Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) released the following statement on President Obama’s decision to travel to Cuba:

“A year ago, President Obama said he wouldn’t visit Cuba unless he could confidently say ‘we’re seeing some progress in the liberty and freedom and possibilities of ordinary Cubans.’  So what has changed?  The Cuban people continue to be denied basic rights.  Assaults on democracy advocates have persisted.  Cuban workers continue to be exploited.  And in 2015 alone, the Castros jailed nearly 9,000 political prisoners. 

“The Obama administration’s one-sided concessions have only shored up a communist regime that brutalizes its people.  When President Obama lands in Havana, how will he stand up for human rights?”

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