Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
Inviting Cuba to the Summit of the Americas would be an egregious mistake
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
May 20, 2022
ADN America
On Monday, news broke that President Joe Biden would reverse existing measures by easing sanctions, expanding travel to and lifting financial restrictions on Cuba…. And now, President Biden may invite the Cuban regime to the Ninth Summit of the Americas, taking place this June in Los Angeles….
If the Cuban dictatorship is allowed to attend the Summit of the Americas, and if President Biden continues to lift sanctions on the regime and its military enablers, [Cuban dictator] Díaz-Canel would receive a massive international PR boost and be able to strengthen his brutal hold on the Cuban people. That is not something Americans want to be complicit in.
Allowing despots to send representatives to the Summit of the Americas would also be a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans who are owed billions of dollars for uncompensated property claims and to the many who have risked their lives in search of freedom. And it would show our regional allies that the Biden Administration is willing to ignore human rights violators and dictators who undermine democracy and the rule of law….
Finally, making concessions to authoritarians in our hemisphere only empowers dictators worldwide. The regimes in both Cuba and Venezuela have been staunch defenders of Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. If the White House cozies up to them, we may see more countries in our own region turn a blind eye to Putin’s invasion….
I urge President Biden to not let history repeat itself by standing strong against our hemisphere’s brutal dictators.
Read the rest here.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
May 20, 2022
ADN America
On Monday, news broke that President Joe Biden would reverse existing measures by easing sanctions, expanding travel to and lifting financial restrictions on Cuba…. And now, President Biden may invite the Cuban regime to the Ninth Summit of the Americas, taking place this June in Los Angeles….
If the Cuban dictatorship is allowed to attend the Summit of the Americas, and if President Biden continues to lift sanctions on the regime and its military enablers, [Cuban dictator] Díaz-Canel would receive a massive international PR boost and be able to strengthen his brutal hold on the Cuban people. That is not something Americans want to be complicit in.
Allowing despots to send representatives to the Summit of the Americas would also be a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans who are owed billions of dollars for uncompensated property claims and to the many who have risked their lives in search of freedom. And it would show our regional allies that the Biden Administration is willing to ignore human rights violators and dictators who undermine democracy and the rule of law….
Finally, making concessions to authoritarians in our hemisphere only empowers dictators worldwide. The regimes in both Cuba and Venezuela have been staunch defenders of Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. If the White House cozies up to them, we may see more countries in our own region turn a blind eye to Putin’s invasion….
I urge President Biden to not let history repeat itself by standing strong against our hemisphere’s brutal dictators.
Read the rest here.