Connie Mack Fights Against Lifting Travel Ban to Cuba

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, the ranking Republican on the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, came out swinging on Monday against efforts in Congress to relax the ban of American tourists visiting Cuba.

We all know the Castro brothers record on human rights rivals that of Irans Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: political prisoners jailed for expressing their opinions, attacks on journalists and bloggers on the rise, and basic individual freedoms continuously trampled on by thugocrat dictators, said Mack on Monday.So why, given this long record of abuses and violations, are some members of this Congress so quick to consider legislation that would bail out the Castro brothers with an influx of U.S. tourist dollars?

Allowing U.S. tourist travel to Cuba is not going to change the Castro brothers tyrannical ways, added Mack. Instead, it will only serve to prop up an ailing economic model that communist Fidel Castro himself says doesnt even work for us anymore. Even his brother Ra has admitted that Cuba cannot blame the U.S. embargo for all of its economic ills.

We must push for real democratic reforms to take place in Cuba before opening up its borders to tourist travel, including free and fair elections, the release of all political prisoners, and improved human rights, concluded Mack.This Congress can and should do better.