Jeff Flake: “Mr. Chairman, I have stood to offer this same amendment, an amendment to restore the basic right of Americans to travel…”

“Mr. Chairman, I have stood to offer this same amendment, an amendment to restore the basic right of Americans to travel to Cuba. The Flake amendment has, for the past 3 years, enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress, and for good reason. For the last 45 years, we have attempted to bring about regime change in Cuba, only to see Fidel Castro outlast nine U.S. Presidents, all the while his countrymen have been denied their most basic human rights. A compelling case could be made that our policy of isolating Cuba made sense during the Cold War. As a part of the Soviet Union, Cuba was actively exporting revolution with its troops around the world, but we are more than a decade removed from the Cold War. We now face new challenges, challenges that it can be safely said do not include the spread of Cuban-style communism. Our challenge is to export freedom to Cuba, and for this cause our current policy is as outdated as the cars that ply the highways of Havana. How can we promote liberty in Cuba with a policy that denies our own citizens the right to travel to the island? How can we foster respect for basic human dignity when we tell Cuban Americans they can no longer send soap and toothpaste to their long-suffering relatives in Cuba? Have we failed to see the long-term consequences of our policy? In a word, yes.…”