U.S. Secretary Of State Blinken Reminds & Emphasizes To Congress That Biden Administration Has Not Yet Made Changes To Trump Administration Cuba Policies- And Congress Will Be Consulted

On 9 March 2021, The Honorable Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State, answered questions from members of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Affairs.

The Republic of Cuba was a subject during an exchange between Secretary Blinken and The Honorable Albio Sires (D 8th- New Jersey), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, Migration And International Economic Policy of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. Representative Sires is of Cuban descent.

The Honorable Nicole Malliotakis (R- 11th, New York) and The Honorable Maria Elvira Salazar (R- 27th, Florida) also asked questions relating to the Republic of Cuba. Representatives Malliotakis and Salazar are of Cuban descent.

Representative Sires Questioning LINK To Video

Representative Salazar Questioning LINK To Video

Awaiting Official Transcript

C-Span
Washington DC
10 March 2021
UNEDITED

Representative Sires: secretary begin thank you for testifying today and congratulations as chairman of the embassy i look forward to working with you and your staff to deep in the united states and latin america and the caribbean u.s. policy towards cuba is deeply personal to be an kfirsthand experience of where it is to live under the castro dictatorship i came when i was 11 years old and i thought memories of the military and searching my house and using my father of the merchandise i have all these memories and i made it a priority when i came to congress for democracy and human rights. All over i've been encouraged by the statement of the present invited to the white house regarding in the human rights at the center of our policy towards cuba and our secretary i was wondering what steps can you take promote a lights, civil liberties and then the attacks on human rights defenders in cuba.  

Secretary Blinken: i think across-the-board we share the same goals when it comes to cuba and that's democracy and freedom for his people, inre particular respect for the views and the experiences of our citizens are cuban-american we not only noah but we lived at how your families have lived it and this is something that resonates for me. We are looking at the entire policy right now and we have haven't come to any conclusion, knowing what the goals are freedom and democracy the people of cuba we start with the recognition that obviously no policy in the past has fully succeeded in achieving that but working to be reviewing the policy in close consultation with congress and members who know these issues so well as you have seen there is no early policy changes and certainly weou will not make any changes without fully consulting so i look forward to the opportunity to do that.  

Representative Sires: Venezuela obviously is going to come up i had a hearing in venezuela the other day i was very happy to see that the president designated to the venezuelans about 320,000 of them in this country i think that's the rights that they suffer greatly, my concern for venezuela is russia seems to be more engaged with venezuela and i don't think, i know they tried to destabilize the region i spoke to the ambassadornk of columbia in 2019 russia had 6000 people go through columbia and they expelled three russians. E for russia columbia is not exactly a beach destination so my concern they are using venezuela toex destabilize columbia to get involved in other elections in south america and i would hope the administration would focus on russia's efforts to try to destabilize our neighbors in the western hemisphere. 

Secretary Blinken: I share the concern and we see them venezuela and we seen a resurgence of russian and president of activity in cuba the lastse few years and were very attentive to that across-the-board into the point you made a minute ago i should come back to say your emphasis on spotlighting and combating corruption is absolutely essential and this is something ywe will dedicate more focus, time and resources to because we see it unfortunately is prevalent in so many cases but also a little bit ada's and keeley's heel we could put a spotlight because when people see thet corruption of their leaders that is a good way to undermine support with the civil leaders.  

Representative Salazar: i represent miami which is the capital of the americans and home too thousands and thousands of exiles from all over latin america and it's great to talk to you i want to talk about cuba, columbia, venezuela so that's why i want to use my time effectively i only need a yes or no  

Will you commit to continue implementing the law until the regime opens a democraticye gain in cuba, yes or no? 

Forgive me because i didn't hear. 

Will you commit to continue to implement the Helms-Burton law until the Castro regime opens and democratic in Cuba? Yes or no. 

We are not taking any unilateral actions on cuba in advance of any consultations with congress and we have no plans. 

Is the way to continue to be implemented? 

We will always implement the law. 

It wasn't for 30 years up until the last administration. 

We will implement the law. 

Will you commit to consult with the cuban-american exile community before engaging in any type of economic or political speaking or any type of engagement with the cuban regime will you commit commit to engage with my community before you do? 

We will absolutely consult and engage with the Cuban Americans on anything having to do with Cuba. 

Thank you. With columbia two months ago the colombian media intercepted a dossier coming from cuba which outlines in detail how have and i was plotting to steal columbia's presidential election. Were you aware of this? 

I haven't seen this. 

Is coming from a reputable publication. Maybe you will want to see it. Inin one year, columbia eradicated a record of 130,000 taxpayers, 20 times the size of manhattan, ten times more than the administration in four years. Do you care with they are doing yto eradicate this evil? 

We do and we have to do more and also have to help colombians create alternative livelihoods for people so that they don't get into --- 

Let's go to nicaragua. Are you concerned that the opposition will participate in the upcoming presidential election without real guarantees that those are going to be free and fair? 

We have deep concerns about those and the ability to be free and fair. 

Will you consider the possibility of breaking diplomatic relations with nicaragua and the regime if that is the case? 

Well, we have -- 

Will you consider the possibility if they steal the election? 

We will always consider any possibility but our job and our business at the state department is to continue to find ways to engage countries. 

We havens lots of countries we are dealing with around the world that are doing things. 

But not nicaragua. You didn't answer. Venezuela, would you consider including venezuela on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism? 

If it meets the requirements of the law, yes. 

They engage with hezbollah -- iran. 

The time is expired. 

Yes. 

Can i have one more question? 

No, the gentle ladies time is expired. I now recognize -- 

Representative Spanberger: thank you mr. Chairman and mr. Secretary for joining us today. I look forward to working with you closely. I'd like to focus my questions on the public servants who serve the country at home and abroad. Looking out for their safety is absolutely critical. I will be following up with a number of questions but i'd like to run through a couple in the time thatbe we have. I'd like to ask about the mysterious and harmful attacks on u.s. personnel sometimes referred to as havana syndrome though they haven't been limited to occurring only in cuba. The lack of the coordinated approach has been the ability to receive medical care and management in the pieces of this issue. Well the administration and the department under your leadership set up a whole of government approach to make sure we are addressingng these attacks? Thank you mr. Secretary. If you could share as the government identified the perpetrator or the entities behind these attacks? 

Representative Malliatokis: Some type of negotiation. We are not happy happy with of the administration trying to bring whether it's democracy or humanev rights or ending the dual citizen. To try to spread this to the cuban people and also as you look to reenter the united nations security council, i would urge you if you could please use the leverage to try to help people suffering under human rights conditions around the globe. The fact that they were given a platform by the united nations, human rights council and i think that i would like to know some of your thoughts on the entry.