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Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference Today with Members of Congressional Delegation to Cuba, Dominican Republic & Haiti

February 24, 2015

Contact: Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Members of the Congressional delegation trip to Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti held a press conference today. The press conference comes after Leader Pelosi last week led the first official House of Representatives delegation trip to Cuba since President Obama announced the change in U.S. policy toward the island nation in December. Below is a transcript of Leader Pelosi's opening and closing remarks, as well as a question and answer session:

Leader Pelosi's Opening Remarks:

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. On Sunday, we returned from a Congressional Delegation trip to the Greater Antilles – that is how it was referred to there. We started our journey in Cuba, and we had a very eventful visit there. We went on to the Dominican Republic, and then to Haiti.

"Starting in Cuba, we had the privilege of meeting with the first Vice President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, appointed to be the first Vice President – some say, next in line, heir apparent, I have no idea – but a next generation leader. We met with the Vice President of the National Assembly, their legislature; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez; we met with the Director of U.S. Affairs, Josefina Vidal, who is engaged in negotiations with Secretary Jacobson at this time; we went to the Latin American School of Medicine. We were honored to have a meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Cuba, and we met with members of civil society.

"Our Chief of Mission, or what they call the ‘Special Interest Section,' Jeffrey DeLaurentis, arranged for us to have dinner with twelve ambassadors from allied nations, who gave us their impression of what the President's action was. We were very, very, very proud of President Obama coming forth and joining with President Castro to start a new path of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. We found that the people in the street in Cuba were very enthusiastic about that. Everyone we met with was very positive about that. That's what we agreed on.

"We had some areas of disagreement that related to human rights, and our Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee addressed that, and will, I'm sure, in his remarks here – as did Mr. McGovern, who is the Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. But it was a subject that all of our Members addressed. So that was, briefly, what we did in Cuba. I think, rather than going into every country right now – where we met with the President of the Dominican Republic, President Medina – he was very, very impressive, and we talked about the future of the Dominican Republic and the future in our relationships with them. The big subject of conversation there was the treatment of Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic. Congresswoman Velázquez will speak to us about that, among other things.

"We then went to Haiti. They just had a tragedy this week during one of their Carnival parades. We extended the sympathy of the American people when we met with President Martelly, as well as the Prime Minister and members of his cabinet. We visited two initiatives – one inspired by Paul Farmer that addresses the needs of orphan children in Haiti, and another that was about sustainable rural development. And, of course, in all three countries, our Ranking Member – once Chair, now Ranking Member – on the Agriculture Committee, Collin Peterson, took the lead in those discussion. And we ended our visit to Haiti at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. It was a cathedral that – five years ago, five years ago in January, was the earthquake – was completely devastated, looked bombed-out really more than an earthquake, more like a bombing. We prayed for the victims of the earthquake, the victims of the Carnival tragedy, and the people of Haiti there.

"So, from beginning to end, we had a very inspiring visit. I was very proud of our Delegation in terms of the standing on the issues and the authority that they brought to the subjects at hand. We had lively discussions, about what we agreed on and what we disagreed on. Of course, in Haiti, we said: ‘You must have elections.' And, well – our Members will address all of these.

"So, on our delegation was Eliot Engel, the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, you will hear from him; and then next, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a Member of the House Democratic Leadership, the Ranking Member on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services; Collin Peterson, Ranking Member and former Chair of Agriculture; Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Ranking Member on Telecommunications and Technology Subcommittee of Energy & Commerce; Nydia Velázquez, Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee, as well as senior Member on the Financial Services Committee – all of these Committees were important in terms of the subject matter; Jim McGovern, as I said, Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, also a Member of the Rules Committee and the Agriculture Committee, so he weighed in on that as well; Steve Israel, a Member of the Leadership, Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, and a Member of Appropriations Defense Subcommittee; David Cicilline, Foreign Affairs and Judiciary, immigration and LGBT human rights issues along the way.

"We were supposed to be joined by – but within the last 24 hours of our departure, Congresswoman Barbara Lee could not join us because her mother passed away. But she was with us in spirit, because she helped formulate the trip, as well as the issues we would address. And she's very respected in Cuba. We brought her respects to all that we met, and they extended their condolences back to Congresswoman Barbara Lee – a very important figure in US-Cuba relations. There's so much more to tell you about. It was very positive, very exciting, very candid. It was productive, it was positive, it was candid, and to tell you more about it, I yield first to the gentleman who is Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Engel. And then, you'll hear from the others in the order in which I mentioned them. Mr. Engel."

Leader Pelosi's Closing Remarks:

"In any event, as has been said, the December announcement by President Obama is something that we're very proud of – that he had, to use his word, the audacity to move our country to a place where we could perhaps open up diplomatic relations with Cuba. As has been said, it was very well-received in Cuba. The negotiations are going on between Josefina – she's like a one-name person, Josefina Vidal – and our Secretary Jacobson right now in the days and weeks ahead.

"So we're hopeful that that will produce a result. Again, it is a centralized economy and a communist country, and so we have no illusions about how quickly this can happen. But to end the [embargo] – we don't have an embargo on any country, communist or otherwise; we shouldn't have one on Cuba, and they should be taken off the list. As Mr. Engel has said, we want to see some progress in how the treat their people.

"But opening up diplomatic relations and providing credit, Congresswoman Velázquez can speak not only from her standpoint of small business but from the Financial Services Committee about credit being available so that our farmers and whatever in the United States can export to them. And that's not just to create business for our farmers, which is an aim in itself, but also to make Cuba more self-sufficient in farming. Three-quarters to 80 percent of their food is imported into Cuba. We can export to them seed, trackers, farm supplies, and know-how in order for them to become self-sufficient. So it is mutually beneficial in many, many respects.

"I just want to make one more point and that was: we spent a good deal talking about the plight of Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic. And when we were in both countries we said to both Presidents: talk to each other. And that's advice we should take ourselves as we deal with Cuba, to talk to each other.

"With that, we'd be pleased to take any questions you may have."

Yes, sir.

***

Q: Thank you very much. You brought, to all of the meetings that you had, the respect for human rights…

Leader Pelosi. Right.

Q: And right after you visited, the Cuban Regime repressed a bunch of protestors – critics of the government, and people that are in the opposition. Are you disappointed you went to Cuba you talked about human rights, and right when you left the island, the government reacted like this?

Congressman McGovern. Look, we are critical of any move that cracks down on human rights by any government, including the Cuban government. And we raised this issue on many occasions. But the question, is how do we effectively deal with this issue? And I think the choices we have are: continue to pursue a policy that, for fifty years, has been a miserable future, or pursue a different policy in which there are increased relations between our countries – and, by the way, increased relations by our peoples, which I think will ultimately push to open the island up. So yeah, we are disappointed when anybody's human rights are denied. But the issue that we want to raise is: what's a sensible policy? And we believe that engagement, we believe that the proposal that President Obama put forward is the best way to proceed. And we think that that's the best way to expect results, as well.

Q: In Haiti, there is debate about having the elections in June or in October. So my question is: are you going to support an election in June or in October, and having two or one election?

Leader Pelosi. Well, we want to have the elections as soon as possible. We spent a good deal of time with President Martelly talking about this very issue. Those elections are long overdue. They must take place. We were hopeful that, in January, the Senate would vote to advance – the Senate in Haiti – would advance these elections. They didn't get a quorum. There are always those who will stand in the way. The President expressed his own, shall we say, dissatisfaction, dismay, as to the fact that those elections are not in place. But he told us that it would be imminent, that it would happen, that the process would move forward for the elections. And we want them – the sooner, the better. We thought the difference between the summer and the winter or fall was too long a time to wait, and, in fact, impressed upon them that the law – the way it is written in our Foreign Operations Bill – says that we cannot proceed with the assistance that we want to give to Haiti, unless there are elections.

Q: In your talks in Cuba, did the issue of compensation for seized property ever come up? Or is it too early to even bring that topic of discussion up?

Congresswoman DeLauro. No

Leader Pelosi. Didn't come up.

Congresswoman DeLauro. Did not come up. Did not come up.

Q: Is it just too early, and nobody really wants to bring that up before you get assurances from them?

Leader Pelosi. No, we had other issues at hand. We're trying to get diplomatic relations so that we can talk about all of these issues. So we're a couple of steps away from getting down to the particulars. But they had plenty of other issues that they wanted to bring up with us, and we basically just said: Let's see if we can come to terms about how we can have a diplomatic relationship, and then we can move on to other issues.

Q: I have a question for Mr. Engel on foreign policy, but not on Cuba.

Leader Pelosi. Save it for later, Chad.

[Laughter]

Q: You've mentioned some steps, and the next steps that should come – the normalization of relationships that should come from the Administrative part of the government. But as Congress, you have also a couple of things you could do. So my question is: What are the next steps? There are a couple of bills proposed to end the embargo, to open up the traveling. How – now that you are in the minority, the Democrats are the minority – how can you push for those changes? And should Congress do something and then Cuba responds? Or are you going to do [something] regardless of what Cuba does?

Leader Pelosi. I'm going to yield to my colleagues, but just to say: Congresswoman Velázquez has had a bill to end the embargo for what, 20 years or something?

Congresswoman Velázquez. 21 years ago. That was one of the first [pieces of] legislation that I introduced, together with Congressmen Charlie Rangel and Serrano. Look: Public sentiment is everything. And if you look at the polls in America, in the United States, the majority of the people in this country support the actions taken by President Obama. And we cannot continue in this stagnation that hasn't produced any positive results for either side. So it's time to move forward. And I believe that our leaders from both parties should address the issue of lifting the embargo. It will be beneficial from both sides – Cuba and the United States.

Congresswoman DeLauro. I think something that is little known, and I said this as well in Havana when we did the press conference: I've been in the Congress for 25 years. Fifteen of those years, at least, I have worked in a bipartisan way. Congressman McGovern, and myself, and others have been part of a working group to look at all of the issues that have been outlined – human rights, embargo, credit. We have been in touch with the Administration on these efforts. We've been cognizant of the repression, or oppression, etc., and trying to move that ball as well. There is a very strong bipartisan sentiment to engage with Cuba, and it's our view, and our belief that, in fact, if that piece of legislation that were talking about – of lifting the embargo – were brought by the majority to the floor of the House of Representatives, we could win that vote. This is not a Democratic issue, or a Republican issue. We are interested in the broad-based efforts that will allow us to have a dialogue and a communication with Cuba. We want to look at the diplomatic relationships we've mentioned, about embassy here, embassy there, on the State-Sponsored Terrorism list. We're of the view that they should come off. We're looking to Cuba to make some movements that suggest the forward process. They're aware of that. We are. That's why we are enthusiastic to be able to work together in a bipartisan way to achieve the goals.

Congressman Engel. I want to stress, again, that engagement is really important. If we want to see positive change in Cuba, then we need to be engaged, we need to tell them what we think. This is not a matter of visiting them and sweeping differences under the rug, or turning a blind eye, or looking the other way. No, not at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite: by our going to Cuba in a positive way, we let the Cubans know that we have very serious concerns with the things they do, the repression in that country put on by the government.

But the question is: What is the best way to end that repression? Is it to just simply ignore them, as we've done for 50 years? Or is it to try to engage with them, and to say to them: The ball is in your court. We want to see positive change. Now, if there's no change at all, I'll be very disappointed. And then we'll have to reconsider what we do. But for now, I think that this trip was a wonderful way of trying to push things forward for the Cuban people, to change their repression that has been there as part of that government for more than 50 years. We mentioned human rights at every meeting. We talked about things at every meeting. We didn't sweep anything under the rug. And I think, as a result of that, the Cuban people and the American people are going to be a lot better.

Congresswoman Eshoo. There are just two quick things that I'd like to add to what was just referred to, and that is that in our meeting with Cardinal Ortega – it was an enriching meeting, because he obviously had his hand in the communications with the Vatican, with Pope Francis, with those in our country so that advancement could be made. And he was highly instructive to us. I mean, he is the representative of the Church, of Christ, in Cuba. So the depth of the discussion was around the issues that are being raised here, and how important the engagement is.

And one quick anecdote: when we were in Cuba and were hosted at a very nice luncheon, we held the press conference, and at the luncheon, I sat next to someone that may be younger than just about all of you here. He was a blogger. And I asked him how many were part of what he was doing – it was millions. And I received an email from him just a little while ago. I gave him my personal email address. I said: "Let's stay in touch." And he said: "Since I was born, I was told that you are the enemy. And I met you, and you reminded me of my mother."

[Laughter]

Leader Pelosi. I thought she was going to tell you about when we went to Mass on Ash Wednesday to get the ashes, while the others went to Synagogue to get the blessing, and the Cardinal welcomed us, and really was very proud of the role the Church had played – that Pope Francis had played – in this December announcement. When you're asking about Congress and the rest, we have to understand the ramifications of our actions, too. For example, it is very well recognized that the private sector, the entrepreneurial spirit, the small businesses – the number has increased, what, from 150 to 500 – half a million in the past four and a half years. And that is an important part of breaking the lock of a centralized economy in a communist country. But we have regulations or attitudes that say, nothing that we do can help small businesses in Cuba.

Now why would we have such a thing if, in fact, we object to a centralized economy, a communist system? Wouldn't we think it's a good idea to support the private sector, small businesses, entrepreneurship? Instead, there is that attitude of, again, looking backward rather than looking forward. So we have to just take a look at all these things and say: what are they in furtherance of? Are they in furtherance of improvement, progress, or they're just a perpetuation of the past in a way that is, in some ways, not even smart?

Yes, ma'am. I think we only have time for one more question because we have other…

Q: Is there any discussion about the refugees from those countries that have come to the United States?

Leader Pelosi. Yes. I want to yield to Nydia to talk about the refugees from Haiti to Dominican Republic. But again, looking at our goals for Haiti – my first trip there was 1997 and this is my fourth of fifth trip to Haiti. And every time, our goal was to improve the situation in Haiti to reduce the number of refugees coming to the United States in very unsafe ways. So there was a connection. Then there was the connection between Haiti and the Dominican Republic of refugees going across the border – children born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents, what is there status? So Nydia is an expert on category ‘A', category ‘B', you name it, in terms of all of that. And of course, we have the Cuban Adjustment Act, and if that would change what that would mean for wet foot, dry foot – you know, all of that.

But mostly we spent a lot of time on the subject of Haitians and the Dominican Republic. We did take great pride in the fact that our Secretary of Labor is of Dominican descent. His grandfather – he told me on Sunday when I spoke to him – I said: "We're very proud of you in the Dominican Republic, Secretary Perez, that you are the first, I think, Dominican to be in the Cabinet." He said: My grandfather was Ambassador to the United States from the Dominican Republic, and he split with Trujillo on the treatment of Haitian refugees into the Dominican Republic, as one area of – he said: that's how we got to the United States.

Did you want to speak to that?

Congresswoman Velázquez. Well I would just like to add that both sides – the Haitian government and the Dominican government – they understand that it's important to deal with this issue. We have 800,000 Haitians who, at this point because of the ruling of the court, might be stateless. And the Dominican government was working with the Prime Minister of Haiti, who was no longer in office. And so the President of Haiti appointed a new Prime Minister, and we encouraged them to start negotiations again. And the fact that there is a time limit in the summer and we have 800,000 people, and especially the children so that they can get the services, the education, and health care and et cetera; but only 150,000 people have been able to go through the process because it is required for them to provide documentation that will prove that they are Haitian, that they were born in Haiti, and that they now live in the Dominican Republic. Many of these people came to the Dominican Republic to work and then they stayed there and they raised their families.

But I believe the President of the Dominican Republic understands that this is not an issue that is just an internal issue, that the international community is looking at this issue as well as the Dominican community in the United States. I was contacted by Dominican elected officials in New York. They held a press conference saying that we must protect everyone who lives in the Dominican Republic. So we are optimistic that they are going to reengage and produce the results that everyone is expecting.

As we all know too well, immigration is a quite difficult issue, but it will take for the two countries to come together and provide the resources that are needed: Haiti to produce documentation and the Dominican Republic to do the outreach and open regional offices throughout the Dominican Republic so that they facilitate this process.

Congresswoman DeLauro. Let me just talk about, very quickly – we've talked about trade, we've talked about human rights, we've talked about freedom of speech. These are all enormously important, critical issues for us. On some other respects, we had the opportunity to go to the Cuban medical school. They are doing good work in science and in vaccine discovery, in the treatment of diabetes and how to prevent amputations, cancer screenings. The facilitation of that dialogue and the opening of those doors allows for the exchange between our National Institutes of Health, our Center for Disease Control – and that's true for the CDC in the Dominican Republic and particularly in Haiti where there are serious health problems. But in Cuba, opening that door opens a vista in some areas of real cross-exchange. I talked about cultural exchange. Some of the other issues that are critically important is sex trafficking and violence against women. And we talked about all of those issues – a big issue and one that we've worked so hard on here. Those are ways in which we can cooperate in a very serious, important way to bring some relief in those areas and to benefit from the open exchange as we try to tackle a whole range of issues. And that's what's critically important about keeping those lines of communication open.

Leader Pelosi. Needless to say, the better the economies are in those countries, the more success people will have at home. And that would be a good thing as well.

You had a question for Mr. Engel.

Q: Well I do, in fact, on another subject, and thank you for letting me ask it here. On the Iran negotiations here, there's some consternation that maybe it doesn't go as far as what the Administration initially purposed. Are you concerned about this as we get closer to the deadline and closer to the Netanyahu visit next week, and what this means?

Congressman Engel. Well, of course I'm concerned as all my colleagues are concerned about the negotiations and what finished product will come out. We don't know; it's all speculation. So I wouldn't want to speculate on what might happen or what might not happen. Needless to say, we want the strongest deal possible. The President has said, and I agree, Iran must not and will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and for me, that's the bottom line.

Leader Pelosi. If I just may close by saying: as we come back here and we talk about our security and our relationship to Iran and our relationships with other countries in our hemisphere and how it's in our national security [interest] to have good relationships, it's really sad to see the gamesmanship, the – I don't even know what to call it – the silliness that the Republicans in the Congress are engaged in on our homeland security. On our homeland security. We take an oath to protect, and that is completely undermined by the actions taken. "Now it's: now you see it, now you don't; I want to put a bill out there – if you vote for this I promise you I'll bring up that. Remove all doubt.

My colleague Bill Pascrell held a press conference in his district that many Members have done also: what does this mean to your home, homeland security? What does this mean in your community? And if we are not going to have a homeland security bill that is funded to the end of the year, then it all seriously undermines our homeland security. And the point is that you can't engage in training of First Responders, building of fire stations – whatever it happens to be – on a six-week by six-week basis. What is their purpose? What is their purpose? Why don't they just do the right thing?

The court has given them something to save their face. I don't agree with the court, but it has given them a path. They should take the path. But the fact is: that makes you think immigration was just an excuse. The reason they want to shut down government is because they want to shut down government. And that's wrong. And that's what we're going to be engaged in as we go forward.

And other countries look at us and think – as I said to you before – the whole world galvanized around what happened in Paris and what happens in terms of homeland security throughout the world. Everybody understands how serious it is, apparently except the Republicans in the Congress of the United States. So more on that tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Thank you all very much.

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Issues:Human Rights