Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Welcomes USAID Pushing for Democracy in Cuba

Media reports emerged this weekend noting that the Obama administration authorized sending young people from Latin America to Cuba to push for more democracy under the cover of doing work for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on health issues and other matters.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a longtime critic of the Castro regime, supported USAIDs role and said the media should look more closely at the communist governments policies.

"The fact that USAID is using measures to promote democracy in Cuba is no secret, Ros-Lehtinen said on Sunday. We must continue to pressure the Castro regime and support the Cuban people, who are oppressed on a daily basis. I wish the press would dedicate more of their time to reporting the rampant human rights abuses in Cuba, perpetrated by the Castro regime, instead of manipulating the coverage of programs promoting freedom of expression and justice on the island."