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Cuban Embassy Opens in the U.S. With No Benefit to Cubans On or Off the Island

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Cuban Embassy Opens in the U.S. With No Benefit to Cubans On or Off the Island

(Washington D.C.) – Cuba and the United States officially re-established diplomatic relations today after an agreement struck by the Obama Administration and the Castro dictatorship earlier this summer. The Cuban flag was raised this morning over the Cuban embassy in Washington, which has served as an interests section for the Castro regime since the 1960’s. A U.S. diplomatic mission will be inaugurated in Havana on August 14, when U.S. Secretary of State Kerry travels to raise the American flag.

Jorge Lima, Policy Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:

“Today is simply another win for the Castro dictatorship. While the regime celebrates, dissidents continue to feel abandoned. President Obama has no serious plan for advancing the rights and liberties of the oppressed people of Cuba. For decades our policy has been to offer the opportunity of establishing diplomatic relations between our two countries, if and when the Castro regime would guarantee basic human rights to the Cuban people. Instead, this new policy is again advancing a one-sided deal that emboldens the interests of a violent dictatorship, at the expense of long-standing U.S. foreign policy goals.

Rather than focusing on ensuring that Castro respect the civil and political rights of the Cuban people, President Obama’s actions have strengthened the brutal regime of the Castro brothers over the island nation, without any meaningful concessions. This is a lost opportunity – one that leaves millions of people under continued political and economic repression.”

For Interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact Brian Faughnan, 703-678-4581 or Josh Rivera, 202-763-4428

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