Mario Diaz-Balart Slams Obama's 'Shameful Concessions' to Castros on Cuban Independence Day

Honoring Cuban Independence Day on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., slammed the Obama administration for trying to normalize relations with the Castro regime.

Today marks another anniversary of Cubas independence from Spain, Diaz-Balart said on Wednesday. Regrettably, the Cuban people remain oppressed by a brutal dictatorship that has no respect for fundamental human rights or liberties. Despite President Obamas countless and shameful concessions to the Castro regime, the American people and Congress continue to stand with them. Cuba has the worst human rights record in our hemisphere, and has done nothing to earn the many concessions that the Obama administration continues to provide the regime.

Instead, on this day, we join in firm solidarity with the Cuban people, including the courageous pro-democracy activists, political prisoners, independent journalists, artists, labor activists, and religious leaders in their struggle to achieve the liberties to which all peoples are entitled, Diaz-Balart added. The Cuban people must be able to assemble freely, express dissent, worship in the faith of their choice, and keep the fruits of their labor. That simple desire for freedom has not been dampened by decades of authoritarian rule in Cuba. To the contrary, the days of the ailing octogenarians that run Cuba are numbered. When the Cuban people finally win their freedom, they will remember those who stood with them.