Statement by U.S. Representative Kendrick Meek Regarding the White House Decision to Lift Travel and Gift Restrictions for Cuban Americans

 

MIAMI GARDENS, FL –  U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (D-FL) released the following statement regarding the White House decision to lift travel and gift restrictions for Cuban Americans:

“I look forward to discussing this issue further with President Obama as I fly with the Commander in Chief and a handful of other congressional leaders, including Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) and House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-New York) to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago later this week.

“I have always supported the Clinton policy of allowing Cuban Americans to visit loved family members on the island nation and was strongly opposed to the decision by President Bush to reverse that policy in 2004 weeks before the presidential election.  Under the Bush policy, by being allowed to visit Cuba once every three years, Cuban Americans were given a false choice and often faced an impossible decision: Either to visit a gravely ill family member or attend their funeral.  That policy did not reflect American values and my position has remained that families should not be further punished for living under the Castro regime.  In Congress last month, I voted in favor of allowing for yearly visits to Cuba by family members in the United States.

“But I am under no illusions of what the Castro regime represents and the oppression that is carried out daily against free minded and free thinking Cubans like Dr. Oscar Biscet and Antunez who are held in a Cuban prison for expressing their inalienable rights. 

“Since the Castro regime controls all movement on the island nation, I am concerned that when unrestricted remittances are allowed to flow from hardworking Cuban Americans in Florida and throughout the United States to their family members in Cuba, the Castro government will confiscate a high percentage of those dollars further propping up a regime that suppresses human rights, freedoms and personal mobility.  Cuban Americans are thriving in the United States and the community is succeeding because of their unyielding pursuit of achieving the American Dream.  To have remittances meant for family members in Cuba siphoned off by the regime in Havana would be a deep insult to Cuban Americans everywhere and it is a practice the Cuban government should end.”

U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek represents the 17^th Congressional District of Florida which includes parts of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. He serves as the lone Florida Democrat sitting on the House Committee on Ways and Means.

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