House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and 18 other GOP lawmakers issued a letter to President Joe Biden requesting a meeting to discuss how the administration can work with Congress to support the Cuban people as they protest against the communist regime in Havana.
Lawmakers asked Biden for a meeting “as soon as possible” to discuss how the administration can work with lawmakers in Congress “to bring an end to the oppressive communist regime in Havana and liberate the Cuban people.”
“We are concerned that this pivotal moment is being squandered by indecision, bureaucracy, and a failure to lead,” they stressed.
The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.
The protests are the largest seen in Cuba in decades. The regime has responded with mass arrests, reportedly taking in more than 500 demonstrators, and sending communist party militants and paramilitary forces to monitor dissidents in cities and towns.
Internet access was cut at the height of the protests, stopping citizens from uploading footage of the mass protests online for the world to see. It is therefore unclear as to how many further protests have played out in Cuba since July 11.
Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), two members in the group, both recently accused the Biden administration of having refused to meet with them to discuss options to help dissidents in Cuba.
“We’re very frustrated. We are very upset because we have called respectfully and we have told the Biden administration this has nothing to do with political parties,” Salazar said at a town hall on Fox News’ “Hannity” on July 21. “He will not meet with us.”
“We’ve asked for meetings,” Rubio said at the time. “It hasn’t happened so far.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, also joined Salazar and Rubio at the town hall to call on the Biden administration to take more action. He said that one crucial action would be to help provide internet access to all Cubans.
“The internet access is something we have the capability of doing. We have companies in the U.S. that want to do it, but they need the OK of the federal government,” DeSantis said at the time. “He [Biden] has it within his authority to do that. He can make it happen, and if he’s willing to do that, I think it would make a positive difference.”
But Biden is “basically just sitting there doing nothing” and “leaving these folks out to dry,” DeSantis alleged.
“What’s gonna end up happening, if they don’t get any type of assistance, is the regime will continue to clamp down, and they’ll eventually stamp this out and then they’ll remain even stronger in power, and that will be a huge blow to the cause of freedom,” the governor said at the time.
They were relocated and covered in underground silos, del Marmol said. “I took pictures after the fact and that is the reason we never, ever invade Cuba. Because every single administration thinks ... the missiles are still there.”
The Biden administration also announced that it has been “actively collaborating with the private sector to identify creative ways to ensure that the Cuban people have safe and secure access to the free flow of information on the Internet.”
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