MIAMI — A group of senators, Cuban-American politicians, exile organizations, and members of the island’s opposition asked President Joe Biden Wednesday to condition any eventual negotiation with Cuba on improvements in human rights and political freedoms.
Cuban-American Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that one of his priorities is to restore the promotion of human rights and democracy as fundamental pillars of U.S. diplomacy.
“And that absolutely includes the policy of the United States towards Cuba,” he said in a video shown at an event in Miami, in which he switched from English to Spanish several times. The issue “is deeply personal for my family,” he noted.
Without referring directly to a possible policy change under Biden, Menendez, one of the most vocal critics within the Democratic Party of the thaw promoted by former President Barack Obama, said that U.S. policy toward the island should obtain concrete results.
“As the U.S. strives to strengthen respect for democracy and human rights in Cuba and around the world, we must make sure our efforts produce tangible results on these fundamental issues,” he said. “We must guarantee that the conduct of U.S. diplomacy, in turn, requires and demands that our adversaries and authoritarian regimes take steps to restore and respect the rights of their citizens.”
The Biden administration has said it is reviewing policy toward the island. Biden has vowed to reverse former President Donald Trump’s sanctions, starting with lifting restrictions on remittances and travel. But it remains unclear whether he would completely dismantle the previous policy to foster a new thaw in relations.
The event, organized by the Inspire America Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks regime change on the island, offered its vision for bipartisan unity on Cuba policy, which is not the prerogative of a single party, said the group’s president, lawyer Marcell Felipe. In the past, Felipe has organized events to rally support for Trump’s Cuba policies and other Republican politicians among Cuban exiles.
“Elected officials in this community have differences, but if something unites us, it is asking for the freedom of Cuba,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, former mayor of Miami-Dade County.
But the majority of Republican politicians at the event openly pushed back on pursuing normalization with Cuba or called for conditioning it on the release of political prisoners and the holding of free elections.
“It is important that we make it clear that any rapprochement with the Cuban regime will not change the future of Cubans at all,” said Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio in a video recorded in Spanish.
“Trying to reestablish relations with (Cuban leader Miguel) Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro’s puppet, is not viable and much less reasonable considering his ties to terrorist groups such as the FARC, the ELN and the narco-regime of (Nicolás) Maduro,” added Rubio, who was one of the architects of the sanctions against Cuban military companies under the Trump administration.
The Cuban dissident and leader of an island-based opposition group known as the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Daniel Ferrer, also asked the administration “not to make concessions that oxygenate this iron grip dictatorship,” in a video sent from Santiago de Cuba. He was released from jail last year after an international outcry but sentenced to house arrest under charges that several human rights organizations labeled as political.
In other video messages, Miami Republican Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart described the rapprochement promoted by Obama as “disastrous.” Florida Sen. Rick Scott accused the Cuban government of sowing violence and destabilizing the region.
The organizer of the event, Felipe, said that he favored keeping Cuba on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
Wednesday’s event comes after several memos and letters published by groups that favor a rapprochement with Cuba, asking Biden to eliminate sanctions and resume the process of normalization of relations initiated by Obama.
The participation of Menendez, an influential voice in the Senate, and that of several mayors representing a large part of the Miami-Dade electorate, illustrates the obstacles that Biden will face if he decides to reverse Cuba policy. In past presidential elections, a majority of Cuban Americans supported Trump, in part drawn by his harsh rhetoric against the governments of Cuba and Venezuela.
Mayors Francis Suarez of Miami, Carlos Hernández of Hialeah, Raúl Valdés-Fauli of Coral Gables and Juan Carlos Bermudez of Doral and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo also participated in the event, along with representatives of organizations from the so-called historical Cuban exile such as the Brigade 2506, MAR for Cuba, Plantados and the Democratic Directorate. Other Cuban opposition members, such as Marta Beatriz Roque, sent messages via video, as did Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar.
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