Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, in 2014, President Obama said he wanted to go to Cuba if, and I quote, ``I, with confidence, can say that we are seeing some progress in liberty and freedom. If we are going backwards,'' President Obama said, ``then there is not much reason for me to be there. I am not interested in just validating the status quo.'' Well, look at this poster, Mr. Speaker. These are human rights dissidents who were rounded up and beaten. If Obama's Cuba policy is not going backwards, I don't know what is, because the oppressive Cuban apparatus of repression only seems to be emboldened. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Havana, Raul Castro was asked by a reporter if he would release political prisoners in Cuba. Castro looked uncomfortable. Why? Because in Cuba, there is no free press. Reporters are not allowed to ask real questions to regime leaders. Castro said, well, there are no political prisoners in Cuba at all, and if there were, he would free them by nightfall. That's a good one. Well, there are 11 million people imprisoned by Castro's communist regime--the entire island. But here is a list, Mr. Speaker, of over 50 political prisoners, and this is a list comprised by the Cuban Democratic Directorate. Some of these individuals have been in jail for over 20 years. Others are constantly detained, released, and rearrested. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to enter this list into the Record. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Florida?…”