Kendrick Meek: “I must say that I voted against this very bill last year in solidarity with many of my friends who are against embargo…”

“I must say that I voted against this very bill last year in solidarity with many of my friends who are against embargo and want to put pressure on Castro. I believe in that, but I believe that we have crossed the line now as it relates to going into family. There was some discussion from my good friend and colleague from Miami Dade County talking about, well, folks are going to stay in hotels. Well, if a person is going to see a family member that is sick, nine times out of 10 they are going to stay with that family member. What has happened now, we are putting on Cuban Americans, I must say Cuban Americans want to go over and visit their family members when they are sick. Now if they have an aunt that is sick, under the new Bush restriction they cannot visit an aunt or a cousin or an uncle that helped to raise them. They could very well be the last living member of their family in Cuba, but they cannot go. Let us just say that their mother or father is terminally ill and they would like to go and consult with the doctors; they would like to go and give them moral support, spiritual support.”