Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Speaks Against Obama's Cuba Policy on House Floor

One of the leading Republicans on international affairs took to the floor of the U.S. House on Wednesday to attack President Barack Obamas call to normalize relations with Cuba. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., currently the chairwoman of the House Middle Eastern and North Africa Subcommittee, ripped into Obamas policy in the following speech:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to strongly oppose the December 17th announcement by President Obama on policy changes toward the Cuban communist regime.

The Cuban regime, from day one, was planning on using Alan Gross as a pawn to receive concessions from the Obama administration and their strategy worked.

In April 2013, when asked about a possible swap for Mr. Gross, Secretary Kerry testified before Congress that we have refused to do that because there is no equivalency. Alan Gross is wrongly imprisoned. And we are not going to trade as if it is a spy for a spy

That turned out to be not true.

President Obama unilaterally pardoned three convicted Cuban spies.

These spies were responsible for the deaths of three American citizens and one U.S. resident: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Pe, and Pablo Morales, whose Brothers to the Rescue planes were unjustly shot down over international airspace on direct orders of the Castro brothers.

And to make matters worse, we learn of the fact that the U.S. government used resources to facilitate artificial insemination of one of the wives of the Cuban spies. Good grief. So the White House ignores the fact that these innocent U.S. pilots were not able to have their own families but rewards one of the persons responsible for their deaths.

Not only did the dictatorship achieve the return of five convicted Cuban spies, it was able to also attain major concessions from our president in order to support their struggling economy.

Cubas largest supporters, Russia and Venezuela, are struggling due to their own fiscal crisis at home so the Castro brothers needed a bailout from a new source and sadly they found one with President Obama.

By increasing tourism travel on the island the Obama administration will be injecting millions of dollars straight into the pockets of the Castro brothers. The Cuban police state runs the hotels.

Lets examine ... the presidents announcement very closely:

First the President claims that his new policy changes will empower the Cuban people.

Well, the pro-democracy advocates on the island have stated that the changes will help their oppressor, not the people of Cuba.

Second -- this issue not only impacts the people of Cuba, it also poses a greater threat for U.S. national security interests.

Cuba is a designated State Sponsor of Terrorism and is an avowed enemy of the United States.

With these new concessions by the administration, the Castro brothers will use some of their new economic stream to invest more funds into their espionage activities activities that are aimed against our nation.

With the ability to garner more intelligence against the U.S., the Castro brothers are likely to hit the black market and sell this intelligence to the highest bidder.

This is not a theory it is a fact.

One example of this fact is the case of Ana Belen Montes.

She was a convicted Cuban spy who worked for our Defense Intelligence Agency collecting information for Castro so that it can be sold to our enemies.

Third the human rights situation on the island has not changed one bit.

The president says that he got Raul Castro to agree to the release of 53 political prisoners. Prisoners that should have never been in jail in the first place, yet the White House will not release the names of the 53 political prisoners.

Why not? What do they have to hide?

Plus what good is it for Castro to release these 53 when he doesnt stop capturing and detaining other prisoners? Which he will.

What has been happening in Cuba lately in these past few weeks? Well, according to reports:

o More than 80 Cubans have been detained,

o The Cuban Coast Guard sank a boat on international waters that was carrying over 30 people, causing the deaths of some of them on board; and

o Hezbollah celebrated President Obamas announcement after a meeting with the Cuban Ambassador to Lebanon.

Mr. Speaker I believe that this misguided policy of the president will have serious implications for the United States and sends a signal to our enemies that we will cave, and we will surrender at every turn.

We in the Congress must do everything we can to prevent these disastrous policies to go into effect. This is a bad deal for U.S. national security and for the Cuban opposition and it is a sweetheart deal for the repressive Cuban regime.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the time.