Dem Rep Warns Of Perpetuating Cuba's Isolationism And Leaving It 'In The Hands' Of China And Russia

2 months ago

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) spoke about US foreign policy towards Cuba.

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Transcript

00:00I recognize the ranking member for five or more minutes.

00:03Thank you.

00:04Eric, you're really earning your government salary today.

00:09I guess, I do have a question,

00:11but first let me speak to the Cuba issue.

00:13And Chairwoman, I respect,

00:15she obviously has a very strong perspective,

00:18very strong convictions,

00:20and I know many people in her district agree with her.

00:23I guess I want to present a bit of an alternative,

00:26because she knows we disagree on this.

00:30Since the early 1960s, we tried one thing,

00:34which was to distance ourselves from Cuba,

00:37sanction Cuba, to isolate Cuba.

00:40And the result was that the gastros stayed in office

00:43for decades and decades and decades,

00:45and the people in Cuba were impoverished.

00:48The society fell behind other nations of the world,

00:51even though it has incredible potential as a nation,

00:53and the people have incredible potential.

00:57And I think it comes down to

00:59whether you believe going forward,

01:02we should stick to those 1960s policies,

01:05or whether we would have more influence

01:07on the direction of Cuba.

01:09Again, not picking their leaders

01:10or picking how they do things,

01:11just like we don't need to do for any other nation,

01:14but have some influence in the direction they take.

01:18I think that the answer is engagement.

01:21And I know the designation of terror came in the last week,

01:24I think, of the Trump administration,

01:27that the Secretary of State made that designation,

01:29literally on their way out.

01:31And so I hope that you all will undertake that review.

01:35I think it is a necessary review.

01:37And again, it comes down to me

01:40whether we're gonna take a different approach

01:42than we took for decades and decades,

01:44that obviously has not worked.

01:48And, or whether we're gonna leave Cuba

01:51in the hands of nations like China and Russia.

01:55And I think that's why I was supportive

01:57of what President Obama was trying to do

01:59in his second term,

02:00which was to normalize diplomatic relations,

02:02to start preparing at that time

02:05for the departure of both the Castros,

02:07and be ready at that time, in that moment,

02:10to build a closer relationship with the Cuban people

02:13and the Cuban government

02:15to try to make the country more democratic,

02:18and to take a different course.

02:21It didn't end up panning out that way, obviously.

02:24In fact, when President Trump came in,

02:25like I said, in their last week,

02:27they designated the country as a state sponsor of terror.

02:30And that is where the Biden administration took over,

02:33and that's where it finds itself now.

02:36But, you know, I hope that we will take a different course.

02:39So, but I did have a question I wanted to ask you.

02:42I'm concerned about the ongoing efforts

02:43to undermine and discredit the convictions

02:45of the eight individuals found guilty

02:47of the murder of human rights

02:48and environmental defender, Berta Cáceres.

02:52As you know, the appeals to those convictions are ongoing

02:56and are overdue for a judgment.

02:58And I'm concerned, as are other members of Congress,

03:00that the judges are coming under undue pressure

03:02to free the convicted corporate executives

03:05that ordered that murder.

03:07Is the United States closely tracking the court case,

03:10and will you commit to pushing back

03:11against false statements regarding the facts of the case?

03:17Thank you very much for that question, Ranking Member Castro.

03:20And yes, we are tracking the case

03:23and the ongoing concerns

03:25for environmental defenders in Honduras,

03:27and happy to work closely with you, your office,

03:29and our embassy in Honduras to ensure that we follow up

03:32and ensure a free and fair trial on this.

03:35And we're now two years in the administration

03:37of President Castro there,

03:39who was elected with the backing of much of civil society.

03:42What do you see as the trends for the safety

03:44and freedom of civil society in Honduras?

03:48Thank you very much.

03:49So, you know, we certainly work very closely

03:53with Honduran civil society on a number of issues.

03:56I was in Honduras earlier this year,

03:58met with members of civil society.

04:00I would say in particular,

04:02met with members of grief in our community,

04:04LGBT community who feel under threat.

04:06So I feel like there's, I feel there's much more we can do.

04:09The embassy works very closely to ensure

04:11that these individuals, these groups have our support.

04:15But we do think there's more that can be done,

04:17including through the human rights protection mechanism

04:19in Honduras.

04:20So we'll continue to push hard on that.

04:23And then one more question for now.

04:24In February, 2023, the United States worked

04:27to free 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners

04:30who were imprisoned by the Ortega Murillo regime.

04:34In fact, we flew those people directly to the United States

04:37on a US government funded flight.

04:39And many of those individuals have been rendered stateless

04:42by the regime and they've applied for asylum.

04:45So they're not at the risk of deportation.

04:48I understand that of the 160 individuals

04:49who applied for asylum,

04:50only one has had an interview so far.

04:53So I wanted to ask you, will you work with your colleagues

04:55at DHS to prioritize their asylum applications

04:58or provide them advanced parole before the end of the year,

05:03especially given our role in bringing them

05:04to the United States?

05:06Thank you very much.

05:07So the State Department and USAID allocated

05:11significant resources to enable a safe transportation

05:15and an immediate to near term care

05:17for the 222 individuals released from prison in Nicaragua.

05:21However, we don't have the resources or mandate

05:23to provide the long-term care some of the 222 require.

05:27But in terms of your specific question,

05:29since the arrival of the 222,

05:30the State Department has worked closely with USCIS

05:33to facilitate the travel of immediate family members

05:37of these individuals from Nicaragua to the United States

05:40through lawful pathways.

05:41This will continue as more members of the 222

05:45become sufficiently established in the United States.

05:47So in terms of those who are in process,

05:50once members of the 222 submit their asylum applications,

05:53the State Department can provide comments

05:55on specific asylum applications to USCIS

05:59or to the Department of Justice.

06:00And happy to work with you

06:01to follow up on the specific procedures.

06:03Thank you.

06:04You're back, Chairman.

06:07You had another five minutes.

06:08All right, now I recognize Representative Self

06:12for five minutes.

Dem Rep Warns Of Perpetuating Cuba's Isolationism And Leaving It 'In The Hands' Of China And Russia

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