Roberta S. Jacobson

The principal human rights abuses were abridgement of the rights of citizens to change the government...

We are also deepening our engagement with Europe to encourage partners there to push for advances in human rights and democratic principles with their Cuban counterparts.

The policy is based on a clear-eyed strategy that empowers the Cuban people to determine their own future by creating new economic opportunities and increasing their contact with the outside world.

But comprehensive changes in our economic relationship will require congressional action to lift the embargo, and the President has urged Congress to begin that effort.

the central goal that we have is to help Venezuelans move their country toward democracy, toward respect for human rights.

The future of Venezuela is for the Venezuelan people to decide.

This is not a U.S.-Venezuela issue, it is an internal Venezuelan issue.

We absolutely believe that they have to be heard. They are a very important voice.

I think the answer is we are extremely concerned about the amount of drugs coming out of Venezuela.

We have consistently called on the Venezuelan Government to release those it has unjustly jailed.

The actions taken by the Venezuelan Government today do not support the efforts at the dialogue table.

We have strongly resisted attempts to be used as a distraction from Venezuela's real problems.