Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Cuban Regime’s Biggest Defenders in Congress Silent on Pro-Democracy Protests
Washington Free Beacon ^ | July 12, 2021 | Jack Beyrer •

Posted on 07/14/2021 5:12:22 AM PDT by george76

Democrats who have rallied behind the Castro regime are silent on growing pro-democracy demonstrations that have gripped Cuba.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters took to the streets across the island over the weekend, waving American flags and chanting "freedom" as well as anti-government slogans. Reps. Bobby Rush (D., Ill.), Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.), Barbara Lee (D., Calif.), and Gwen Moore (D., Wis.) demanded President Joe Biden lift Trump sanctions against the Castro regime in a March letter signed by more than 70 members of Congress, including all four members of the far-left "Squad."

None of the letter's four authors or members of the Squad have weighed in on the pro-democracy protests in Cuba. Rush, Cohen, Lee, and Moore did not return requests for comment.

Rep. Mark Green (R., Tenn.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere, pilloried the lawmakers in a statement given to the Washington Free Beacon.

"The Communist dictatorship in Cuba has been oppressing the Cuban people for decades," Green said. "It’s absurd to think that any sitting U.S. lawmaker, who enjoys the freedoms of our country, would ever support a communist dictatorship in another country—especially one as corrupt as the Cuban dictatorship."

A Biden administration spokeswoman falsely ascribed the reason for the protests to "concern about rising COVID cases, deaths, and medicine shortages" rather than political oppression. The White House walked back those remarks and condemned the regime after critics like Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) called the statement "pathetically weak."

Biden has a history of taking a lax approach with the Cuban regime. During the Obama administration, the White House lifted restrictions on travel and commerce with Cuba.

Support for relaxed Cuban relations extends beyond the administration and House of Representatives. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), and Jerry Moran (R., Kan.) introduced a measure in May to lift the embargo on the communist regime. Klobuchar and Leahy brought a similar measure to the floor in 2019.

David Carle, a spokesman for Leahy, told the Free Beacon the Vermont senator continues to support an end to the embargo and will make a statement about the unrest in Cuba in "the next couple of days."

Klobuchar and Moran did not return requests for comment, and a review of their communications platforms shows no public statements in support of dissidents in Cuba.

Lawmakers of Cuban descent welcomed the protesters and praised their bravery. Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) called the demonstrations "historic," adding that U.S. lawmakers should "support their demands by ensuring we do not perpetuate the regime’s decades of repression."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said the protests demonstrate the failures of a socialist government.

"Protests in Cuba aren’t simply about ‘shortages,'" Rubio tweeted. "Socialism promises guaranteed food, medicine, and income if you give up your freedom. When, as always, it fails to deliver, you don’t get your freedom back. That’s why the protestors are chanting ‘Libertad.'"

Observers say the islandwide unrest is the largest since the Castro regime took power in 1959.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Cuba; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: Illinois; US: Kansas; US: Minnesota; US: New York; US: Tennessee; US: Vermont; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: castro; castroregime; communism; communist; communists; congress; cuba; democrat; democrats; democratsocialists; dictatorship; protest; racistsquad; regime; socialists; squad; treason

1 posted on 07/14/2021 5:12:22 AM PDT by george76
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: george76

They been paid.


2 posted on 07/14/2021 5:21:50 AM PDT by TonyM (Score Event)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Those who support communism are called communists....


3 posted on 07/14/2021 5:22:14 AM PDT by exnavy (grow some thick skin, i do not care for whiners)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: exnavy

Obama stood by a Che wall in Cuba and teared up


4 posted on 07/14/2021 5:26:14 AM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: george76

Any kind of help for the Communists is helping to promulgate the terror.
Feeding the starving, sending medical help, or used clothes. All that is used by the regime to help its survival. It allows the regime to save the resources and use them instead for military, police and terror.
I understand the Cuban-Americans trying to help their starving families in Cuba, but the regime uses these gifts as the main source of income.
Short of invasion, starving the communists is the best way to solve the problem.


5 posted on 07/14/2021 5:26:25 AM PDT by AZJeep (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0AHGreco RomNQkryIIs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: exnavy

Mad Max just LOVED Castro.


6 posted on 07/14/2021 5:27:35 AM PDT by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: george76

This is a harsh, censorious regime and for so very many years. The people of Cuba cry to be free. Their apologists in the West are a mean, censorious, bitter lot of liars and cover-up’ers.


7 posted on 07/14/2021 5:48:27 AM PDT by Seeing More Clearly Now
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76
Bet wealthy Hollyweird has little or nothing to say.
8 posted on 07/14/2021 5:49:22 AM PDT by OttawaFreeper ("The Gardens was founded by men-sportsmen-who fought for their country" Conn Smythe, 1966 )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Hey Bernie, these are your people.


9 posted on 07/14/2021 5:49:38 AM PDT by bray (Hating Whites is racist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Seeing More Clearly Now

It’s been said that for years Cuba has been a playground for rich, powerful pedos, I suspect there are a lot of secrets there they don’t want to get out.


10 posted on 07/14/2021 5:49:47 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: OttawaFreeper

See #10 for why.


11 posted on 07/14/2021 5:50:16 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: OttawaFreeper

Hi.

I gotta say this...

Justin Trudeau looks exactly like Fidel Castro.

I wonder if Pierre noticed it too?

5.56mm


12 posted on 07/14/2021 5:58:32 AM PDT by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho need to go.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: george76

Commies not gonna snitch


13 posted on 07/14/2021 6:21:57 AM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

“Trump’s and/or his supporters’ doing.”

Wait for it...


14 posted on 07/14/2021 6:23:21 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Just a word for you Cuban freedom lovers:
This behavior is expected from Democrats. Need I mention the Bay of Pigs or Elian Gonzalez? When the choices get hard and words matter, they’ll disappear every time.
You DON’T WANT THEM on your side, because they’re really NOT.


15 posted on 07/14/2021 6:39:35 AM PDT by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Because the Democratic Socialists are not truly Democratic.


16 posted on 07/14/2021 7:57:11 AM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76; All

The racist Squad was never about “justice” or human rights.


17 posted on 07/19/2021 11:59:47 AM PDT by Conservat1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson