III 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 796 

Calling for accountability for grave violations of internationally recognized 

human rights in Cuba and malign activities against the United States 

and democratic countries in the Western Hemisphere committed by the 

Communist regime in Cuba. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2024 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Calling for accountability for grave violations of internationally recognized human rights in Cuba and malign activities against the United States and democratic countries 

in the Western Hemisphere committed by the Communist 

regime in Cuba. 

Whereas Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2024 Report states, ‘‘Cuba’s one-party Communist state outlaws 

political pluralism, bans independent media, suppresses 

dissent, and severely restricts basic civil liberties.’’; 

Whereas the Department of State’s 2023 Country Reports on 

Human Rights Practices, in addition to numerous international human rights organizations, established that the 

Communist regime in Cuba continues to violate the tenets of the Covenant Against Torture and Other Cruel, 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 796 IS 

Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted at New York December 10, 1984, to which Cuba is 

a signatory; 

Whereas the Cuban regime has imprisoned or continues to 

harass thousands of Cuban citizens, including youths who 

participated in the unprecedented July 11, 2021, demonstrations on behalf of freedom for Cuba; 

Whereas the Department of State’s annual Trafficking in 

Persons Report continues to cite Cuba as a Tier 3 country due to its failure to fully comply with the minimum 

standards against human trafficking, and further designates Cuba as a state sponsor of human trafficking; 

Whereas, in this regard, the Cuban regime sends medical personnel overseas into servitude in Mexico and other countries in which they are paid only 10 to 25 percent of 

what the host nation compensates Cuba for their services 

and denies them their fundamental rights; 

Whereas Cuba continues to a be source of regional instability, 

as noted by a United Nations independent fact-finding 

mission report in 2022 that found Cuban personnel were 

advising and instructing Venezuelan intelligence agencies 

committing crimes against humanity in Venezuela; 

Whereas Cuban security assistance to Venezuelan narco-terrorist dictator Nicola ́s Maduro emboldens him to continue 

to resist free and fair elections in Venezuela and has resulted in thousands of Venezuelans fleeing the country 

and contributing to overwhelming numbers of illegal 

United States border crossings; 

Whereas the Cuban regime uses illegal immigration as a 

weapon to overwhelm the United States border by profiting from international smuggling, exporting dissent, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:08 Aug 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR796.IS SR796

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 796 IS 

filtrating spies, and fortifying a self-serving black market 

economy; 

Whereas the Cuban regime maintains mutually supportive relationships with Iran, Syria, and North Korea, the three 

other countries the United States has designated as state 

sponsors of terrorism; 

Whereas Cuba harbors United States fugitives from justice 

wanted on charges of political violence, including the 

murders of United States law enforcement officers, including fugitives who have resided in Cuba for decades 

and criminals such as Joanne Chesimard, Guillermo Morales, Charlie Hill, Victor Manuel Gerena, who are responsible for planning and carrying out violent crimes 

against Americans; 

Whereas the Cuban regime maintains mutually supportive relationships with groups the United States has designated 

as foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas, 

Hezbollah, and Colombia’s National Liberation Army; 

Whereas the Cuban regime also maintains mutually supportive relationships with anti-American countries such 

as Iran, Russia, and China; 

Whereas the Cuban regime has been one of the most active 

defenders of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, providing diplomatic support and votes in international fora, 

serving as an amplifier of Russian propaganda on a global scale, and sending Cubans to fight on behalf of Putin; 

Whereas the Cuban regime has allowed Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, to conduct military 

exercises in the Caribbean, bringing the flotilla within 30 

nautical miles from the United States’ coast; 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 796 IS 

Whereas the Wall Street Journal reported in June 2023 that 

the Cuban regime has allowed China to establish an electronic surveillance facility on the island, which ‘‘would 

allow Chinese intelligence services to scoop up electronic 

communications throughout the Southeastern U.S., where 

many military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship 

traffic’’; and 

Whereas it has been the longstanding goal of United States 

policy to bring about freedom, prosperity, and democracy 

to the Cuban people: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) opposes any revision of United States policy 

3 towards Cuba as established in United States law 

4 until the Cuban regime changes the above policies 

5 and its hostility towards the United States; 

6 (2) believes that the promotion of democracy 

7 abroad is a core foreign policy objective of the 

8 United States Congress; 

9 (3) believes that the spread of democracy glob10 ally preserves the security of the United States and 

11 enhances our Nation’s prosperity; 

12 (4) calls on the United States Government to 

13 use every diplomatic tool to persuade foreign govern14 ments and international organizations to join its ef15 forts and coordinate activities to bring freedom and 

16 democracy to Cuba; 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•SRES 796 IS 

1 (5) believes that the United States should work 

2 with allies and like-minded democracies to seek 

3 Cuba’s expulsion from the United Nations Human 

4 Rights Council; 

5 (6) believes that, due to Cuba’s mutually sup6 portive relationships with foreign terrorist organiza7 tions and state sponsors of terrorism, the Secretary 

8 of State should maintain Cuba on the Department 

9 of State’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list; 

10 (7) encourages the United States Trade Rep11 resentative to enter in consultations with the Gov12 ernment of Mexico and all the other countries that 

13 engage in the trafficking of Cuban doctors, not just 

14 in Mexico but in all other countries that are in viola15 tion of the labor provisions of the United States16 Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA); 

17 (8) calls on the Department of State to submit 

18 biannual reports to Congress on March 1st and Sep19 tember 1st of each year on its efforts to bring free20 dom and democracy to Cuba based on the principles 

21 outlined in this resolution; and 

22 (9) emphasizes the readiness of the people of 

23 the United States to assist the Cuban people, who 

24 are emerging from a decades-long authoritarian 

25 nightmare, to rebuild their lives and country and to 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
6 

•SRES 796 IS 

1 rejoin the community of free, peaceful, and demo2 cratic nations. 

Æ 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS