Florida Congressional Delegation Helps Keep Fed Funds for Radio and TV Marti
Submitted by Kevin Derby on February 21, 2011 - 10:18am
A bipartisan coalition in Congress helped beat back proposed amendments to eliminate federal funding of Radio and TV Marti, the stations broadcast to Cuba.
Members of the Florida delegation -- including Republicans U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, U.S. Rep. David Rivera and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Democratic colleagues such as U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz -- helped keep the funding in place.
Rivera sent a letter to his fellow freshmen in Congress, urging them to keep backing Radio and TV Marti.
Recent events in Egypt have demonstrated the importance of the free flow of information to spark democratic activism, Rivera included in the letter.After 52 years of a totalitarian communist dictatorship in Cuba, now is not the moment to give the Castro regime a unilateral concession such as the elimination of American broadcasts promoting freedom and democracy.
Rivera chimed in Saturday when the amendments gutting the funding were withdrawn.
The withdrawal of these amendments is a victory for freedom of information, and for the hope of democracy in Cuba, said Rivera. The Castro dictatorship controls all other sources of information on the island.Eliminating Radio and TV Marti would have meant eliminating a lifeline to pro-democracy activists on the island."
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