Congress and the United States’ top American diplomat called on the Cuban government on Tuesday to release all political prisoners, many of whom were arrested for joining pro-democracy protests two years ago.
To mark the second anniversary of protests that spread through the island on July 11, 2021, the chairmen of the Senate and House committees dealing with foreign affairs, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), introduced a bipartisan resolution “condemning the ongoing acts of repression and human rights violations against the Cuban people by the Cuban regime, and calling for the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained Cuban citizens.”
More than 700 people, including minors, remain imprisoned for joining the demonstrations that day and the following in several Cuban cities. Some were punished with decades-long sentences under charges of sedition. The Madrid-based nongovernmental organization Prisoners Defenders estimates there are at least 1,048 political prisoners in Cuba.
The resolution calls on the secretary of state to continue advocating for the prisoners’ release, supporting Cuba’s independent civil society and working with other countries to “deny Cuba a second consecutive term on the United Nations Human Rights Council,” of which Cuba is a member.
In a statement Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken also urged Cuban authorities to immediately release the “unjustly detained political prisoners.”
“The world will not forget those who bravely made their voices heard in the face of extreme repression, including the more than 700 individuals who remain in Cuban jails, condemned to prison sentences ranging up to 25 years for exercising their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly,” Blinken said.
The resolution introduced Tuesday was co-led by Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, both of Florida. Several other Democrats, including Tampa area Rep. Kathy Castor, who supported former President Barack Obama’s engagement with Cuba, sponsored the document, showing how much the crackdown ordered by the Cuban government has come to shape public opinion and U.S. policies towards the island.
“While I have long argued for a change in the failed U.S. policy toward Cuba, the Cuban people know the real source of their island’s lost potential rests squarely with the ruling dictatorship,” said Sen. Richard Durbin. “In the Senate, I have long condemned the Cuban government’s violent response to the thousands of Cuban citizens who have taken to the streets to peacefully call for respect for basic human rights and the end of the dictatorship.”
Unlike Obama, who sought a detente with Cuba, President Joe Biden has opted for a more conservative approach, leaving in place many of the measures the Trump administration took to punish the Cuban government and its military.
In his statement, Blinken mentioned that the administration has imposed “several rounds of sanctions and visa restrictions targeting those individuals and entities involved in human rights abuses, including the harsh treatment of July 11 protesters.”
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