Focusing on Cuba and Haiti

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SALAZAR. Mr. Speaker, President Ronald Reagan warned in 1985 that America has an unrelenting obligation to halt communist penetration in our hemisphere.

If we fail to meet this obligation, we will send the unmistakable signal that the greatest power in the world is unwilling and incapable of stopping communist aggression in our own backyard.

Right now we are facing that scenario in the islands of Cuba and Haiti.

History teaches us that the current threats in our hemisphere must be addressed with the utmost seriousness, for these issues go to the heart of American security and American history.

I stand here today to ensure that once again we learn from history and understand that the turmoil in our hemisphere in America's own backyard can and must be stopped or the price we pay will be dear.

Let's focus on Cuba and Haiti. The stakes are incredibly high. The Cuban people live in a perpetual cycle of misery and despair at the hands of their communist oppressors.

They are deprived of basic necessities, like food and electricity, living in literal darkness for hours a day, a product of the communist regime's intentional rolling blackouts.

The regime has adopted the slogan ``patria o muerte'' or ``patriotism or death'' while subjecting the Cuban people for the last 60 years to conditions that will surely lead them to the latter--death from deprivation.

A few days ago, Cuban protestors bravely took to the streets of Santiago and other cities on the island after once again being subjected to massive food shortages and blackouts for up to 18 hours a day.

Now the protestors are crying out ``patria y vida'' or ``patriotism and life.''

In response, the Cuban regime did what they always do: blame us, the United States, for our embargo. But we fully understand the operations manual for the communist Cuban regime's propaganda machine.

They have been exploiting, starving, imprisoning, and beating their own people for decades.

But we know the truth. We as a Congress, as an American people, can take several steps to ensure the protestors' voices are not shouting in vain.

First, I am calling on President Biden and the administration to take a stronger stance against the Cuban regime and stand in solidarity with the brave freedom fighters pouring into the streets all over Cuba.

United States support of the Cuban freedom fighters is not a partisan issue. It is morally right and intimately linked to our own security and our own history, freedom, and democracy.

We know that information is power, so let's provide internet access to the Cubans now so they can have a window to the free world.

Now, I am talking to the Cuban military commanders. I have a crucial message for you. History has its eyes on you. It is inevitable that peaceful protestors will continue to take to the streets in Cuba in the hopes of finding freedom. And there will come a time when your moral integrity will face the ultimate test, whether or not to raise your weapons against your own neighbors and your own friends.

My message from this floor is very clear to the Cuban military commanders: Make the right choice. Do not shoot at your own fellow citizens. Do not shoot at the Cuban people.

Myself as a Member of this Congress, the United States of America, and history itself will recount these days, and your own legacies will be a result of you holding your fire.

Now, it is not just Cuba that needs our attention. Another monster is looming large in our backyard to threaten American security: Haiti.

Haiti is crumbling, a completely failed state in anarchy, overrun by gangs, violence, and chaos. Haiti's humanitarian, political, and security crisis grows worse by the second, while most people are on the brink of starvation.

There is currently a Haitian refugee crisis unfolding. Haitian refugees will pour into our own country by the thousands. For the last 2 years, the Biden administration has swept the problems brewing in Haiti under the rug, and now their worst nightmare has appeared.

We must call for a coalition of our allies in Latin America to help restore order in Haiti and halt the threat before it impacts additional countries like the Dominican Republic.

America's enemies, hostile countries like China, Iran, and Russia, would love nothing more than to force communism onto our small neighbors like Haiti, just like they did in Cuba 60 years ago. We cannot sit idly by, nor afford to ignore the flames that are growing. We must take action now.

I urge the Biden administration to pay close attention to my warnings. We need a clean strategy on the situation in Haiti, and we need this Congress to lead the way.

We must extinguish the flames of instability and communism burning in our backyard. If we don't, they will surely continue all the way through to our own American kitchen. We cannot ignore Haiti or Cuba.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source