Cuban People Are Suffering

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep frustration with the Biden administration, especially the State Department, and its indifference to the suffering of the Cuban people.

I was in Cuba in December. I have traveled there often over the past four decades. I have deep ties to many ordinary Cubans, small entrepreneurs, and people of faith. I have never seen the Cuban people suffer such hardship as they are at this moment.

The main drivers of Cuban migration right now are hunger and a despair for a better future. There are many reasons for this desperation: The economic collapse of the tourist economy during the COVID-19 epidemic, rigid economic controls by the Cuban Government that change too slowly, a harsh crackdown on protests, and the denial of basic rights and freedoms.

However, a significant factor contributing to the suffering are the policies of the United States.

Despite promises made as a candidate, President Biden has failed to undo the economic and financial restrictions imposed by his predecessor. He has failed to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list against all reason, information, and analysis that should have led to its immediate removal upon his taking office.

These restrictions have strangled ordinary people's daily activities, financial transactions, the Cuban private sector, activities by other Western governments, and even the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In December, young entrepreneurs were begging me to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. The Governments of Colombia and Mexico, and many others, have asked the Biden administration to remove Cuba from this list. They have received the same response as many Members of Congress: an indifferent silence.

No doubt, the Biden administration will tinker around the edges, announcing limited reforms that might allow a few small entrepreneurs to survive another year or two, but they won't thrive. Such measures will hardly alleviate the suffering of the Cuban people as a whole.

Until this administration takes a hard look in the mirror and gets serious, until it removes Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list and ends the economic and financial restrictions imposed during the Trump administration, the United States will continue to contribute to the suffering of the Cuban people every single day, every single hour.

The Biden administration has had nearly 2\1/2\ years to undo the Trump restrictions. It has purposely decided to keep them in place, even to embrace them, no matter the cost to the Cuban people. These policies are no longer President Trump's policies. They are Biden's.

Cuban migration is just a symptom of the suffering. It won't stop until U.S. policy changes and starts working on behalf of the Cuban people rather than sitting back and continuing the harsh policies that have driven thousands to abandon their homes.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am angry. I am frustrated. I am past making excuses for this administration on this issue. We need to change U.S. policy toward Cuba. Today couldn't be soon enough.

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