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.

Bill: 118-hres-1358
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Salazar, Maria Elvira [R-FL-27]
Introduced: 2024-07-11
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2024-07-11
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Summaries:

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1358 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 11, 2024 Ms. Salazar (for herself, Mr. Moskowitz , Mr. Mooney , Mrs. González-Colón , Mr. Gimenez , Ms. Malliotakis , Mr. Diaz-Balart , Ms. Wasserman Schultz , Mr. Smith of New Jersey , Mr. Waltz , Mr. Soto , and Mr. Lawler ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs , and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means , for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 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, 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 Nicolás 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, infiltrating 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, William 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; 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

That the House of Representatives— (1) calls for a policy that promotes democratic government and respect for fundamental rights in Cuba and opposes lifting of sanctions until a genuine democratic transition is underway in Cuba, as specified in United States law; (2) believes that the promotion of democracy abroad is a core foreign policy objective of the United States Congress; (3) believes that the spread of democracy globally preserves the security of the United States and enhances our Nation’s prosperity; (4) calls on the United States Government to use every diplomatic tool to persuade foreign governments and international organizations to join its efforts and coordinate activities to bring freedom and democracy to Cuba; (5) believes that the United States should work with allies and like-minded democracies to seek Cuba’s expulsion from the United Nations Human Rights Council; (6) believes that, due to Cuba’s mutually supportive relationships with foreign terrorist organizations and state sponsors of terrorism, the Secretary of State should maintain Cuba on the Department of State’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list; (7) encourages the United States Trade Representative to enter in consultations with the Government of Mexico and all the other countries that engage in the trafficking of Cuban doctors, not just in Mexico but in all other countries that are in violation of the labor provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA); (8) calls on the Department of State to submit biannual reports to Congress on March 1st and September 1st of each year on its efforts to bring freedom and democracy to Cuba based on the principles outlined in this resolution; and (9) emphasizes the readiness of the people of the United States to assist the Cuban people, who are emerging from a decades-long authoritarian nightmare, to rebuild their lives and country and to rejoin the community of free, peaceful, and democratic nations.