Jerry Moran: “Mr. Speaker, from a political standpoint, this makes compelling sense, but from a substantive foreign policy standpoint…”

“Mr. Speaker, from a political standpoint, this makes compelling sense, but from a substantive foreign policy standpoint, it is nonsense. Mr. Speaker, this is not the way we won the cold war. This is not the way we tore down the Iron Curtain. We are going to be punishing the Cuban people, when what we really want to do is punish an antiquated despot. But there are worse things about this that need to be brought to light. In the Baltimore Sun last May, it was reported that this bill was largely written by Nick Gutierrez, who represents the sugar mill owners and the tobacco industry, and Mr. Ignacio Sanchez, who represents the Barcardi Rum Co. Their competitors operate in Cuba, specifically the British American Tobacco Co. [BAT] and Perrot Ricard rum distillery. What is going to happen here is we are not going to shut down these industries. What is going to happen is these Cuban-American lawyers are going to make settlements out of court so they can get equity participation in these competitor firms. Now, in the first place, the bill limits legal recourse in American courts to people who had property in Cuba during the Batista dictatorship that was valued over $50,000 in 1960. There were not many Cubans who had property worth more than $50,000 back in 1960 before the revolution. You had to be a member of the Batista regime and in good standing to do so.”