Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis: Any Deal That Keeps Cuba Communist Is Unacceptable

Today’s announcement by Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel confirming secret talks with U.S. officials, reportedly initiated by Raúl Castro, highlights the desperation of a regime facing a deepening economic and political crisis.

Any negotiation that preserves a one party communist dictatorship while ignoring the core requirements of the LIBERTAD Act is unacceptable.

United States law is clear. Sanctions can only be lifted when Cuba begins an irreversible transition to multiparty democracy, fully respects basic human rights and civil liberties, and takes concrete steps to return or compensate property stolen from Cuban and Cuban American families.

President Donald Trump deserves credit for restoring strong pressure on the Cuban regime and making the communist dictatorship feel enough economic and political pain to come to the table. Strength, not concessions, is what forces authoritarian regimes to respond.

But pressure must lead to real change.

As long as the regime refuses free and competitive elections, continues jailing and persecuting dissidents, and refuses to recognize lawful property rights, the United States must not legitimize or finance its oppression.

Our community has sacrificed too much to accept an agreement that leaves the Cuban people without the democracy, human rights, and restitution clearly envisioned in the LIBERTAD Act.

The Cuban people deserve freedom, not another agreement that keeps a communist dictatorship in power.

— Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis
Miami-Dade County, District 6