Says that in 2008, President Barack Obama said normalization with Cuba would first require “liberation of all political prisoners and some basic steps toward freedom, including freedom of the press, political parties, labor unions.”
— Mario Diaz-Balart on Thursday, December 18th, 2014 in a press conference
President Barack Obama’s announcement that the United States and Cuba would proceed toward normalized relations put Miami’s Cuban-American GOP Congressional delegation in the national spotlight.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Reps Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen held a press conference Dec. 18 to bash Obama’s announcement.
Diaz-Balart characterized Obama’s position as a significant change from what he said during the 2008 campaign.
Back in 2008, during Obama’s first White House bid, the future president said that “before normalization would take place, there would have to be liberation of all political prisoners and some basic steps toward freedom, including freedom of the press, political parties, labor unions, etc.,” Diaz-Balart said at the press conference. “Then, once again, President Obama — breaking his own word, breaking his own pledge — has decided to do something absolutely without precedent, and that is to give an anti-American terrorist dictatorship exactly what they have been asking for.”
Is Diaz-Balart correct about what Obama, then a senator, said would be his criteria for normalizing relations with Cuba? We went back to his campaign speeches and statements to find out.
Plans call for opening embassies in Havana and Washington, easing travel restrictions and increasing the amount of money that Cubans on the island can receive from relatives in the United States. and other Americans. Those traveling to Cuba from the United States will also be able use credit cards on the island.
However, the longstanding trade embargo remains in place. Only Congress has the power to abolish it.
While Obama promised that the United States will continue its efforts to spread democracy to Cuba, we don’t see anything in what’s been released that would require Cuba to promote democracy or establish freedom of the press, political parties and unions in order to normalize relations.
During the 2008 campaign, Obama sometimes talked about his criteria for normalizing relations with Cuba and lifting the embargo in the same breath, making it appear that his criteria overlapped.
During the Democratic presidential primary in 2007, Obama wrote an op-ed for the Miami Herald in which he called for “unrestricted rights” for Cuban-American travel and remittances to the island.
A spokeswoman for Diaz-Balart also pointed to a speech Obama gave in Miami in May 2008.
“My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: ‘libertad,’ ” he said, citing the Spanish word for “freedom.” “The road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba’s political prisoners, the right of free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly, and it must lead to elections that are free and fair. That is my commitment.”
Then Obama turned to the embargo:
“I will maintain the embargo. It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: If you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations.”
We sent Diaz-Balart’s statement to a spokesman for Obama.
“I think its fair to report that there was significant progress here (regarding) the political prisoners – they released a large (number of prisoners) that we specifically requested,” Eric Schultz said. “The president has always been flexible on specifics (regarding) negotiations and clear there would be some give and take.”
Just a footnote that’s beyond the scope of Diaz-Balart’s claim: Obama articulated a more conciliatory position on Cuba when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 then he did four years later when he sought the White House.
“I think it’s time for us to end the embargo in Cuba,” Obama said on Jan. 20, 2004, in a speech at Southern Illinois University. “And the Cuban embargo has failed to provide the source of raising standards of living and it has squeezed the innocents in Cuba.” The embargo, he said, has “utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro, who’s now have been there since I was born. So, it’s time for us to acknowledge that that particular policy has failed.”
Our ruling
Diaz-Balart said that in 2008, Obama had said that normalization with Cuba would first require “liberation of all political prisoners, and some basic steps toward freedom, including freedom of the press, political parties, labor unions.”
Obama did suggest such a linkage in 2008, though his phrasing was open to some interpretation. And on other occasions during the 2008 campaign, Obama offered a vaguer formulation for how Cuban relations could be normalized. On those other occasions, Obama said that if he saw unspecified steps toward democratic change in Cuba, he might pursue normalized relations with Cuba.
Diaz-Balart’s claim glosses over these nuances, so we rate the claim Mostly True.
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