Diaz-Balart, Salazar, Gimenez Urge Biden Administration to Reconsider Negotiations with the Terrorist, Totalitarian Dictatorship in Cuba

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25), Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), and Carlos A. Gimenez (FL-26) sent a letter to Secretary Antony Blinken requesting that the Biden Administration reconsider its misguided decision to host migration talks in Washington, D.C. with the totalitarian, terrorist state in Cuba.

“Today, I sent a letter to Secretary Blinken with my colleagues, Reps. Salazar and Gimenez regarding the Biden Administration's ill-conceived decision to sit down with the terrorist, totalitarian dictatorship in Cuba," said Diaz-Balart. "The Biden Administration has not held any genuine, consequential conversations with our allies and friends in the region regarding the immigration crisis. Yet now, the Administration announces that it will be meeting with the terrorist state in Cuba on immigration. It is evident that these talks are NOT about immigration, but instead another way for the Biden Administration to provide concessions and legitimacy to the anti-American, repressive tyranny in Havana.”

Read the full letter here or below.

April 21, 2022

The Honorable Antony Blinken

Secretary of State

U.S. Department of State

2201 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Blinken,

We write to express our grave concern regarding the Biden Administration’s announced plans to host migration talks in Washington, D.C. with the totalitarian, terrorist state in Cuba. We especially condemn any attempts to legitimize this illegitimate dictatorship, which violently suppressed activists following the July 11 protests, and imprisoned hundreds of people including children, for exercising their fundamental right to free expression. In addition, the regime continues to force Cuban nationals into exile, or prohibit their return to Cuba.

The Cuban regime and its thugs have not earned a negotiating seat across the table from the United States. First, numerous press reports have highlighted the circumstances of Cuban activists who have been pressured into leaving Cuba, and some have sought U.S. entry or a third country refuge as a result, such as activists such as Pastor Carlos Sebastian Hernandez Armas, Raul Gonzalez Manso, and Niurcy Acosta Pacheco. Others, such as Thais Mailen Franco Benítez, Esteban Rodriguez and Anamely Ramos have condemned human rights abuses in Cuba over the past year, and have been persecuted for their activities. Some remain detained in third countries such as young independent journalist Esteban Rodriguez, who remains detained in Mexico after being pressured to leave his home in Cuba. Meanwhile, the Cuban regime has prevented Anamely Ramos from returning to her home country, and has made U.S. airlines complicit in its malfeasance by requiring them to blacklist Cuban nationals that cannot book return flights home. The regime’s actions are a clear violation of the basic human rights to freedom of movement and nationality as expressed in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”

Accordingly, instead of negotiating, we believe that you should not move forward with the ill-conceived plan to negotiate with operatives of the Cuban dictatorship. At a minimum, we suggest that you raise the regime’s numerous human rights abuses related to migration, including the right to leave and return to one’s country. We also believe that that you should emphasize the Migration Accords’ guarantee that Cuban nationals who are forcibly repatriated are monitored upon return to Cuba to ensure that they do not face reprisals for trying to escape Communist tyranny.

For these reasons, we are alarmed by the Biden Administration’s apparent desire to seek an opportunity to sit down with yet another of the world’s most dangerous, anti-American and repressive dictatorships. For these reasons, and within all applicable rules and regulations, we ask that the Administration’s misguided decision to seek to legitimize the illegitimate Cuban regime be reconsidered.

Sincerely,

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