On October 18, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan (Rep., WI), issued a press release with respect to the Obama Administration’s new relaxation of regulations regarding U.S. trade with Cuba that were discussed in a previous post. [1]
Ryan said, “The Castros continue to jail pro-democracy activists at a rate of hundreds per month, yet it is full steam ahead for the Obama administration’s efforts to appease this oppressive regime. President Obama’s latest move will only help finance the Castros’ grip on power and jeopardize the intellectual property rights of American businesses. As the past two years of normalizing relations have only emboldened the regime at the expense of the Cuban people, I fully intend to maintain our embargo on Cuba.”
This, in the opinion of this blogger, is an unfortunate development.[2] We will discover whether this was an electioneering maneuver to help Republican congressional candidates in some districts or a true statement of Ryan’s opinions and intended actions if the Republicans retain control of the House in this November’s election.
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[1] Ryan, Statement on Administration’s Unilateral Move to Lift Trade Restrictions on Cuba (Oct. 18, 2016); Reuters, Top Republican Pledges to Maintain Cuba Trade Embargo, N.Y. Times (Oct. 18, 2016).
[2] This blog has persistently called for ending the embargo. See posts listed in “U.S. Embargo of Cuba” in List of Posts to dwkcommentaries: Topical: CUBA.
