Rep. Lee: ‘Historic’ and ‘Wonderful’ if Obama Visits Cuba and Meets Raul Castro

‘It’s time to lift the embargo, it’s time to lift the travel ban’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

LEE: “Yesterday, December 17th was one year after the president so boldly moved forward with the unions Cubans to begin to normalize relations but we have a lot of work to do. The full embargo will not be lifted unless we pass legislation which we have bipartisan support for but we have to get this through the house and the senate. Secondly, Americans have the right to travel. This is also about personal freedom so we have to pass legislation to lift the travel ban. Yesterday we rolled out our Cuba working group. We have five Democrats on the steering committee, six Republicans. So this is part of our mission and our goal and that is to fully lift the embargo and lift the travel ban. Our businesses deserve to be able to do business in Cuba. People deserve the right to travel to Cuba. Americans can go to any country in the world. They are not prohibited from that. We want to see it happen as quickly as possible.”

MITCHELL: “What about the Cuban government's response? There has been movement on postal service, on airlines, but there still are significant problems within Cuba. Human rights issues.”

LEE: “There are significant problems within Cuba. There’s problems on our side. The point is, we are in dialogue, we are negotiating. I’m very pleased that the commercial airlines deal has been negotiated. Oakland airport in my district is one of those airports that has license to be able to have direct flights into Havana. These negotiations i think and from what I know and hear from both sides, they are moving. They are moving slowly but human rights, the issues around Guantanamo, the issues around land, all of these issues are on the table for discussion. But i think what's important is that there are bilateral relations. We have an embassy opened. Way I was so pleased to be there when we raised the flag  with the marines. I think progress is being made. But this is a 50 plus year policy that has failed so it's time to lift the embargo, time to lift the travel ban. The public here in America and in Cuba want this to happen. I hope people will contact their members of congress and tell them to support us to get these bills through congress.

MITCHELL: “President Obama may visit this year before he leaves office?”

LEE: “I’m really hopeful the president visits Cuba. This would be historic. He has made more progress on this than any president. i think it would be wonderful to see our president, president Barrack Obama, in Havana really having some very forthright discussions with all segments of Cuban society and to see him and witness him meeting with president Castro in Cuba. I think that's a major step. Some of us met with president Castro at the united nations. When he was here in New York. the president met with him. i think it's a major step to help encourage the bill to be passed if in fact the president went to Cuba. finally, let me just say i took 20 businesses from my district down to Cuba very recently and the economic benefits and the jobs that could be created by lifting this travel ban are enormous. For example, Cuba is beginning to develop a waste management system and contractors and businesses from all over the world are bidding on those projects. There are going to be enormous profits made, enormous amount of jobs created but we can't do that because we still have the embargo in place. It’s time to end this foolishness, time to really allow Americans to travel wherever they want to travel, including to Cuba.”

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