Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued this statement following the news that the United States and Cuba have reached an agreement to formally restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies in Washington, D.C. and Havana:

“Establishing full diplomatic relations with Cuba is consistent with President Obama's record of being out-negotiated by authoritarian and anti-American regimes.  Since December’s announcement, we’ve seen no real progress on human rights for the Cuban people, or the settling of property claims. 

“Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has given no indication that it would use an Embassy in Havana to press to protect the Cuban worker whose wages are taken by the Castro regime to finance its continued repression of the Cuban people, while lining the pockets of Communist Party officials.  

“The secret negotiations that fell so short of achieving long-standing and important U.S. policy objectives should have been ended.  If this is how the White House negotiated with the desperate Cuban leadership, the American people should be deeply concerned with its ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran’s aggressive Ayatollah.”

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