Florida Senate votes to oppose U.S.-Cuba relations

Florida Senate votes to oppose U.S.-Cuba relations
Kathleen McGrory, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Tuesday, March 24, 2015 1:27pm

TALLAHASSEE — In an emotional speech Tuesday, Sen. Anitere Flores,
R-Miami, asked her fellow lawmakers to oppose President Barack Obama's
recent decision to open up diplomatic relations with Cuba.

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All but one agreed.

The measure, which also discourages the federal government from allowing
a Cuban consulate in Florida, is largely symbolic. But it was important
for the Cuban-American members of the state Senate, Flores said.

"A lot of my friends and colleagues have asked why we care so deeply,"
she said on the Senate floor.

Flores told the story of how her mother had fled the island nation as a
girl.

She spoke about the "hundreds of thousands (who) sit in prison every day
for having the gall to stand up and say something." And she showed
photographs of the Ladies in White, the wives and family members of
imprisoned Cuban dissidents who hold regular protests in Havana.

"They are spit upon, they are beat up, they are harassed," Flores said.

Flores said the Obama administration's decision to ease travel
restrictions to Cuba would allow American visitors to "have it all,"
while Cuban residents would continue to suffer.

"I know you've seen the pictures of the beautiful beaches were the
tourists can go," she said. "No one who is a Cuban citizen can go to
those places."

Her call was echoed by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a Miami
Republican who said members of his family had been imprisoned and killed
for speaking out against the government.

Diaz de la Portilla said the new Cuba policy would "do nothing but
ensure that the (Castro) regime stays in power."

"To think that by spending American cash, so Americans can buy Cuban
cigars and Cuban rum and stay at hotels on stolen land, that these two
obstinate octogenarian dictators and their cronies are going to change
anything is naive at best," he said.

Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, urged his colleagues to "send a message to
this administration that we understand the plight and the problems
(Cubans) are facing, and that we must continue to put the pressure on
the Castro regime to open up and be transparent."

The measure passed on a voice vote, with Senate President Andy Gardiner,
R-Orlando, saying he was proud to stand with the members of the
Miami-Dade legislative delegation.

Only one senator opposed the proposal.

Senate Democratic Leader Arthenia Joyner, a Tampa Democrat, said she
understood the Cuban-American senators' "passion and pain." But she
defended the Obama administration's "historic steps to chart a new
course" in Cuba.

"I know in my heart that there was no malice intended by the
promulgation of this policy by the Obama administration, and I know that
his moving this forward is an effort to bring freedom to the Cuban
nation," Joyner said.

A similar proposal, sponsored by South Florida Republican Reps. Manny
Diaz Jr. and Jeanette Núñez, is moving through the House of Representatives.

Source: Florida Senate votes to oppose U.S.-Cuba relations | Tampa Bay
Times -
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/florida-senate-votes-to-oppose-us-cuba-relations/2222619