of legislation to lift the Cuba travel ban (H.R. 4645):

"The legislation being considered today in the House Agriculture Committee would enrich a regime that denies its own people basic human rights. So let me make this clear: I oppose and will filibuster any attempt to pass the bill in the Senate. The big corporate interests behind this bill couldn't care less about whether the Cuban people are free or not -- they only care about padding their profits by opening up a new market. The very fact that a travel bill is going through an agriculture committee makes one wonder why agriculture interests even care about travel to Cuba, unless it is to generate money for the Castro regime to buy agricultural goods.

The rest of the world travels to and invest in Cuba, none of which has brought democratic change. In fact, the Castro regime continues its abuse of pro-democratic forces and allows dissidents to die from futile hunger strikes in the face of one of the world's harshest dictatorships. Those who lament our dependence on foreign oil because it enriches regimes in places like Iran should not have a double standard when it comes to enriching the Castro regime, simply because Cuba offers white sand beaches 90 miles from our coast. Repression is repression and dictatorships are dictatorships, no matter where they are located or whether you want to use their resorts."

Statement by IRL on Ag Committee Markup

Statement by the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida:

"While the final outcome in the Agriculture Committee poses a financial gain for the Cuban regime, it was gratifying to hear so many of our Congressional colleagues highlight the plight of Cuban prisoners of conscience and the suffering that the Cuban people endure at the hands of the Castro tyranny. The focus must now be on ensuring that the Foreign Affairs Committee does the right thing by U.S. interests and by the Cuban people and asserts its jurisdiction over this issue.

Changes to U.S-Cuba policy such as the elimination of all travel regulations have no place in an agriculture bill. That is up to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Foreign Affairs Committee has a responsibility to debate and carefully review any proposed changes to U.S.-Cuba policy. I am insisting that the Chairman of the Committee not abdicate such responsibility.

Security concerns, human rights and democracy promotion are matters of state and fall under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Committee and require due consideration by those Members with the knowledge and expertise on these important foreign policy issues. I have pressed the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee to prevent others from determining foreign policy related to the Cuban regime."‬‪‬‪