Diaz-Balart, Ros-Lehtinen, Sires, and Rivera Outraged by Visas Provided to Cuban Communist Party Operatives
Washington, D.C.– Today, Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Albio Sires (D-NJ), and David Rivera (R-FL) sent a letter to Secretary Hillary Clinton expressing outrage that the Obama Administration provided entry visas to high-level Cuban Communist Party operatives Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Eusebio Leal, and Mariela Castro Espin, while the regime continues to imprison American aid worker Alan Gross.
The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs asserts in Presidential Proclamation 5377 that:
“Section 1. Entry of the following classes of Cuban nationals as nonimmigrants is hereby suspended: (a) officers or employees of the Government of Cuba or the Communist Party of Cuba holding diplomatic or official passports; and (b) individuals who, notwithstanding the type of passport that they hold, are considered by the Secretary of State or his designee to be officers or employees of the Government of Cuba or the Communist Party of Cuba.”
“The administration’s appalling decision to allow regime agents into the U.S. directly contradicts Congressional intent and longstanding U.S. foreign policy. It is reckless and dangerous to welcome high-level agents from a State Sponsor of Terrorism with an extensive espionage network to peddle their anti-America propaganda on U.S. soil. While the Cuban people struggle for freedom against increasing brutality at the hands of Castro’s thugs, the Obama administration is greeting high-level agents of that murderous dictatorship with open arms. It is shameful that the Obama Administration would waive the common sense restrictions in place to appease the Castro dictatorship once again.”