Bill Richardson: Cuban Americans Must Make Things ‘Better for the Cuban People’

DÍAZ-BALART: "Do you think, governor, that this relationship can in any way help the Cuban people in their future aspirations to live in democracy and to have measures of freedom? In other words, is it about international associations between the United States and other countries and Cuba, or is it something that just has to be solved within the own Cuban people?"

RICHARDSON: "Well, a lot of it has to be the Cuban people. Yes, it's got the foreign policy benefits in the region for us, but with the Cuban people, what we want is easier visits of the Cuban people to see their relatives in the United States, human rights improvements, treatment of dissidents, that they be allowed to congregate; freedom of the press; democracy movements. I think that’s what we want. And I think, Jose, what needs to happen which I haven’t seen is Cuban Americans in the United States need to play a role in making things better for the Cuban people. They are invested emotionally, many economically, they have property there, so I think it’s important that we get Cuban Americans engaged more than we have."