Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

March 6, 2014 By Fausta

Cuba: Mario Díaz-Balart explains to the dense why Cuban oppression is bad

Damien Cave of the NYT can’t figure out that making concessions to a dictatorship in exchange for nothing is not a good idea, so he debated Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), lost, and titled the article, A Miami Congressman Adamantly Defends Isolating Cuba. I hate to excerpt it, but here’s a sample (emphasis added):

[DC] But there are a lot of people in the Cuban-American community, leaders at the business and political level, who are having a more nuanced conversation — it is not so black and white. Let me give you an example. Cuba Emprende would like find a way to invest; they want to create incubators so they can find and help Cuban businesses. All of this is separate from the Cuban state. This is the beginning of civil society. They don’t have the ability to do that because the embargo prohibits that. Would you be willing to allow investment? I know the Cubans still don’t allow that, but from the American side would you be willing to support that? And if not, why not?

[MD-B] Because as I said before, because what we have to do, the question that has to be asked is: Is that something that will help free people from over half a century of totalitarian dictatorship? In other words, does the Chinese model, you know, the fascist Chinese model, is that the solution for Cuba, where you can invest in Cuba like we do in China, with no internal opposition, with no political parties, with no independent labor unions legalized, with no freedom of press, available and legal. There are folks who would like to have China 90 miles away from the United States, as fascist, totalitarian regime where big business can invest and make money with no labor unions, with no freedom of press, with no political parties, with no freedom, which is why in the law, which has strong bipartisan support in the House, in those laws it says that for those sanctions to go away, three conditions have to be met.

One the one hand, freeing all the political prisoners, free the Mandelas and the Havels and the Walesas of Cuba. Number two is allowing all those freedoms that I just mentioned, that is in the law. Freedom of press, labor unions etc. and then start the process towards free elections — and then all sanctions would go away.

So the question is which one of those conditions do the Cuban people not deserve? Before, precisely U.S. businesses go and invest, i.e. the Chinese fascist model. There are only two answers, two solutions, two possible futures for the Cuban people with the Castro brothers’ regime, one is going to Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, you name it, places where there have been dictatorships and now they have democratic societies, or, yes, the Chinese, Vietnamese model, which is a fascist dictatorship where you have foreign investment and yet the people are still not free. Those are the two options and if you ask me which one the internal opposition in Cuba supports, the vast majority of them, I can refer you to two statements made by the internal opposition saying: ‘Hey, what we want is freedom and therefore do not lift sanctions unilaterally.’

The only thing that is required for the sanctions to go away are those three conditions.

Read the whole thing.

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, NYT Tagged With: Damien Cave, embargo, Fausta's blog, Mario Diaz-Balart

January 15, 2010 By Fausta

Haitians granted Temporary Protection Status

The right move, at the right time, since it prevents them from being deported in this time of crisis:
Obama administration grants TPS to Haitians

The Obama administration announced Friday that it would grant tens of thousands Haitian nationals Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, an immigration benefit sought for years by Haitian activists, immigrant advocates and South Florida lawmakers.

The move comes following intense pressure on the administration this week to approve Haiti for TPS in the aftermath of the country’s devastating earthquake.

TPS is granted to selected immigrants who cannot safely return to their homelands because of natural disasters, armed conflicts or other emergencies. Those eligible are allowed to remain here, obtain work permits and temporary stays for specific periods — a status often renewed indefinitely.

Three Republican legislators were behind the move,

South Florida’s three Cuban-American Republican members of Congress — Reps. Lincoln and his brother Mario Diaz-Balart, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, sent a joint letter to Obama requesting TPS for Haitian nationals along with immediate humanitarian aid for Haiti.

A group in Florida is seeking also to bring hundreds of Haitian orphans to the USA.

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Filed Under: Haiti, immigration Tagged With: earthquake, Haiti earthquake, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, TPS

April 1, 2009 By Fausta

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart on the budget, easing restrictions with Cuba, and the US joining the UNHRC

mario_diaz-balart_official_photo_portrait_colorThis morning I had the opportunity to Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (Rep., 25th Dist. FL). Since I have family living in his district, it really was a pleasure talking to Mr. Diaz-Balart.

My first question was on the mixed signals we’re getting from the Obama administration when it comes to Cuba policy. In February the Lugar Report on Changing Cuba Policy recommended, among other things, easing the embargo. Then in March the omnibus spending bill eased restrictions for Americans who want to travel to Cuba to cut agricultural and medical sales deals with the communist government while Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner assured Senators Menendez, Nelson and Martinez that the new law will be interpreted so strictly as to be ineffective. Then last Saturday Joe Biden, speaking at Viña del Mar, Chile, insisted that the embargo stays.

Rep. Diaz-Balart explained that back in the 1990s his brother, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart codified into law the embargo, and now only Congress can eliminate the embargo. “The President can’t lift the embargo, only Congress can.

“If the Cuban government were to release all political prisoners, allow freedom of expression, and allow a true electoral process, then we could see lifting the embargo.” However, the administration is trying to ease unilaterally, which involves sending billions of dollars to Cuba. There is support from members of both parties in Congress to make the easing conditional. The President can’t end the embargo on his own.

“Senator Menendez stood up to some of the changes” [see my RCW post] “and got a commitment from Geithner; then the next day the White House came up with easing other restrictions. They [the White House] have the ability to tweak around the edges. That’s not surprising.”

I then asked about his thoughts on the US joining the UN Human Rights Council.

Rep. Diaz-Balart considers it “an embarrassment, and an insult to all people around the world, particularly to people who love freedom. It’s a charade of a council.”

“For the US to join, shows a level of naivete of the administration regarding some of the worst players in the world. Just as when Iran insists that we abandon Israel and unfreeze their assets, and the US still wants to talk to state sponsors of terrorism, to believe and pretend that smiles and “reset” buttons and nice speeches will make it good.”

“We are at an interesting crossroads in our history. Right now we’re voting on the budget. It’s not a regular budget: this budget will change fundamentally the future of our country. Either we continue to be prosperous and innovative, or we will pile on debt and become another Europe.”

Kevin Holtsberry talked to Mike Pence, and Pamela talked to Michele Bachman.

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Congress, Cuba, politics, Republicans Tagged With: bailout, budget, Fausta's blog, Mario Diaz-Balart

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