Human Rights, Not Travel Rights The Answer For Cuba

By Candyce Torres,University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service. At a press conference this morning on Capitol Hill, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and a group of former political prisoners and human rights activists said that Cuba must reform if it hopes to trade with the U.S.

Earlier this week, a delegation of congressional Democrats, led by Barbara Lee of California, arrived in Cuba to discuss relations and review new policies with Cuban President Raul Castro and his brother, Fidel Castro, who relinquished control of the government in 2006. The group returned to Washington, D.C. optimistic that decades-old trade and travel restrictions will be lifted.

The Communist Cuban Government is directly responsible for the deaths, torture and imprisonment of thousands of Cubans, Smith said.

According to the State Department 2008 County Report on Human Rights Practices.

More than 5,000 Cubans served prison sentences for being considered a dangerous threat but were not legitimately charged for a crime.

Smith cautioned that before the Obama Administration lifts the embargo or gives U.S. citizens the freedom to travel to Cuba, the communist government must release a number of political prisoners and improve civil and human rights.

“What Castro is able to do… is just keep out those who are critics – just like they put into prison those who are critics. They keep us out and keep them in, we want to reverse that, let them out and let us in,” Smith said.

“No sanctions should be lifted at all until the political prisoners are released,” Wolf said.