Political Quotes

“Mr. President, after decades of isolation, we are seeing a measured shift in our policy toward Cuba. We have resumed diplomatic relations, expanded travel opportunities, lifted caps on financial assistance between families, and eased trade restrictions. I congratulate the administration for spearheading these changes. It took courage to embark on this path. These policy changes are supported by the vast majority of Cuban Americans. They are applauded by sector after sector of the U.S. business community, and they are welcomed by Americans at large, but still it took someone to lead and President Obama did. I applaud him and his administration for doing so. Make no mistake, conditions are improving for the Cuban people because of these changes. There are some who do not fully appreciate the meaningfulness of this opening to Cuba. They maintain that we have somehow offered concessions to the Cuban Government without benefit to the United States or to the Cuban people. Some contend that we have moved prematurely when human rights issues remain unresolved in Cuba. To be clear, human rights abuses persist in Cuba. We all seek to remedy these abuses. Yet extending 50 years as the Cuban Government's convenient scapegoat for the failure of socialism is unlikely to yield gains in human rights in the future any more than our policies have done in the past. Instead, this opening to Cuba takes full advantage of the opportunities presented by the failures of socialism.…”