Lincoln Diaz-Balart: “I was having a conversation with a colleague last night about this issue. He said a dissident came from Cuba and lobbied…”

“I was having a conversation with a colleague last night about this issue. He said a dissident came from Cuba and lobbied against the embargo. I tried to point out that if the totalitarian regime in Cuba allows one to come to the United States to lobby against sanctions against the dictatorship, it is with precise permission. If, however, one is truly seeking democracy, they are thrown in a dungeon or thrown out of the country or executed. So what the Smith-Rothman amendment is saying is before the $5 billion a year, at least, in American tourism is sent to the dictatorship, let the representatives of the Cuban people, the leaders of the political parties, let them out of prison, and the cop killers and other fugitives from American justice including Joanne Chesimard and the other ones that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Fossella) so eloquently was talking about, send them back and do not have them living in protected luxury by the totalitarian regime 90 miles away. That is all the Smith-Rothman amendment is saying. It is not a question of insulting anyone's intelligence. It is a question of saying the people who represent the Cuban people, who are in prison today have a right to be free, and those who kill American cops and sell drugs and are terrorists have a need to be in prison in the United States. Vote for Smith-Rothman. Vote against the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake).”