Sunday arrest of Cuban dissidents fuels Marco Rubio rip on Obama administration

According to reports from the Cuban Patriotic Union or UNPACU, about 200 dissidents were arrested in Cuba on Sunday. That’s at least the second major roundup of activists that has occurred since President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. and Cuba would begin to normalize relations in December, and prompted U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio on Monday to once again denounce the White House on the policy change.

“U.S. officials are so desperate to open a U.S. embassy in Havana, that they’re forging ahead despite a new wave of repression that has jailed over 200 Cuban democracy activists in the past two weeks,” the Florida Republican said in a prepared statement. “Just this weekend, the Castro dictatorship increased its repression, harassment and incarceration of over 100 peaceful demonstrators and supporters of the Ladies in White. It’s clear there is zero intent on behalf of the Castro dictatorship to engage in a genuine conversation that centers around bringing freedom to the island’s residents. “

Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson will again lead the delegation of State Department officials who will travel to Cuba on Friday for a second round of discussions. This month she said that the initial talks had left her with no clearer idea of whether the rapprochement by the U.S. will lead it the goal of reforms that benefit the Cuban people.

“It’s very hard to say exactly how this will work,” Jacobson said. “We think that we need to make decisions in our own interest and take decisions that are to going to empower the Cuban people, but the verdict on whether that succeeds is still to be made.”

Meanwhile, Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill on Monday called for lifting the trade embargo on Cuba, after returning from a trip to the communist island where she was accompanied by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia.

“Lifting the embargo won’t just be a boon for Missouri jobs — it’ll also strip the Castro regime of its biggest excuse for why its people aren’t free and prosperous,” McCaskill said. “Ending the embargo and normalizing relations will be a complicated process, but it’s one I’m confident is worth doing — for Missouri’s farmers and ranchers, and for the Cuban people.”

But Rubio criticized the Democratic senators, saying that their recent visit sent “worrying signals to the regime that human rights are, in fact, negotiable.”

“By staying in a regime-controlled hotel that was confiscated twice in its history, these U.S. officials sent a worrying message that the many legal claims the U.S. has against the Castro regime are not a priority for U.S. lawmakers,” he said. “Even worse about this trip is how the members of Congress capitulated to the regime’s terms for this trip by not meeting with dissidents and human rights activists. These are not insignificant actions, because the regime interprets them as signs that U.S. policy makers are not truly interested in the democratic aspirations and human rights of the Cuban people.”

During the first meeting last month in Havana, Cuba officials said it wanted to be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and have travel restrictions on U.S. diplomatic staff in Cuba lifted. They also said they wanted the U.S. to halt support for Cuban political dissidents, something that U.S. officials say is a no-go.

Rubio reminded U.S. officials that they must maintain that stance when meeting with Cuban officials this week.

“As the U.S. negotiators come face-to-face with Cuba’s negotiators later this week, the administration must insist that any future negotiations place democracy, human rights, free expression and the free will of the Cuban people to choose their own leaders through multiparty elections as the highest priority before any more concessions are made to the regime.”