ISLAMABAD (AP) — Cuba has completed the release of 53 political prisoners that was part of last month’s historic deal between the United States and Cuba, the U.S. said Monday.
The prisoners had been on a list of opposition figures whose release was sought as part of the U.S. agreement last month with the Cuban government. They had been cited by various human rights organizations as being imprisoned by the Cuban government for exercising internationally protected freedoms or for their promotion of political and social reforms in Cuba.
The U.S. has verified the release, according to an official traveling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Islamabad. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the issue on the record.
Last month, Cuba and the U.S. agreed to work to restore normal diplomatic relations as part of a deal in whichCuba freed an imprisoned U.S. aid worker along with an imprisoned spy working for the U.S. and the imprisoned dissidents. The U.S. released several Cuba intelligence agents. The deal came after 50 years of hostility between the two countries.
“Certainly, for those 53 prisoners, it’s a great deal. We don’t know who they are,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in an appearance Monday on “CBS This Morning.”
Rubio said he supports improving ties with Cuba but said he’s worried that the Cubans are getting virtually everything they want from the United States for “these minimal changes.”
He said he wants to be certain that improved relations between Washington and Havana provides equal benefits to the U.S.
“My interest in Cuba is freedom and democracy,” he said. Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who’s considering a run for the presidency, said there is “no current example” around the world where a “government of resistant tyranny” has moved to greater freedom and democracy as a result of changes in international relations that are based on economic incentives.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Rubio’s objections are partisan. We all know that. Read his words and you can feel him straining to find something to be critical of. As for this being “economic incentive” alone: hooey. Anything that gets America in Cuba ( our popular culture most importantly ) precipitates the end of the Castro regime. Castro KNOWS this and knows the embargo has worked to sustain him. He also knows that Cuba is going to take a different path either with him or without him.
When they write the history books on this crap its the South Florida Cuban that will take the heat. They have in their insular behavior perpetuated the Casto’s and the misery of the Cuban people. Thank God we’ve stopped listening to them and let the other 99.9 % of America form American foreign policy.
What’s with the anti-logic required to interview Sen. Marco Rubio on this topic. He isn’t particularly knowledgable on the subject, is not an authority in the Senate, nor has he ever expressed opinions that weren’t reflexively the opposite of whatever the Obama Administration is proposing.
Being of Cuban heritage is a nice background for his interest, but so far his stated views are diametrically opposed to those of even his Cuban -American constituents! Modern journalism is o lazy!
“there is “no current example” around the world where a “government of resistant tyranny” has moved to greater freedom and democracy as a result of changes in international relations that are based on economic incentives.”
What exactly does that mean? Oh yeah, it doesn’t have to mean anything, just as long as it uses big words and buzz words the knee-jerk south-Florida Republicans will applaud.
Any idiot should be able to look at China and Russia to see what happens to communism once the population gets a dose to capitalism.
Rubio is gradually realizing the Cuban wedge issue is being taken off the table, along with any hopes of his presidential candidacy.
“Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who’s
considering a run for the presidency, said there is “no current example”
around the world where a “government of resistant tyranny” has moved to
greater freedom and democracy as a result of changes in international
relations that are based on economic incentives.” Well, nice fudge factor. What does “current” mean? Go back just a few years and there’s the example of Myanmar. “Based on economic incentives” gives Rubio a fudge factor because there’s always more than one cause.