Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “Mr. Speaker, the threat posed by Russia's facility at Lourdes is not new. The Freedom Support Act of 1992 clearly…”

“Mr. Speaker, the threat posed by Russia's facility at Lourdes is not new. The Freedom Support Act of 1992 clearly underscored the dangers to U.S. national security, as did ensuing legislation. Secretary of Defense Cohen stated in a May 1998 letter to the Congress, ``I remain concerned about the use of Cuba intelligence activities directed against the United States.'' And he further emphasized his concerns with the signals intelligence facility at Lourdes and what benefits the Cuban government may reap from this facility. This latter statement sums up the dual threat that the Lourdes facility poses related to Russia's specific actions as well as the financial resources it affords the Cuban dictatorship through its yearly payments of $200 million to $300 million to the Castro regime for Lourdes. However, after 8 years of talks, 8 years of providing the Russian Federation with billions of dollars in U.S. aid of one sort or another, 8 years of rescheduling the Russian debt at different intervals, what has happened is that Lourdes remains a serious problem. In fact, evidence suggests that there has been an increase, not a reduction, of the threat posed by the Lourdes facility.”