Patrick Leahy: “I thank the distinguished leader for his words and his statement about our friend Bob Dole. I also agree with him in…”

“I thank the distinguished leader for his words and his statement about our friend Bob Dole. I also agree with him in that we have to stay here and get this work done. Madam President, as someone who has observed the evolution of relations between the United States and Cuba for nearly 50 years, particularly since I first traveled there in 1999, I find the situation between our two countries today bewildering, tragic, and exasperating. Bewildering, because senior Administration officials--who have publicly and privately acknowledged that the 60-year policy of unilateral U.S. sanctions, isolation, and threats has failed to achieve any of its objectives and instead has hurt the Cuban people--have nevertheless adopted that same failed policy as their own. Tragic, because the policy has emboldened Cuba's hard-liners who have cracked down even more on citizens who dare to peacefully protest about shortages of food, medicine, and electricity, and against government repression. And it has exacerbated the crisis that has engulfed the island due to the COVID pandemic and the government's dysfunctional economic policies. Exasperating, because anyone who understands Cuba could have predicted what has happened since the Trump Administration reversed the Obama Administration's policy of engagement and would have taken steps to mitigate it. Instead, the current policy is making the situation even worse.…”