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Obama Invites Lawmakers to Join Him in Cuba

by Michael Bowman March 08, 2016

President Barack Obama has invited U.S. lawmakers of both parties to join him on a history-making trip to Cuba late next week. Although the full list has not been revealed, VOA spoke with several senators who confirmed receiving the invitation.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake tweeted he is "looking forward" to traveling to Cuba and hopes "it is not long until Congress restores the freedom of all Americans to do the same."

Fellow Republican Jerry Moran declined the invitation due to a scheduling conflict. "I am not able to go,' said Moran. But the senator from the state of Kansas has long supported selling U.S. agricultural products to Cuba.

"Economic ties create greater pressure on the Cuban government to change the nature of its relationship, between the government and its people,' said Moran. 'I think economic opportunities create greater demands for personal freedoms and liberties, and so I think the two are related."

Asked if he supports Obama's diplomatic opening with Cuba, Moran would only say, "After 50-60 years, we might try something different."

But Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, a Cuban-American, says Cuba's human rights record does not merit a diplomatic thaw between Washington and Havana. Similar criticism has come from two Republican Cuban-American senators, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both of whom are running for president this year.

The Senate's second-ranking Democrat, Richard Durbin, sees the issue differently.

"This president, I believe, has moved us to a new, more realistic level of foreign policy, engaging the Cubans, doing our best to open Cuba, so that new ideas, new thinking new opportunities can come to the island,' said Durbin. 'The president visits many countries where we disagree with their leadership and disagree with their policies. But he still tries to engage them and encourage them to move toward democratic standards. That is exactly what is happening here."

Durbin says he wants to accompany Obama to Cuba, and is attempting to rearrange his schedule to be able to do so.