MIAMI.- Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the federal Congress described relations between Cuba y China, one day away from the second anniversary of the massive protests of the 11J on the Caribbean island.
During a meeting at the headquarters of the 2506 Brigade museum in Hialeah Gardens, a neighboring city of Miami, Republican and Democratic legislators reiterated their support for the fight for Cuba’s freedom, while warning about how “dangerous” it can be. the installation of a Chinese training base in Cuban territory.
The chairman of the committee, Texas Republican Michael McCaul, assured that “everyone here is fighting for freedom in Cuba. It is a matter of national security, Cuba is 90 miles from Florida. We support the people of Cuba, we want the freedom of Cuba”.
In addition to McCaul, his fellow congressmen María Elvira Salazar, Brian Mast, Mario Díaz-Balart, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Jared Moskowitz were present at the event, which was well attended.
Meanwhile, on behalf of the Cuban exile, the coordinator of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance (ARC), Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat; the activist Rosa María Payá and the singer Eliecer Márquez Duany, known as El Funky. Also among the public were prominent fighters for the cause of democracy in Cuba.
The legislators were concerned about the announcement that reports the location of a Chinese base on Cuban soil, near the United States Southern Command, whose headquarters are in Miami.
“These military intelligence assets in Florida could potentially be compromised by the Chinese spy station in Cuba,” McCaul warned.
Congresswoman Salazar pointed out that “the Cuban people are not from Mars. They want the same things that we as Americans want: freedom, capitalism, and the pursuit of happiness. I am fighting every day in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on behalf of my constituents in the 27th District who demand freedom for Cuba.”
Salazar, like McCaul and Díaz-Balart, emphasized the “threat” that Cuba constitutes for the national security of the United States. “It is not only a matter of human rights, but of the security of our country,” stressed Díaz-Balart, who incidentally demanded more sanctions against the Cuban regime.
McCaul was emphatic in affirming that “we have the obligation to support the freedom of Cuba,” to which he added that “the people of Cuba deserve freedom.”
The statements by the six legislators of the US Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee, together with Cuban activists, took place on the eve of the massive protests that took place on the island in July 2021, when Cubans took to the streets to demand freedom and better living conditions.
Since then, hundreds of activists and representatives of civil society have been in prison after summary trials that resulted in long sentences, as punishment for the popular uprising that put the Havana regime on edge.
For their part, both Gutiérrez-Boronat and Payá appealed to the solidarity of the United States and the world to achieve the release of Cuban political prisoners. El Funky, meanwhile, spoke of the “terrible conditions” in which the activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is in prison. Likewise, he alluded to José Daniel Ferrer.
“Let’s be prepared because an uprising is coming. We all want a change for the island. If we put a little more force into it, this year we will be able to achieve the freedom of Cuba”, said the singer, who is one of the voices of the musical theme ‘Patria y Vida’, which has become a hymn for the freedom of Cuba.
Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz also joined the call for a return to democracy in the island nation. “We must continue the fight for the freedom of Cubans, every day,” she remarked.
He also said that “allowing China to enter Cuba is totally unacceptable,” for which he considered it pertinent to “apply more sanctions” to the Cuban regime” and seek to “unite families to achieve democracy.”
