Bill Nelson: “now is the time that if the United States were to supply some direct financial assistance to dissidents, it could start…”

“now is the time that if the United States were to supply some direct financial assistance to dissidents, it could start to have a salutary and immediate effect on what is happening on the island. Clearly there is going to be a transition; we just don't know when that transition is going to come. What we hope is it is going to be a transition ultimately to a democratic government. The news this week marks an opportunity that we have been anticipating for decades. We can only hope that it is a real opportunity for the Cuban people to move forward, leaving behind a dictatorship and the repression they have experienced for a half century. But we must remind ourselves that the true celebration is going to come on the day that the Cuban people have a democratically elected government of their own choosing. While it seems that we are one step closer toward our shared goal, we should remind ourselves of the need to continue our support for the true Cuban heroes: the brave dissidents who struggle every day to demand and to plead for the very basic human rights, including the ability to read what they want to read, to say what they want to say, to live where they want to live, and to study what they want to study-- things that we take for granted in this country, but where, only 90 miles from Key West, people do not have those freedoms. These heroes in Cuba don't win medals. They are not honored in ceremonies.…”