The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) threw its support behind a proposal from a Florida congresswoman ending the embargo on Cuba, drawing fire from another member of the Sunshine State’s delegation.
With President Barack Obama having visited Cuba earlier this week, NAM threw its support to a measure from U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., ending the embargo.
Linda Dempsey, NAM’s vice president of international economic affairs, sent a letter to Castor and Emmer on Wednesday, backing their proposal.
“Eliminating the trade embargo on Cuba will allow for increased economic activity between the two nations and provide manufacturers with new access to a market less than 100 miles from our shores,” Dempsey wrote. “The NAM supports the ongoing efforts to achieve normal trade relations with Cuba, and we strongly encourage Congress to advance legislation that will open trade and investment.”
NAM’s position drew the fire of U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., on Thursday.
"Shamefully, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has called for an end to sanctions and the opening of unrestricted financial transactions with the Castro regime,” Diaz-Balart said. “Under U.S. law, sanctions end once basic conditions are met in Cuba, including the scheduling of free, fair elections, release of all political prisoners, and legalization of political parties, independent labor unions and independent press. Until those simple conditions are met, the commonsense sanctions in the law must continue.
“In totalitarian Cuba, the vast majority of the economy is run by the state, and key industries are controlled by the Cuban military,” Diaz-Balart added. “American businesses are not permitted to deal directly with Cuban individuals, but must do business with the Castro regime’s state-run monopolies that further anti-American objectives and oppress the Cuban people. For example, the Castro regime provides safe harbor to more than 70 fugitives from U.S. justice, including FBI’s ‘Top Ten Most Wanted Terrorist’ Joanne Chesimard, admitted hijacker and alleged murderer Charles Hill, and terrorist bomb maker William Morales. In 2013, the regime was caught smuggling 240 tons of weapons to North Korea in the largest violation of international sanctions against that country to date. In February 2016, General James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, testified that the Castro regime remains one of the most serious intelligence threats against the United States. And last year, the Castro regime perpetrated at least 8,616 political arrests against pro-democracy and human rights activists. These are not activities that U.S. businesses should subsidize.
“Today, NAM wrongfully encourages U.S. businesses to deal directly with the Castro dictatorship and encourages their entanglement with a malevolent, anti-American dictatorship that brutally oppresses the Cuban people and threatens U.S. interests at every opportunity,” Diaz-Balart concluded. “I am disappointed that NAM has made such a misguided recommendation to its members.”
Castor accompanied Obama on his trip to Cuba earlier this week and continued to call for closer ties between the two nations.
“We believe the best way to promote our shared values in regards to Cuba and throughout the world is through engagement,” Castor said on Tuesday after Obama spoke in Havana, insisting greater ties between the countries can help in the fight against terrorism. “As President Obama said here at the beginning of his speech regarding the terrorist attacks in Brussels, ‘We must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism.’
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“While here in Cuba, ‘todos somos Americanos’ because this historic visit is fundamentally about the very real family connections that exist between Cuba and my community of Tampa Bay, and indeed our entire country,” Castor added. “The stories the president told of families finally reunited after decades are stories we know well in the Tampa Bay area and underscore that we are ‘bound by blood and a belief in one another.’”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @ KevinDerbySSN
