[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                   HISTORIC PROTESTS IN CUBA AND THE 
                     CRACKDOWN ON FREE EXPRESSION

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                 WESTERN HEMISPHERE, CIVILIAN SECURITY,
              MIGRATION AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY

                                 OF THE

                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                             July 20, 2021

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-62

                               __________

        Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov, 

                       or http://www.govinfo.gov
                       
                              __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
45-170 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------                        
                       
                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                  GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York, Chairman

BRAD SHERMAN, California              MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Ranking 
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey                  Member
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia	      CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida	      STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
KAREN BASS, California		      SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts	      DARRELL ISSA, California
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island	      ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
AMI BERA, California		      LEE ZELDIN, New York
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas	              ANN WAGNER, Missouri
DINA TITUS, Nevada		      BRIAN MAST, Florida
TED LIEU, California		      BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania	      KEN BUCK, Colorado
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota	      TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota		      MARK GREEN, Tennessee
COLIN ALLRED, Texas		      ANDY BARR, Kentucky
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan		      GREG STEUBE, Florida
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia	      DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania	      AUGUST PFLUGER, Texas
TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey	      PETER MEIJER, Michigan
ANDY KIM, New Jersey	              NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York
SARA JACOBS, California		      RONNY JACKSON, Texas
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina	      YOUNG KIM, California
JIM COSTA, California		      MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida
JUAN VARGAS, California		      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas		      RON WRIGHT, Texas
BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois              
                                   
                    Sophia Lafargue, Staff Director
               Brendan Shields, Republican Staff Director
                                 
                                 ------                                

 Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, Migration and 
                     International Economic Policy

                   ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey, Chairman

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                MARK GREEN, Tennessee, Ranking 
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                     Member
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas		     AUGUST PFLUGER, Texas     
JUAN VARGAS, California		     MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida
                  Alexander Brockwehl, Staff Director
                           
                           
                           C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

                               WITNESSES

Vivanco, Mr. Jose Miguel, Executive Director, Americas Division, 
  Human Rights Watch.............................................     9
Paya Acevedo, Ms. Rosa Maria, Director, Cuba Decide..............    18

                                APPENDIX

Hearing Notice...................................................    53
Hearing Minutes..................................................    54
Hearing Attendance...............................................    55

             ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

Amnesty International letter submitted for the record from 
  Representative Castro..........................................    56
Information submitted for the record from Rosa Maria Paya........    61

            RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

Responses to questions submitted for the record..................    65

 
     HISTORIC PROTESTS IN CUBA AND THE CRACKDOWN ON FREE EXPRESSION

                         Tuesday, July 20, 2021

                          House of Representatives,
                Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere,
                   Civilian Security, Migration and
                      International Economic Policy
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in 
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Albio Sires 
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
    Mr. Sires. Good morning, everyone. Thank you to our 
witnesses for being here today.
    And I would like everyone to know that this meeting was 
scheduled before what happened in Cuba. Not that I was 
prophetic. It's just that it so happens that it's very apropos 
to have this hearing today.
    This hearing, titled ``Historic Protests in Cuba and the 
Crackdown on Free Expression'' will come to order.
    Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a 
recess of the committee at any point and all members will have 
5 days to submit statements, extraneous materials, and 
questions for the record, subject to the length limitation in 
the rules.
    To insert something into the record, please have your staff 
email the previously mentioned address and contact subcommittee 
staff.
    As a reminder to members joining remotely, please keep your 
video function on at all times, even when you're not recognized 
by the chair. Members are responsible for muting and unmuting 
themselves, and please remember to mute yourself after you 
finish speaking.
    Consistent with H.R. Res. 8 and the accompanying 
regulations, staff will only mute members and witnesses as 
appropriate when they're not under recognition to eliminate 
background noise.
    I see that we have a quorum and I now recognize myself for 
opening remarks.
    What we have witnessed over the last week in Cuba is 
nothing short of historic. Cubans have taken to the streets by 
the thousands to call for freedom and democracy.
    They have been clear in demanding an end to the 
dictatorship. It is important to remember that public 
gatherings are totally prohibited in Cuba. So, every individual 
who has joined these demonstrations has put their lives on the 
line.
    They have decided that it is worth--it is worth it to risk 
jail time, beatings, torture, and even death if it means that 
Cuban people might finally have the chance to be free.
    We must not lose sight of just how powerful that is. The 
Cuban people are fed up. They have had enough of a repressive 
dictatorship. We must stand with them in their quest for 
freedom.
    I appreciate the statements of strong support we have seen 
so far from President Biden and Speaker Pelosi. I am ready to 
work with the Biden Administration to translate those 
statements into actions we can take--actions we can take to 
provide immediate support to the Cuban people. We need to work 
urgently to restore and expand internet access on the island.
    Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to solve this 
problem. The regime is effective at confiscating equipment 
needed for satellite connections, and it is adapting and 
improving its censorship tools with the technical support from 
the Chinese government.
    However, I believe we can still do much more to address 
this issue by working with private companies and civil society 
to expand internet access to help Cubans use the VPN and other 
circumvention tools.
    Another immediate step we should take is to identify and 
sanction perpetrators of human rights abuses under the 
Magnitsky Act. During the current crackdown on protesters, the 
Cuban State has carried out dozens of documented beatings on 
journalists and protesters, and hundreds of arbitrary arrests.
    We also know of at least one killing at the hands of the 
State security and we support their--and we suspect there are 
others. I believe we should immediately sanction every single 
official who has committed these severe human rights 
violations.
    We should also expand our support for those protesting or 
Cuban civil rights society, more broadly. I have long advocated 
for U.S. assistance to Cuban pro-democracy organizations. We 
should deepen that support at this critical moment.
    We must remember that there was a human rights crisis in 
Cuba before July 11th. They are already 150 political 
prisoners--there were already 150 political prisoners at the 
beginning of this month, and regime has increasingly targeted 
artists from the San Isidro movement.
    I call on our allies in Europe and Latin America to step up 
and work with us to promote human rights in Cuba.
    Now it's also the time to finally put an end to the Cuban 
doctors program. This is a State-sponsored form of human 
trafficking whereby 50,000 Cubans have their passports 
confiscated, their movements restricted, and their wages 
garnished. The regime retaliates against their family members 
if they try to leave the program.
    We saw in Venezuela how the Cuban doctors were ordered not 
to provide life-saving medical treatment to people who were not 
loyal to the Maduro government. This is shameful.
    I am glad Secretary Blinken highlighted this horrific, 
horrific program when we launched the State Department's 
Trafficking in Persons report.
    The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms 
of slavery and trafficking in persons have also denounced these 
forced labor programs.
    We need countries throughout the world to stand together in 
saying they will not work with the Cuban regime to exploit 
these doctors anymore.
    I will soon be introducing my legislation to address this 
important issue and I urge my colleagues to support it.
    I will end on a personal note. I fled Cuba with my family 
when I was 11 years old and I remember how the military came to 
my house and searched my house because they accused my father 
of hoarding merchandise.
    Luckily, somebody tipped off the family--we came from a 
very small town--and my father was able to take the merchandise 
and bury it in the backyard. So as the military pulled away, we 
were very fortunate somebody tipped us off.
    I also remember the military coming into my house as soon 
as we filed papers to leave and take inventory of every single 
item that we owned, from the house to the picture on the wall.
    And when we received our exit visa, they came back and 
checked off that every single item in that house was left 
behind to the Cuban government.
    Two months later, they turned the house over to a communist 
member, a party member in the town, that my father built. It 
was not a big house. It was a very modest house. But, still, 
you had to turn every single thing that you owned to the 
government before you could leave.
    I have not forgotten that. It is because of this repressive 
regime that I have never--I was never able to return to Cuba to 
see my grandmother before she died. I have spent every day 
since I left Cuba hoping it would 1 day become a democracy. I 
hope that this is the beginning of the end of the Castro and 
Diaz-Canel dictatorship.
    But what I know for sure is that the Cuban people provide 
an inspiring example of courage, and they deserve our full 
support.
    Thank you, and I will now turn to the ranking member, Mark 
Green, for his opening statement.
    Mr. Green. Thank you, Chairman Sires, and thank you for 
sharing your personal story as well. Thanks for holding this 
hearing and thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
    I especially want to thank Ms. Rosa Maria Paya. Rosa Maria. 
we applaud your courage in the face of tyranny. The testimony 
we're about to hear from her is from a courageous individual 
whose family has been permanently scarred.
    On July 22d, it will be 9 years since her father, Oswaldo 
Paya, and his colleague, Harold Cepero, were extrajudicially 
killed by the Cuban regime. He was a brave man and, 
regretfully, joins the ranks of many others who've died at the 
hands of the regime and under suspicious circumstances.
    Last Sunday was a momentous and an inspirational day. Tens 
of thousands of Cubans all throughout the country took to the 
streets demanding freedom from the communist dictatorship. Some 
even waved the American flag as they demanded libertad.
    Since 1959, Cuban people have been trapped by the iron grip 
of Fidel Castro, his brother, and its handpicked successor. 
Despite brutal and violent crackdowns from the regime, many 
courageous Cubans continued demanding their God-given right to 
liberty and democracy, something three generations and millions 
of Cubans have been deprived of.
    Let's be clear. This is not about COVID-19. This is not 
about the embargo. What are the Cuban people shouting in the 
streets? Libertad.
    Cubans are sick and tired of being oppressed and they are 
in the streets openly and bravely demanding an end to 
communism. Even prior to these recent protests, anti-regime 
sentiment has steadily increased in the country.
    In November, the communist regime broke up a hunger strike 
led by the San Isidro movement, a collective of artists, 
musicians, writers, and scholars. This led to a large protest 
by hundreds of artists and activists in front of the regime's 
Ministry of Culture.
    These protests have been dubbed by some observers as an 
awakening of civil society in Cuba, and it sure looks that way. 
A new generation is rising up and they want to live in freedom.
    I am in awe of the courage of the Cuban people and the many 
risks they take protesting the violent and brutal dictatorship. 
We must not ignore the dangers they face.
    An untold number of peaceful protesters and activists 
remain in prison. Demonstrators risk jail, degrading treatment, 
torture, even death, all for liberty.
    Additionally, the communist regime uses Chinese technology 
to block and censor internet service and disrupt communications 
across the island. These violations of basic human rights are 
absolutely unacceptable.
    We must demand action. This is a crisis that requires a 
bipartisan response. And, Chairman Sires, I know this issue 
hits home for you and I know you hear, as no one else can, the 
Cuban people's cries for liberty and dignity.
    Holding the communist regime accountable for its repressive 
policies while supporting the people's quest for freedom and 
democracy is crucial.
    I hope we can prioritize this issue for the good of all 
Cubans and for the good of the Western Hemisphere, at large. 
The Cuban people have never experienced the kind of self-
government and freedom that many Americans take for granted.
    As the freest and most prosperous nation in the world, the 
United States must unequivocally stand with the Cuban people 
against the communist regime.
    There's a light at the end of the tunnel, and Cuba has 
never been closer. When will the Cuban people finally be free? 
When people of faith are no longer afraid of arbitrary 
detentions, threats, and harassment from communist officials, 
that is liberty.
    When artists, musicians, and writers can freely express 
their political opinions in song without fear of retaliation, 
that is liberty. When parents do not have to wait hours in line 
for basic staples like rice and beans just to feed their 
starving children, that is liberty.
    When the dying communist regime breathes its last breath, 
when a sovereign republic takes its place, and when separated 
families are reunited in a free Cuba, that is liberty.
    Mr. Chairman, the people of Cuba are looking to the United 
States for help and guidance. I look forward to working with 
you to answer their cries.
    Thank you, and I yield.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you very much, Ranking Member Green.
    I will now yield to Ranking Member McCaul for his opening 
statement.
    Mr. McCaul. Thank you, Chairman Sires and Ranking Member 
Green, for your passionate remarks this morning, and for 
holding this important hearing on historic protests that we are 
seeing in Cuba.
    I think this is a pivotal point in history. It's a moment 
in time, and we need to take advantage of it.
    Since last Sunday, tens of thousands of brave Cubans from 
all around the country have protested the communist 
dictatorship that has repressed them for over 60 years, and 
despite being met with brutal violence and censorship, they 
continue risking their lives to fight for freedom.
    And as freedom-loving Americans, we stand with them. The 
people of Cuba were promised communism would work. They were 
told to sacrifice their freedoms and ambitions in exchange for 
a utopia of equality and world-class health care.
    Instead, three generations over 60 years have been doomed 
to misery and shortages as a result of this failed ideology. 
Brave Cubans have woken up to the lies and propaganda fed to 
them by Fidel Castro and his cronies, and the world must bear 
witness and recognize the significance of this historic time.
    And they are protesting the dictatorship waving the 
greatest symbol of liberty, libertad, known to man, the 
American flag, because they know and the regime knows that 
America stands for everything the Cubans are fighting for: 
freedom, liberty, and democracy.
    Regime thugs are snatching innocent Cubans from their homes 
simply for calling for freedom, and we know the Venezuelans are 
in there, too, with their military as they crack down--they 
knock doors down and take people out of their homes and throw 
them in prison.
    The idea that a protester will be sentenced to 20 years in 
prison for simply exercising what we--what is sacred in this 
country and it's the right to free speech, and they are 
violently cracking down and violating the religious freedoms 
and liberties of the Cuban people.
    They're also using Chinese technology to block and censor 
internet access from the island, and this committee will be 
working with technologies within the State Department to open 
up those lines of communication.
    We cannot let our adversaries take advantage of the 
situation and infiltrate our hemisphere. And the world is 
watching, and they're watching very closely what we do at this 
moment in time.
    These human rights violations cannot and will not go on 
punished. Cubans deserve liberty and all that it entails, and 
we must do everything in our power to fight with them for their 
freedom.
    And that work begins in Congress and it begins at the White 
House. I was proud to co-sponsor a bipartisan resolution with 
my colleagues stating our solidarity with the brave Cuban 
people.
    We must also make sure the Administration is doing 
everything it can to provide uncensored internet access around 
the country. We need to work with the Biden Administration to 
lead the international effort for Cuban freedom and freedom 
fighters, supporting the democracy leaders and activists on the 
island.
    Simply put, we have a moral obligation and a duty to 
support their aspirations. We need our democratic and freedom-
loving allies around the world and peace-loving people around 
the world to stand with the people of Cuba, to support them 
against this oppressive regime.
    I want to take this moment to commend our witness, Rosa 
Maria Paya, for her strength, for her advocacy. Almost 9 years 
ago her father was murdered by the Cuban regime, and we are so 
sorry, Ms. Paya.
    And many others were, too, and many sit in prison rotting 
in jails because of this monster and his successors. He was an 
internationally known Cuban dissident, your father, and to this 
day, his death has never been properly investigated.
    Your family, like many others, who dare to speak to the 
truth to power has paid the ultimate price in your struggle for 
freedom, and I have to say, Ms. Paya, I admire your bravery. I 
want to thank you for being here today.
    What is happening in Cuba is all the proof we need that 
communism and socialism are bankrupted ideologies that can only 
lead to utter failure and human misery.
    So, in closing, as Cubans continue to stand up and reject 
communism and the dictatorship that has doomed three 
generations of Cubans, we just say we will stand with them as 
they bravely fight for freedom. Cuba libre.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Ranking Member McCaul.
    I will now introduce Mr. Jose Miguel Vivanco, who is a 
leading expert on human rights issues throughout Latin America 
and the Caribbean. He is an executive director of the Americas 
Division at Human Rights Watch.
    Mr. Vivanco previously worked as an attorney for the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights at the Organization of the 
America States. He is also the founder of the Center for 
Justice and International Law.
    Mr. Vivanco studied at the University of Chile and 
Salamanca Law School in Spain and holds a Masters of Laws 
degree from Harvard Law School.
    Mr. Vivanco, we welcome you to the hearing.
    We will then hear from Ms. Rosa Maria Paya. She is a widely 
recognized Cuban activist and a vocal advocate for freedom and 
human rights in Cuba.
    She serves as the director for Cuba Decide, an organization 
focused on restoring democracy and the rule of law to Cuba.
    She is the daughter of Aldo Paya, a well-known dissident 
who dedicated his life to the struggle for freedom in Cuba and 
who was killed at the hands of the regime in July 2012. Ms. 
Paya holds a degree in physics from the University of Havana.
    Ms. Paya.  thank you for joining us today.
    I ask the witnesses to please limit your testimony to 5 
minutes, and without objection, your prepared statements will 
be made part of the record.
    Mr. Vivanco, you are recognized for your testimony.

   STATEMENT OF MR. JOSE MIGUEL VIVANCO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 
             AMERICAS DIVISION, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

    Mr. Vivanco. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the 
subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today on 
this very, very important matter for human rights in the 
Western Hemisphere.
    This hearing could not be more timely. Since July 11th, 
thousands of Cubans have taken to the streets across the 
country in landmark demonstrations, protesting long-standing 
restrictions on rights, freedoms, the scarcity of food and 
medicines, and the government's response to the COVID-19 
pandemic.
    The Cuban Government has reacted with brutal repression and 
censorship. Since the protests began, several organizations 
have reported countrywide internet block and restrictions on 
social media and messaging platforms.
    Cuban rights groups report that around 500 people have been 
detained. Human Rights Watch has conducted thousands of 
interviews to document the government's response to the 
protests.
    We have received credible reports of police beatings and 
documented multiple cases of arbitrary detention of protesters, 
activists, and journalists, including many who have been held 
incommunicado and some whose whereabouts remain unknown.
    People detained include members of the San Isidro and 27N 
movements to coalitions of artists and journalists who have 
been facing a government crackdown.
    In recent months, Human Rights Watch has been continuously 
documenting abuses against them including arbitrary detention 
and restrictions of movement and communications.
    Victims include people who have performed in or even simply 
played or promoted ``Motherland and Life,'' a song by Cuban 
artists that challenge the Cuban government's old slogan, 
``Motherland or Death,'' patria o muerte, and criticize the 
repression in the country.
    We found consistent and repeated patterns in the abuses, 
which strongly suggest a plan by the Cuban authorities to 
systematically repress these independent artists and 
journalists.
    Mr. Chair and members of the subcommittee, even as the 
Cuban government insist on its decades-old repression, Cuba is 
changing.
    Thousands of Cubans are overcoming their fear of the 
government, and despite the government's attempts to restrict 
communications, increased access to the internet has enabled 
many to organize protests and reports on abuses in ways that 
were virtually impossible only a few years ago.
    At this critical juncture, we urge the U.S. Congress and 
the Biden Administration to take the necessary steps to 
dismantle the embargo and abandon the ongoing policy of 
isolation, which has been--which have produced no improvements 
on human rights in the island.
    For too long, the U.S. embargo has provided the Cuban 
government with an excuse for its problems, a pretext for its 
abuses, and a way to garner sympathy abroad with governments 
that might otherwise have been willing to condemn the country's 
repressive practices more vocally.
    Rather than isolating Cuba, the policy has isolated the 
United States, impeding the multilateral and coordinated 
approach that is needed to press the Cuban government to end 
its repressive policies and practice.
    I urge the U.S. Congress and the Biden Administration to 
take steps toward a new approach in Cuba, including, one, 
progressively dismantling the policy of isolation toward Cuba; 
two, collaborating with governments in Latin America and the 
European Union to ensure a multilateral and coordinated 
approach; three, working with these governments to monitor and 
denounce restrictions on access to internet in Cuba.
    Cuba is changing and it's past time the U.S. policy 
changes, too.
    Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Vivanco follows:]

                          STATEMENT OF VIVANCO
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Mr. Sires. Thank you.
    Ms. Paya.  I now turn to you for your testimony.

STATEMENT OF MS. Rosa Maria Paya.ACEVEDO, DIRECTOR, CUBA DECIDE

    Ms. Paya. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and thank you so 
much to all the Members of the Congress for this opportunity 
and for your kind words.
    My name is Rosa Maria Paya.from the citizen initiative Cuba 
Decide to promote human rights. Our network on the ground have 
seen explosive growth over the last 16 months.
    My father, Oswaldo Paya, was killed in Cuba under the 
orders of the Castro brothers on July 22d, 2012. The Cuban 
peoples are in the streets fighting for freedom. In at least 45 
cities massive protests took place. This regime has responded 
with brutal repression, causing countless arrests, injuries, 
and death.
    On national TV, Miguel Diaz-Canel has called for a war in 
the streets and to fight using any means. In the eastern 
provinces, the police shot one protester in the head. It is on 
video. The name of the victim is still unknown.
    Daniel Cardenas was shot inside his home in the city of 
Cardenas. His wife was present. It's on video.
    Diubis Laurencio was shot in the back and killed in 
Naranjo. It's on video. He was 36 years old and his family is 
now denouncing that officials precisely called him a 
delinquent.
    Videos show people arriving at hospitals badly hurt by 
police beatings and bullets, one shot in the arm, another in 
the leg, another in the stomach. The victims are workers and 
students, not only members of the organized opposition.
    FDP has documented at least 532 detained and missing 
persons, but we estimated the actual number to be in the 
thousands. The regime has its days numbered and the world is 
watching.
    In this context, to lift the sanctions against the Cuban 
regime is to fund the Cuban police and military who oppress the 
people in the streets, obeying top government officials like 
General Raul Castro, Miguel Diaz-Canel, General Rodriguez 
Lopez-Callejas, General Alvarez Casas, Minister of Interior, 
General Lopez Miera, Minister of the Armed Force.
    It is a moral imperative to stop the regime abuses after 62 
years of crimes against humanity perpetrated by a military 
dictatorship that has never been accountable.
    Despite the lack of food and medicine, the protesters are 
demanding freedom, human rights, and democracy. They were 
shouting, ``No more fear,'' ``Change is possible,'' and ``Down 
with the dictatorship.''
    None of them mentioned the U.S. embargo, but instead 
homeland and life, patria y vida, the alternative to the Castro 
slogan of ``Homeland or death.''
    To accept the blackmail of the migratory crisis by the 
Cuban regime is to fail the Cuban people. We urge the U.S. 
Government not to make unilateral concessions to the regime 
but, rather, demand the release of all political prisoners, an 
end for the repression, and respect for our fundamental 
freedoms, including the legalization of all political parties.
    I would like to share five policy recommendations from the 
majority of the Cuban civil society on and off the island.
    We humbly ask to the U.S. please, the U.S. should apply 
individual sanctions, making full use of the Global Magnitsky 
Act, targeting top officials and individuals involved in human 
rights abuses.
    The U.S. should replicate its approach to the South African 
apartheid and require all companies in relations with Cuba to 
mandatorily embrace the Sullivan principles.
    The U.S. should take action to break the regime's 
communication monopoly by enabling independent access to 
internet to Cubans, bypassing the censorship of the regime.
    The U.S. should invite the European Union and the 
Organization of American States--all the members of the 
Organization of American States to take similar steps and use 
all available tools, including the Inter-American Treaty of 
Reciprocal Assistance to address the threat posed by the Cuban 
regime.
    The regime is illegitimate and should continue to be 
excluded from the Summit of the Americas until it complies with 
the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
    The U.S. has the ability to stop the impunity of the regime 
and protect persons from its brutal repression. All options 
within the international law must be on the table to protect 
civilians' lives in Cuba.
    My father said that the American and the Cuban people
    [Spanish language spoken]. We want to be free and we want 
to be friends. Thank you for this opportunity, and thank you to 
the American people.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Paya follows:]

    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Sires. Thank you very much.
    Before I begin questions, I ask unanimous consent that 
Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Val Demings, Nicole 
Malliotakis, and Scott Perry participate at today's hearing 
after all subcommittee members have had the opportunity to 
participate in questioning the witnesses.
    I will now begin questions by recognizing myself for 5 
minutes.
    The State Department in 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report 
reports for Cuba maintained Cuba as a Tier 3 country. In his 
remarks at the launch of the report, Secretary of State Anthony 
Blinken said that the regime has profited from its exploitive 
overseas medical missions.
    What are some of the conditions that Cuban doctors are 
subjected to as part of this medical mission and what does the 
international community need to do to put an end to this 
exploitation?
    Mr. Vivanco?
    Mr. Vivanco. Mr. Chair, the Cuban doctors deployed in 
different parts of the world provide a valuable service to many 
communities in Latin America, in Africa, in Asia, but at the 
expense of their most basic freedoms. That is the price.
    To the point that we believe that the use of these doctors 
amount to the practice of forced labor, the Cuban doctors are 
subject of draconian rules that violate the right to privacy, 
freedom of expression and association, liberty of movement, 
among several other freedoms that are restricted during their 
missions when, you know, they are deployed in different 
communities and the Cuban government profits substantively with 
their service.
    Mr. Sires. Do you have an estimation of how much they 
profit? How much it makes for the island?
    Mr. Vivanco. It's quite difficult to get a number, for lack 
of transparency. So there are different type of figures out 
there. However, we are looking into a very, very significant 
income for the government of Cuba.
    Mr. Sires. And when these doctors are sent to these 
countries, they're sent by themselves? Families are left 
behind?
    Mr. Vivanco. Their families are left behind and they even 
restrict access to the money that they are supposed to be 
making until the conclusion of the mission.
    In other words, their promised payment, which is 10 times 
or more what they will be able to earn in their practice as 
doctors in Cuba. That is the attraction, of course.
    But the way that the Cuban government pay them and their 
family is conditioned to their performance in their communities 
and to the conclusion of the full program, usually after one or 
2 years.
    Mr. Sires. And if they ask for asylum in the country that 
they're serving, what happens?
    Mr. Vivanco. They lose the money that they're supposed to 
earn. That's why they pay at the end. They keep paying some 
small portions for them to be able to survive in the local--in 
the community--in the local country, as well as for the family 
to get some, you know, a stipend.
    But they might lose all the benefits and their family are 
not going to be able to leave the country. The Cuban doctor, if 
he's lucky, might get some political asylum in that country, 
but isolated for who knows how long from their family.
    Mr. Sires. Because he's never going to be able to bring the 
family to where he has asked for asylum?
    Mr. Vivanco. It will be very, very difficult.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you.
    You know, during the protests, the Cuban government shut 
down internet access in entire areas of the island. I know you 
made some recommendations on what this country can do. Can you 
expand on that?
    Ms. Paya. Yes, of course. Thank you so much.
    We have known that the United States and--for United 
States--and I'll thank you again--private enterprises are able 
or could have the capacity to provide internet access--
satellite internet access, bypassing the censorship of the 
regime.
    In this moment, we ask United States to move quickly and to 
enable the Cuban citizens with a way of communication that in 
this moment has the capacity of saved lives.
    Mr. Sires. Now, the reports are there are over 50 cities 
the people turned out while the--was the internet shut off in 
all those cities?
    Ms. Paya. Almost in all the island. Almost in all the 
island.
    Mr. Sires. The entire island?
    Ms. Paya. Almost the entire island. People just started 
communicating using wi-fi hotspots through VPNs. But it was 
very, very difficult to get any access to communication.
    Mr. Sires. Do you know the reaction of the EU to the 
shutting down of the internet and the people demonstrating on 
the island?
    Ms. Paya. Well, there have been--there have been reactions 
from the European parliament and from the European 
parliamentarians that have been very, very solidarios with the 
Cuban people.
    But I do not know of any response from the European 
External Action Service actually in the direction of supporting 
the Cuban people. Actually, they insist in maintaining a 
cooperation agreement that includes political dialog that have 
been already violated by the Cuban regime, which human rights 
laws have been already violated.
    Mr. Sires. My time is up. Thank you very much.
    Congressman Green?
    Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Rosa Maria.
    We often hear that the United States embargo is the 
primary--is the primary cause of lack of prosperity and 
democracy on the island.
    We hear that Cuban entrepreneurs would succeed only if they 
could trade and engage with their American counterparts. In 
previous testimony, you informed Congress, and I quote, ``There 
cannot be free markets where there are no free persons.''
    Could you elaborate on that?
    Ms. Paya. Yes, that's actually a phrase of my father, and 
thank you so much for your words about him. And I think that 
the best answer to your question is coming from the Cuban 
people in the streets.
    They were not asking for the end of the embargo. They were 
asking for the end of the dictatorship. The end of the 
dictatorship is a demand of the Cuban people. That's the demand 
alone, and that's the demand that we need solidarity to.
    Mr. Green. So just to make sure I heard you correctly, the 
people that are in the streets protesting, they're not 
protesting an embargo. They're protesting the communist regime 
that's in charge and a dictatorship over their--over their 
country?
    Ms. Paya. They have been shouting, ``Change is possible. 
Down with the dictatorship. No more fear. Freedom. Freedom. 
Freedom.'' I think that's eloquent enough.
    Mr. Green. It is. Thank you.
    It's interesting that small fringe elements of the left 
here are trying to say that it's the embargo. But truth be 
known, it really has nothing to do with the embargo.
    If you look at 90 percent of the companies in Cuba, they're 
held by military holding companies, meaning the Cuban military 
runs 90 percent of the economy in Cuba.
    Well, there's a law in the United States that says an 
American company cannot do business with the Cuban military. So 
if we lift the embargo, we cannot even do business with them. 
And where does the money go if 90 percent of the companies are 
held by the Cuban military?
    Well, it just empowers the dictatorship. This insane notion 
that lifting the embargo is going to somehow provide freedom 
for the Cuban people is crazy. It's absurd.
    And the only reason you would say that is unless you're 
trying to hide behind socialism and communism as an effective 
model. But everywhere else it's been in the world it's been 
disproved.
    Let's look at North Korea. They cannot get rice. They're 
starving. Remember, the USSR and Berlin? They built a wall to 
keep their people in. And socialism, look at Venezuela.
    It is not the embargo, Mr. Chairman, that is causing the 
people of Cuba to suffer under this totalitarian dictatorship 
and lifting it will only empower them. Cuba's egregious 
religious freedom violations well documented and they are 
widespread.
    The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has 
called for Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on the head of Cuba's 
Office of Religious Affairs, Caridad Diego, for her direct role 
in leading campaigns of repression against Cuba's religious 
communities.
    Can you both share examples of how the regime restricts and 
penalizes religion in policy and practice?
    Sir, if we could start with you.
    Mr. Vivanco. The exercise of fundamental freedoms in Cuba 
depends on the degree of tolerance of the Cuban government. 
There is no rule of law in Cuba. There is a total concentration 
of power, no independent judiciary. The judiciary is under the 
subordination of the executive branch. If the government 
believe that is----
    Mr. Green. If I could--if I could interrupt you just a 
second. I think I understood you to say there's no rule of law. 
It's just total power concentrated in the hands of the 
dictatorship.
    Mr. Vivanco. Exactly.
    Mr. Green. How then--I'm going to--I'm going to flip back 
to my previous question, because you supported lifting this 
embargo.
    How then if the total power is all in the hands of one 
individual does lifting the embargo free the people? I do not 
understand.
    Mr. Vivanco. Congressman Green, in foreign policy, you have 
multiple options. If you want to influence, if you want to have 
impact on the record of any given country, the option that you 
have chosen for over or close to 60 years is the isolation. 
That policy has bring no change in Cuba. I believe----
    Mr. Green. Well, I would submit to you right now there's 
change happening. There are thousands of Cubans in the streets. 
There's a spotlight on the Cuban government. The world is 
crying for the internet to be open so we can see and see with 
transparency what's going on.
    We're at a point right now that may just be a great 
opportunity, for two reasons--one, to show exactly what's going 
on in Cuba under this totalitarian dictatorship, happened 
because of the embargo, and two, to once again put another head 
of a communist dictator on the wall.
    And I mean that proverbially, for all the people that are 
going to go out there and say Green is espousing some kind of 
violence. I am not.
    I am saying--but here's another failed communist regime. 
That's what I think. Two great opportunities. That system does 
not work and we can free the Cuban people.
    And, unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, I'm out of time. Thank 
you.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman Green.
    Congressman Castro.
    Mr. Castro. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Ranking 
Member, for organizing this hearing today.
    And before I address my questions to our witnesses, I want 
to reiterate my support, most of all, for the Cuban people.
    I continue to be moved by their plight for their freedoms 
and their fight for their freedoms, their COVID-19 assistance 
and an end to hunger in their nation, and I expressed my 
solidarity with them, especially with those brave Cubans who 
remain disappeared who have been imprisoned for standing up for 
their human rights and for their families.
    And I join U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle 
Bachelet in her call to the Cuban government to immediately 
release those arrested during the protests.
    I also think it's necessary for the United States to, as 
President Obama said during his visit to Havana, ``Bury the 
last remnant of the cold war in the Americas and pursue a Cuba 
policy that improves the lives of the Cuban people.''
    And so I wanted to ask a few questions of our witnesses, or 
actually, before I do that, I know there's a debate about the 
embargo and how much that's responsible versus the Cuban 
government and so forth.
    And most of all, we support the freedom of the Cuban people 
and their right to choose the leadership of their nation. As 
Americans, we want to be as helpful to that as possible.
    But in this debate about communism and socialism and so 
forth, our biggest trading partner of the United States is a 
communist country, China. We have no embargo against China. 
That's our biggest trading partner.
    So I have a question to Mr. Vivanco. Thank you for your 
testimony today, and a question that remains after the mass 
protests across Cuba is what the U.S. Government can do to best 
improve the lives of the people of Cuba.
    In his historic speech and diplomatic trip--in his historic 
speech and diplomatic trip to Havana, President Obama discussed 
at length how the United States embargo and policy of isolation 
toward Cuba was not working, saying, quote, ``The embargo is 
outdated and should be lifted.''
    So, Mr. Vivanco, what is the current purpose of the U.S. 
embargo on Cuba and how does it help or hurt the Cuban people?
    Mr. Vivanco. Congressman Castro, thank you very much for 
your question.
    In my view, following human rights conditions in Cuba for 
over 30 years, my conclusion is that it's time for the U.S. to 
take a different approach. It's the only country in the world 
that enforce a policy of isolation.
    That policy is rejected unanimously for the rest of the 
world. Even conservative governments from Europe and Latin 
America has never agreed with the policy of embargo because it 
impose indiscriminate sanctions against the people of Cuba and 
has showed to be absolutely ineffective.
    If you want to bring change to Cuba and transition from 
dictatorship to democracy, you need to create a multilateral 
approach, a new type of approach to create the right type--kind 
of incentives and pressure for the Cuban to take those steps.
    Cuba is not isolated for the rest of--from the rest of the 
world. Tourists from Europe, Canada, or any country in Latin 
America could spend time, money, their money. They could invest 
in extractive industries in Cuba.
    The only one that is isolated from Cuba is the U.S. The 
only one that is isolated in this debate at global level on the 
Cuban affairs is the U.S.
    Why? Because the policy of isolation made the position of 
the U.S. actually kind of impotent with regard to the debate on 
Cuba.
    Mr. Castro. I also wanted to ask you about remittances, the 
ability for folks to send money to Cuba. You know, remittances 
are a vital lifeline to millions of Cubans, especially the most 
vulnerable, like the elderly, and are used to purchase basic 
necessities like sanitary items and food, and even obtaining--
for obtaining access cards to have access to the internet.
    The Trump administration imposed restrictions on 
remittances and pushed the largest receiver of family 
remittances in Cuba, Western Union, to abandon operations on 
the island. Unfortunately, these harmful policies continue 
today.
    So I wanted to ask you, can you describe how remittances 
help the most vulnerable of Cubans to survive and obtain daily 
necessities?
    Mr. Vivanco. It is absolutely essential to facilitate the 
use of remittances. The sent of--the ability of Cuban families 
and friends to send money for their relatives to be able to 
survive in the country, to be able to buy the minutes to use 
wi-fi and internet, which is available in Cuba and is one of 
the vehicles that explain this mobilization in Cuba, I think is 
the right approach to reestablish the ability of Cuban families 
to send money to their relatives in Cuba.
    Mr. Castro. Thank you. I yield back, Chairman.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman Castro.
    Representative Pfluger.
    Mr. Pfluger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to both 
of you for your testimony.
    Ms. Paya.  thank you for your personal story.
    For over 60 years, the Cuban people have been oppressed by 
the worst impulses of a brutal regime and failed promises of 
communist propaganda, and what we're seeing today is those 
people saying enough is enough.
    We must stand with them and finally rid the Western 
Hemisphere this hegemonic oppression. And, unfortunately, the 
Biden Administration is sending very dangerous and mixed 
signals through both policy and rhetoric to those that wish to 
flee this brutal regime.
    But if you're fleeing a communist regime where defectors 
are silenced or shot, and everyday citizens are starving to 
death, you're not welcome in America.
    This is the message that Secretary Mayorkas, who himself 
was born in Havana, gave last week when he remarked that Cuban 
refugees attempting to flee by the sea will not be permitted in 
the United States.
    This message is echoed again by acting assistant secretary 
at the State Department when he remarked that the protests were 
peaceful and rooted only in concerns about rising COVID cases 
and medicine shortages.
    This is false. The Cuban people, as you've mentioned, are 
shouting ``Libertad.'' They're waving the American flag. 
They're standing for freedom. They're not shouting, down with 
an embargo.
    While our administration downplays the severity of the 
crisis in Cuba and pledges to turn away Cuban refugees, 
President Biden has simultaneously thrown open the southern 
borders to cartels, coyotes, and others.
    Meanwhile, the Administration advocating for socialist 
policies right here in the United States, when we see massive 
government control over society simply does not work.
    Cuba is showing us in real time and the world how quickly 
communism collapses and leads to a spiral of deadly conditions 
of poverty, starvation, and hopelessness, causing enough 
desperation that right now Cubans are staring down the 
oppressors in the streets and risking their lives to cross 
treacherous waters on homemade rafts to reach the shores of 
liberty, the symbol of freedom, the United States of America.
    The United States remains the beacon of freedom and 
democracy around the world and we must do everything within our 
power to support those who are valiantly standing for liberty, 
and we must do it right here at home.
    There have been a chorus of this very body right here in 
Congress supporting the Cuban people in their efforts and I, 
certainly, support that effort as well.
    And instead of throwing our doors open to human traffickers 
on our southern border, President Biden must take decisive 
action to bolster the pro-democracy movement and support the 
brave Cubans who are fighting in their own streets for liberty.
    Ms. Paya.  how important is it to have freedom of speech? 
What does it mean to have freedom of speech?
    Ms. Paya. Thank you so much.
    It is--it is fundamental and it is--it is the root of what 
is going on in Cuba. The people of Cuba have n't wait for the 
Cuban regime to authorize them to speak. They are shouting 
``freedom'' in the streets.
    And if I make a call, a request, for all of you, is to 
please to listen to what the Cuban people is demanding on the 
street. At the highest possible risk, which is life, they are 
demanding freedom. They are demanding the end of the 
dictatorship.
    Please do not politicize that. It is not about politics and 
not--it is not about right and left. It is about the main 
contradiction that the Cubans have experienced, which is not 
the embargo or any other contradiction between the military 
dictatorship and any other country. It's the main 
contradiction.
    The root of the suffering of the Cuban people is the 
conflict between a group of militaries that have held power in 
illegitimate way for more than 62 years and a whole population 
that is demanding a change, that is demanding a transition 
process, that is demanding democracy.
    And now United States and the rest of the world have the 
opportunity and the challenge to take sides with that Cuban 
people to hold accountable--help the Cuban people to hold 
accountable that region and to bring about freedom in Cuba.
    That also means democratic stability and also means getting 
rid of one of the threats that the national security of this 
country has in this hemisphere.
    Mr. Pfluger. Thank you for that.
    And I just want to go back to one of the remarks that you 
made, that you said that lifting sanctions is, basically, 
funding terrorism. It's funding the dictatorship to do what 
they want through military action.
    And I appreciate your comments on that, and Mr. Chairman, I 
know I'm out of time. Thank you again for holding this hearing. 
I yield back.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you very much.
    Congressman Andy Levin, you're on.
    Mr. Levin. Thanks so much to the chairman and ranking 
member for holding this really important hearing this morning.
    You know, one of the subjects of the protests has been 
access to COVID vaccines. In my view, this is an area where the 
U.S. might be able to actually heed the Cuban people's call.
    But it's my understanding that sending vaccines to Cuba 
would require a special license, at least from the Department 
of Commerce and perhaps also Treasury.
    Last week, Ricardo Herrero, executive director of the Cuba 
Study Group tweeted, ``Everyone trying right now to coordinate 
aid to the Cuban people is running into a morass of OFAC and 
Commerce shipping and banking restrictions. This is how current 
U.S. policy does not help.''
    Mr. Vivanco, do you believe that current sanctions and the 
current sanctions regime makes the delivery of humanitarian aid 
to the Cuban people more difficult?
    Mr. Vivanco. Indeed, I believe that the measures that the 
Biden Administration and this Congress could take to facilitate 
access to medicine and vaccine even to alleviate these painful 
times of the Cuban people who have no access to vaccine.
    I believe also that the Cuban government has been reluctant 
to accept vaccines from Russia and China for dogmatic reasons. 
They are--they were hoping to develop their own vaccine.
    Mr. Levin. Right.
    Mr. Vivanco. And if the U.S. Government could help and 
provide some relief for the Cuban people with access to 
vaccine, I think it will be terrific.
    Mr. Levin. And it would really have a big impact on our 
relationship directly with the people, right?
    Mr. Vivanco. Exactly.
    Mr. Levin. Yes. And, you know, given the crackdowns that we 
have seen on the protesters--horrible crackdowns--it seems that 
the kind of sanctions that we're talking about here, the kinds 
that are not targeted, have not prompted the government to 
improve its human rights record. Would you agree?
    Mr. Vivanco. I agree 100 percent.
    Mr. Levin. So what--tell us, in your view, what do you 
think the best approach would be for us to influence the Cuban 
government on its human rights record, something you've devoted 
your career to, including the crackdowns on protesters?
    If we want to get away from ideology and talking points and 
actually help improve the human rights record there, what 
should we do?
    Mr. Vivanco. Actually, Congressman Levin, I do believe that 
the best way to support the dictatorship is keep the status 
quo. In other words, change nothing. Insist on a policy that 
has failed, the policy of isolation. The policy of sanctions 
has bring no improvement on human rights in Cuba.
    My sense is that the U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba is not 
inspired on the need to improve human rights and democracy in 
Cuba. It is just a policy that reflect the preferences of the 
electorate in Florida and has nothing to do with the goal to 
improve human rights in Cuba.
    Mr. Levin. So do you think there are things we can do, and 
what are they? Because I'm with you. I agree with you. But what 
should we do?
    Mr. Vivanco. What you should, you know, try to do, 
especially now that you have the majority in the House, is to 
take the necessary steps to at least open up a debate about the 
lack of effectiveness of a policy of isolation toward Cuba and 
to empirically help establish whether there is any other 
democracy in the world that has been willing to join forces 
with the U.S. in the policy of isolation.
    You will conclude that the rest of the world every year 
systematically condemned that policy, and only Israel and the 
U.S. support the policy of isolation on Cuba.
    So if you could take internal steps to at least open up a 
debate about the lack of effectiveness, the impotence of the 
U.S. Government in affecting Cuban human rights conditions in 
Cuba, I think that will be very, very helpful.
    Mr. Levin. Well, thanks. You know, obviously, there are 
strong policy disagreements on this subject. But I think we all 
agree on our commitment to the Cuban people and their well-
being, and I hope that in the interest of that commitment we're 
able to have a nuanced and honest conversation about what 
policies are helpful and which are harmful.
    And you're making a very strong case that we have been 
beating our heads against the wall for 60 years, not helping 
the human rights situation in Cuba. So we really have to find a 
more effective way.
    And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman.
    Congresswoman Salazar.
    Ms. Salazar. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Jose 
Miguel Vivanco, for being here, and Rosa Maria Paya.
    And your family paid the highest sacrifice. Your father, 
Oswaldo Paya, stood up for a free Cuba. That is something that 
the Castro regime fears. They killed him and they covered it 
up, saying that it was a car crash so that we will never know 
the truth.
    I met him twice when I was a news reporter, and he was the 
epitome of decency. I can say that. And I'm glad that you're 
here today because of your bravery and your commitment to his 
memory.
    After a week of silence, now the Biden Administration is 
saying they're going to review the effect of the remittances. 
That is very embarrassing. It's a slap in the face to you, to 
your father, to all the Cuban people and to us, the elected 
officials, who were not informed or consulted.
    The people of Cuba, as we have said, they're not shouting 
``[Spanish language spoken] embargo, no more--we want more 
remittances.'' They're shouting ``Libertad.''
    The bare minimum the Biden Administration could do is to 
connect the internet because that way the world will be able to 
know and see the truth and they can communicate among 
themselves.
    They will also know that they're not alone and that the 
United States is with them.
    The Biden administration could enhance the wi-fi from 
Havana embassy or from Guantanamo and this can be done in 
minutes. Also, the private sector has developed--there's 
balloons that can carry wi-fi directly to the island.
    I'm going to say this message in Spanish.
    [Spanish language spoken.]
    Ms. Salazar. Now, my question is, I'm going to--if I have 
more time, I'm going to ask you questions, but I would like to 
talk to Mr. Vivanco and ask you a simple question.
    I was a news reporter, and I saw when Obama lifted all 
restrictions. For two and a half years he gave the opportunity 
to the Cuban government to really join the international 
community, and they spit on Obama. Two years.
    Dozens of American companies wanted to do business in Cuba 
and the Castros did not allow it. Madonna went to celebrate her 
birthday in the--while the Damas de Blancos were being beaten 
on the streets. Mick Jagger went to do a big concert.
    I interviewed dozens of American companies who wanted to do 
business with the Cuban government, and during the Obama years 
the Cubans said no. No. I do not know. Let me see. Because they 
are in the business of power.
    So when you're telling me, Mr. Vivanco--and you have a 
fantastic organization that you represent, looking out for 
human rights--when you tell me the embargo is the solution, 
Obama proved it, and they spit on him, which was lamentable.
    So why do we have to lift the embargo? Please.
    Mr. Vivanco. I never said that the embargo is the solution. 
I say that the embargo is the problem. It's not the solution. 
And if you want----
    Ms. Salazar. What do you mean by that?
    Mr. Vivanco. Well, because, you know, and second, 
Congresswoman Salazar, the--part of the problem is the 
perception, the notion that there is some sort of quid pro quo 
relationship with the Cuban government. The Cuban government, I 
do not think, is interested in lifting the embargo. I think the 
embargo help the Cuban government to keep that notion, that 
narrative, that they are a victim of the U.S. Government. But--
--
    Ms. Salazar. But if the United States wants to do business 
and the American companies want to do business in Cuba, if the 
tiering isn't going to let them it does not matter if there was 
an embargo or not. They just simply cannot go. Home Depot or 
Sheraton.
    Mr. Vivanco. What you need is to create the conditions for 
the international community, for the rest of democracies in the 
world, to----
    Ms. Salazar. Obama created it, sir. Or didn't he?
    Mr. Vivanco. Right? No, but what you need is to create the 
conditions for democracies in Latin America and Europe to join 
support for human rights in Cuba. They are not crossing that 
line because the policy of isolation that day----
    Ms. Salazar. Sir, Obama lifted the policy of isolation for 
two and a half years and the Castro regime did not respond.
    Mr. Vivanco. I do not think Obama----
    Ms. Salazar. They gave everything in exchange of nothing. 
Let's look at the empirical evidence. Obama allowed for any 
American company to go and invest in Cuba----
    Mr. Vivanco. I do not think that----
    Ms. Salazar [continuing]. Whether it was construction, 
hotel, hospitality, and they--and the Cubans did not sign the 
contract.
    Mr. Vivanco. Right. But----
    Ms. Salazar. There was a ferry. I remember--I was there 
was. I was a news reporter. A ferry that wanted to go from Key 
West to Havana. The Cubans never allowed it. So what are you--I 
just would like to understand your position so maybe I can 
support it.
    But I do not see it because history proved it already with 
President Obama. So now if you lift the embargo, what's going 
to happen is the China model, and the Chinese model is the 
worst thing that could happen to the Cubans.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congresswoman.
    Ms. Salazar. Sorry.
    Mr. Sires. On the second round you'll be able to continue 
your questioning.
    Ms. Salazar. Thank you. Sorry.
    Mr. Sires. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is recognized.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank 
the gentleman for his indulgence in waiving on--allowing us to 
waive on to the committee.
    I had a chance to watch the subcommittee proceedings 
remotely. There was a couple of things I think it's important 
to point out.
    First is that President Biden has proposed additional 
sanctions and left the sanctions from the previous 
administration in place. He declared himself, in his own voice, 
Cuba as a failed State.
    He gave voice to the Cuban protesters, issuing a clarion 
call for freedom and he has stood solidly since the protests 
broke out and before that in support of a free Cuba.
    I also think, and Ms. Paya, I really want to agree with you 
about how important it is that this issue be nonpartisan. Not 
bipartisan, but nonpartisan. So you'll forgive me if I defend a 
few things prior to going back to what should be a nonpartisan 
issue.
    I really think the audacity of those in the Republican 
Party who widely across this country support voter suppression 
and have supported the suppression and the--and thrown 
obstacles in the path of people across this country who simply 
want to cast their lawful and constitutional right to vote and 
who have denied that January 6th was an insurrection have a lot 
of nerve suggesting that they are the champions of freedom in 
another country when they are engaging in suppression of the 
people's right to vote and freedom here.
    Okay. So setting aside that partisan--that partisan moment 
for a second, I want to ask Ms. Paya if you could talk with me 
about Afro-Cuban--the Afro-Cuban environment, which I think is 
so under reported and so few people are aware of.
    According to the University of Pennsylvania's Professor 
Amalia Dache, almost 70 percent of the Cuban population is of 
African descent. Let that sink in for a moment.
    The State Department's 2020 Human Rights Report suggests 
that Cubans of African descent suffer significant racial 
discrimination, including subjection to racial slurs and 
beatings by security agents in response to the political 
activity.
    Many have also reported employment discrimination, 
particularly for positions of prominence within the tourism 
industry, media and government.
    Despite this, Afro Cubans have historically been at the 
forefront of the fight for Cuba's democracy and freedom, even 
though there has been a significant erasure of Afro-Cubans from 
history.
    Can you share with us the specific challenges or threats 
that Afro-Cuban activists face on the island, and how has the 
economic crisis in Cuba and the COVID-19 pandemic 
disproportionately affected Afro-Cubans?
    Ms. Paya. Thank you--thank you so much for that question 
because, actually, Afro-Cubans are also the largest population 
in jail, are also the largest population with access--with 
families that comes from situations of vulnerability, and are 
also--within the Cuban opposition, the Cuban civil society, we 
have seen it with all the actions that Movimiento San Isidro 
has made have been also one of the most affected and targeted 
by the Cuban regime.
    It was already a challenge 1 week ago to be of African 
descent and walk by the streets of Havana without actually 
being asked for the ID to--just to check it.
    Actually, he was a Havanian or he needed to be deported to 
the eastern provinces. That's what Cubans of African descent 
actually endure in our country. And I think it's a very 
important and relevant point because this is widely ignored or 
not commented on about the race systems of the character of 
this communist regime that have been--that have been using its 
propaganda as a machinery actually to get to Cuban rights 
defenders around the world when they are actually trying to 
suppress those rights.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. May I just interrupt you for a 
moment and just ask you to confirm, you know, while the Cuba 
regime has declared racism ended, you know, after the 
revolution, isn't it true that they have completely banned and 
prohibited any African or Black activism organization from 
existing and functioning on the island?
    Ms. Paya. They have prohibited any independent organization 
asking for rights of Cubans of African descent. Yes, that's 
actually true.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Thank you. Thank you for the----
    Ms. Paya. Of course--of course, they have entitled 
themselves as the defenders of those rights.
    [Laughter.]
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Right. The irony.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you for your indulgence, and I just 
also want to point out that I, myself, have been a longtime 
opponent of lifting the embargo.
    I yield back the balance of my time, which I no longer 
have.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congresswoman.
    Congressman Perry, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Perry. Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, you seat in 
here as far as I know, and I appreciate it. But I think the 
good representative from New York should be next and----
    Mr. Sires. It goes by seniority.
    Mr. Perry. I'm happy to defer.
    Mr. Sires. You're older.
    Mr. Perry. No, I can go. I can go.
    [Laughter.]
    Mr. Sires. Do you want to defer to her?
    Mr. Perry. Yes, I think it'd be appropriate.
    Mr. Sires. Yes, but before her I have Demings.
    Why do not you just go and we'll take care of it.
    Congressman Perry?
    Mr. Perry. All right. All right. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
    Well, I appreciate the opportunity to speak before this 
subcommittee regarding what I think is the evil dictatorial 
regime of the Cuban Communist Party, and I'll be clear about 
that.
    Before I continue, I want to pay tribute to one of our 
witnesses here today, Rosa Maria Paya. and thank you for all 
the work that you've done to give the Cuban people a democratic 
voice.
    I know I speak for everyone on this committee in condemning 
the despicable murder of your father, Oswaldo, at the hands of 
the Castro regime nearly 9 years ago on July 22d.
    It is long past time for an independent investigation to be 
commissioned into Mr. Paya's death. You have our word and our 
commitment that we will do everything we can to bring this 
grotesque regime to account for its numerous crimes against 
humanity.
    Those who have lived through the evils of the Cuban regime 
could tell us what little regard the Castros have for the 
dignity and worth of every human life. We know that they 
sadistically tore apart families, imprisoned and killed 
thousands of political dissidents, supported groups like the 
FARC and Sendero Luminoso, who we--who decapitated people live 
on television and destroyed Cuba's economy.
    I recall November 2016, when the far-left apologists like 
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted that Cuba, 
under Castro, was actually a progressive egalitarian utopia.
    I could only shake my head at the stomach-churning 
ignorance of a prominent Head of State. This is unacceptable at 
any level at every level.
    What most folks do not know is that compared with the 
average monthly income of approximately $20 for a Cuban 
citizens, Fidel Castro boasted a $900 million net worth in 
2006--$900 million.
    Egalitarian is, certainly, not a word I would use to 
describe Cuba under Castro. Castro also sent doctors abroad on 
so-called humanitarian missions to bolster his own finances, 
all while the hospitals in Cuba remain chronically under 
supplied and even lack such basic products as aspirin and 
blankets.
    The Castros are both self-serving tyrants and their puppet 
successor, Mr. Diaz-Canel, is cut from the same oppressive 
communist cloth. You'll hear from apologists that excessively 
long wait times at Cuban hospitals due to medicine shortages 
and lack of economic opportunity is entirely the fault of the 
American embargo.
    Couldn't be further from the truth. The embargo is the only 
reason Cuba isn't thriving economically, they'll say.
    What these apologists won't tell you is that Cuba trades 
extensively with almost every country in the rest of the world. 
The U.S. embargo does not prevent Cuba from trading with other 
countries or non-American companies.
    Indeed, Cuba trades extensively with China, Spain, 
Venezuela, and Russia. Gross mismanagement and dictatorial 
policies are to blame for Cuba's current state, not the 
embargo. In a true fashion, it is the little people in Cuba--it 
is the average citizen that suffers under socialism, under 
communism, under this dictatorship, and it is the people at the 
top that thrive.
    And just as an aside, that's what some of the people in 
this government in the United States of America want to bring 
to America.
    Today, we are, thankfully, able to bear witness to the 
tenacity and character of the Cuban people as they rise up to 
tell their evil government that they've had enough.
    Freedom has been subverted for generations in Cuba but not 
for 1 day longer, if the Cuban people have anything to say 
about it.
    I wish to iterate a word of caution to my colleagues. We 
must not undermine the efforts of Cuba's pro-democracy anti--
socialist movement. While the Cuban people languished under the 
progressive Castro regime, former President Obama reengaged the 
``wet foot dry foot'' policy for the Cuban people in 
retaliation for Cuban Americans voting overwhelmingly 
Republican in the 2016 election.
    We can only hope that President Biden eschews such 
atrocious and blatantly obvious political retribution and 
instead commits the full resources of the U.S. Government to 
benefit those yearning to be freed from tyranny 90 miles away 
from our shores.
    Now, Ms. Paya, can you tell us how internet access would 
bolster the pro-democracy movement in Cuba right now and what 
America can do right now to make sure that happens?
    Ms. Paya. Thank you so much.
    Actually, it has already done that. They're very censored, 
and as far as internet access existing in Cuba has already give 
empowerment to the Cuban people and now there are more Cubans 
that actually know in 3 hours--last Sunday, just in 3 hours the 
protests replicated around the whole island, 3 hours after 
there was no internet at all in the island, or it was almost 
cutted completely.
    So yes, to give internet access, satellite internet access 
with the capacity of bypassing the censorship or just being out 
of control of the Cuban regime has the possibility now also to 
save lives because we are going to be able to, for instance, 
verify all the atrocities that we haven't been able actually to 
put in numbers, and a--and to put in the reports to the Inter-
American Commission of Human Rights or to the--or to the U.N. 
because we have no communication.
    We have no connections, and that connection and that 
freedom of speech that we were just talking previously is the 
only tool that the Cuban people right now. That, and their own 
bodies, and they are putting those bodies on the streets and 
they are demanding freedom and the end of the dictatorship.
    If I may, I want to mention that last year, we collect 45 
tons of food and medicine as humanitarian aid, and we sent it 
to the island without any obstacle from the American government 
or institution. The only obstacle was the Cuban regime that 
confiscated all that humanitarian aid and actually they just 
stole it.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you.
    Mr. Perry. I thank the chair and the ranking member--
committee's indulgence.
    Mr. Sires. Congressman Demings? Congresswoman.
    Mrs. Demings. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and thank 
you to you and the ranking member for allowing me to 
participate in today's very important hearing.
    The testimony and responses to our questions have been 
powerful, and I believe they are so necessary to our 
understanding of the dictatorial communist and socialist regime 
in Cuba.
    On July 11th and since, Cubans have bravely told us what 
they want for their future, and that's freedom. Let's be clear 
about that. We, as a Nation, know or we should know that people 
are willing to sacrifice everything--to be beaten, to be in 
prison, to even die--for the sweet taste of freedom, and we as 
a nation have another opportunity, yet another opportunity, to 
get this right. And I am hoping that we will stay focused on 
freedom and not the destructive politics of the day.
    I, too, am specifically interested, first of all, on the 
unique challenges that Afro-Cubans face. And my colleague did 
ask about that.
    But Mr. Vivanco, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the 
unique and specific challenges that Afro-Cubans face.
    Mr. Vivanco. Yes, the Afro-Cuban community is large in Cuba 
and has been historically discriminated in spite of the 
official line that Cuba is not--I mean, it's a racial 
democracy.
    It's not--we know that it's not a democracy. We know that 
it's a dictatorship. And we know that they discriminate against 
those ones who comes from the Afro-Cuban community.
    And you see that when, as Rosa Maria Paya said, on the 
streets in control--police control and as well as in the 
prisons, in Cuban prisons, Cubans' access to--Afro--Cuban 
access to education and as well as the top positions within the 
dictatorship.
    Mrs. Demings. Thank you so much.
    And I'd also like to ask about Cuban LGBTQ rights activists 
who were arrested and beaten by plainclothes security officers 
in May 2019 for organizing an unauthorized demonstration after 
government officials had canceled a planned annual march 
against homophobia.
    How would you evaluate current legal protections for LGBTQ 
individuals in Cuba and the level of societal discrimination 
against them as well?
    Mr. Vivanco. As my colleague, Rosa Maria Paya said, 
everything depends on Cuba whether you are independent or 
you're part of the official machinery. So an LGBTQ organization 
that try to develop their own approach, their own policies, and 
they're trying to make an effort so, for instance, to monitor 
human rights conditions for their own community are not 
allowed, are prohibited, and are subject of all sort of, you 
know, sanctions and persecution in Cuba unless you're part of 
the official structure.
    Mrs. Demings. Ms. Paya, anything you'd like to add there?
    Ms. Paya. Yes. I think it was very well established and 
occurred, and if I--if I just ask, there are many members of 
the LGBT community, many Cubans of African descent within the 
opposition movement, and the--and the Cuban civil society.
    We Cubans, we understand that all of us, we need the 
fundamental human rights. But I need to say that those that are 
members of LGBT community or the Cubans of African descent have 
an extra challenge when they have to face the repression of 
the--of the Cuban State security.
    And just briefly mention the case of Hector Luis Valdes 
Cocho. Actually, he's a Cuban of African descent and he's a 
member of LGBT community, and he was almost raped during a 
arbitrary detention a few days ago.
    Mrs. Demings. Thank you both so very much for your 
testimony.
    Mr. Chairman, I do yield back.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you for participating.
    Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis.
    Ms. Malliotakis. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.
    Despite my Greek last name, many of you may not know that 
I'm of Cuban descent. My mom is a Cuban refugee. My grandfather 
had his gas stations and small business home taken away from 
him by this regime.
    I still have family that are living there, and I could just 
say that this--because I've heard one of my colleagues earlier 
talk about COVID vaccinations. That is the least of their 
problems, Okay.
    Nobody needs COVID-they need them, perhaps, but it's not--
it's not the issue and that is not what they're fighting for. 
They want freedom. They are starving. They need access to 
medicine. They do not have any of these things because the 
regime takes it all.
    And with regards to the embargo, you know, I very much 
disagree with you, Mr. Vivanco, because Cuba does business with 
nearly every other country in the world, hundreds--at least 
$100 billion in trade annually for that small island. The 
regime takes everything.
    The regime takes everything. Anything that comes into this 
island, whether it's money, whether it's food, whether it's 
medicine, the regime takes it and lifting the embargo will do 
nothing except prop this communist regime, this murderous, 
brutal communist regime, which you understand as someone who is 
an advocate for human rights, further up, and it will do 
nothing to actually help the people.
    And so my question is, first, to someone who truly 
understands as a dissident herself, Ms. Paya. Can you please 
explain to my colleagues how this regime weaponizes anything 
that comes into this island against their own people?
    Ms. Paya. Yes, thank you. Thank you so much for that 
question, because one of the things that the regime weaponized 
are actually human beings, Cubans, and I think that everybody 
here already understand that the Cuban regime can be thinking 
on blackmailing the United States with the migratory--with the 
migratory crisis.
    To be--to get into that trap in this moment is to fail the 
Cuban people. The root of the problem--the root of the problem 
is the dictatorship and the Cuban people understand that, and 
that's why they are--they are demanding the end of the 
dictatorship.
    Regarding all the things that are sent to the island, I 
have to say we want to send everything to the island but under 
the condition of no interference of the Cuban regime and that 
condition is just because when the regime interferes, that 
sends hard currency or humanitarian assistance or whatever it 
is. Doesn't end in the hands of the Cuban people but in the 
hands of the repressors.
    So it's very important. It's very important that this 
country help us, not to give money to the repressors but to 
help--but to help the Cuban--but to help the Cuban people.
    If I may, to make this discussion about the embargo is to 
take the old approach. The Cuban people is in the streets. 
Something has changed.
    In July--July 11, a week ago, the people is--the whole 
island demanding freedom, demanding the end--the end of the 
dictatorship. And there are many things, many new things, many 
fresh things that this administration, that the members of the 
OAS, that the European Union could do and should do to help the 
people.
    And I will repeat, please, targeted individual sanctions 
rise because of the repression, targeted the--targeting the 
individuals, the generals that are commanding those killings 
and those detentions.
    Replicate the South African experience. When we said, 
please, put consequence to the enterprises that actually enrich 
the regime, we're not asking for any sort. We're asking for the 
Sullivan Principles, the same experience that actually worked 
to end the apartheid.
    Why we cannot have that in Cuba now when the Cuban people 
is demanding that?
    Ms. Malliotakis. Thank you very much. So yes, the communist 
regime, if you are one of them, one of the communists, if you 
join their communist revolution then you will be taken care of 
somewhat by what's coming into this island.
    If you are someone who is a dissident or just an average 
Cuban, you get absolutely nothing. That is the--that is the 
false promise of communism, that everything would be equal, 
right? That's what socialism claims. We want equality.
    Yet, it could not be further from the truth. The communist 
dictators, the ruling class live like kings, and everyone else 
lives in squalor. And that is what we're trying to end by 
pushing for freedom on this island and allowing them to 
determine their own future.
    Mr. Vivanco, I will, though, ask you a question, because as 
someone who is involved in Human Rights Watch, I would love to 
know your opinion about Cuba, along with China and Russia and 
Venezuela, the most egregious human rights violators, being 
members of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
    Mr. Vivanco. Do I have a second to answer your question?
    Mr. Sires. Sure.
    Mr. Vivanco. Look, a couple of points. I'm not in 
disagreement with you on the first point that when you 
mentioned that Cuba is not isolated. I fully agree with you. 
That is precisely the problem.
    You have failed to persuade the rest of the international 
community that you have to isolate Cuba. Cuba is not isolated. 
It is trading with, you know, with any other country, including 
Brazil. Brazil is the most important source of food for Cuba.
    And so the trouble is that you are insisting on a policy 
that create fundamental disagreement for the rest of 
international community, and the challenge for me is to create 
conditions to bring in those democracies to exercise pressure 
on the Cuban government.
    But the line of the--of the isolation and the embargo is 
not supported for the--by the rest of the world. That is, 
essentially, the problem that you have here. It's a pragmatic 
problem.
    You need to look at this one with different eyes to see 
what could be--what will be the most effective policy from the 
U.S. to improve human rights conditions to force the 
dictatorship to transit from dictatorship to democracy.
    And, certainly, the approach that--you know, that the U.S. 
has taken for 60 years is not working. That is my point.
    Ms. Malliotakis. They're doing business with everybody in 
the world and it's not working. But if you could respond to my 
human rights question----
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congresswoman. We're going to have 
second--we're going to have a second round. Thank you very 
much.
    I'm going to ask a second round of questions, if you do not 
mind, and I'll start by saying this. I'm so happy that 
Congresswoman Demings raised the Afro-Cuban situation in Cuba, 
because for many years the propaganda machine in Cuba has told 
the world how in Cuba there is no racism, that the Afro-Cuban 
is equal to the white Cubans.
    I mean, this propaganda machine it's incredible throughout 
the world, because I have traveled extensively and people tell 
me--I said, that's not--that's not accurate. You know, just--
you know, just like they have five vaccines in Cuba.
    Well, why do not they use them? Just like when they said 
they've discovered oil off the island of Cuba. Well, how many 
barrels have they extracted? You know, it made the whole east 
coast of this country in a panic thinking that they were going 
to have drilling 90 miles from----
    So the propaganda machine in Cuba, it's the best in the 
world. So I was so happy that you touched upon that point. That 
is a lie about how equal the society in Cuba is.
    And as far as the vaccine, I am all for sending vaccines to 
Cuba. My problem is that what you're going to have is the same 
situation you had in Venezuela.
    We sent vaccines to Venezuela. The government takes it, so 
it does not get to the people. It just gets to the people who 
support this dictatorship.
    So how do you get around that, Mr. Vivanco? How do you get 
around the government taking everything you send to the island 
to help ease the situation on the island when the government is 
just a taker?
    Mr. Vivanco. Mr. Chair, best vehicle to address that 
challenge is to do it through United Nations. United Nations, 
when they--when they come in into humanitarian crises like the 
one facing in Venezuela, one of the fundamental preconditions 
is that the distribution, access, and administration of all the 
food or medicine is done under the U.N. flag, not the local one 
because, obviously, the temptation for the dictatorship in 
Venezuela as well as in Cuba is to take advantage of that, one, 
and two, you know, to take advantage to do some more propaganda 
by using that type of support.
    So I do not see a way that the U.S. Government, even the 
Biden Administration, could provide access to or support for 
vaccine--vaccination of the Cuban people without doing through 
some sort of vehicle like the United Nations, who has the 
capacity and they know how to make those distribution according 
to U.N. principles, which are--which are, you know, by 
definition nonpolitical.
    Mr. Sires. In terms of the five vaccines that the Cuban 
claims they have, the Abdala and the other ones, vaccines, why 
do not they use it?
    Mr. Vivanco. Part of the problem is that the way that they 
have handled the COVID epidemic in Cuba has been a disaster.
    As I said before, our information revealed that they have 
rejected vaccines coming from China and Russia just because 
they want to prove and to demonstrate to their own people and 
the rest of the world that they have the capacity to produce 
their own vaccine, and then distribute that one to the rest of 
the world.
    Well, all of that, you know, plan has failed. But it's part 
of another piece of propaganda.
    Mr. Sires. Propaganda.
    Would you like to add something to that?
    Ms. Paya. Yes, just add that actually the Cuban regime also 
rejected the COVAX help--COVAX's initiative of the U.N. or in 
relation with the U.N. and they also rejected the COVID vaccine 
in a very criminal decision not to immunize the Cuban--the 
Cuban population and provoke an even deeper crisis that they 
were already--that we were already facing.
    Whether it is United Nations or the European Union or any 
other multilateral organization, the key thing is the 
nonintervention of the Cuban regime. As soon as they 
participate in the process, they are going to--they are going 
to solace in the help or they are going to weaponize that help 
against the Cuban people.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you.
    Congressman Green.
    Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the 
witnesses who are willing to do a second round.
    One of my colleagues earlier commented that China was a 
good example where the U.S. has no embargo and inferred that 
because of that it's proof--a reason why we should lift the 
embargo with Cuba.
    I'd encourage those who are supporting lifting the embargo 
and citing China as proof to go and watch the video of the 
protesters in Hong Kong. Go ask the Uighurs what it's like to 
live in China under the Communist Party of China.
    I'd like to ask you to go and talk to the churches in China 
where they're forcing them to take the cross down and replace 
it with pictures of Xi Jinping.
    The only other place in the world I can recall in my 
limited travels as a military officer and running a not for 
profit is that where the president's picture is so ubiquitous 
is Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
    Go ask the Falun Gong folks what it's like to have your 
organs forcibly removed and sold.
    I do not see the lifting of the embargo making a huge 
change there in China. Ask the student or the researcher how 
easy is it to search the internet in China? They do not call it 
the Great Firewall of China for nothing.
    So this notion that, I mean, lifting the embargo is going 
to make totalitarian dictatorships change overnight is just--it 
pales. I'm an ER physician, not a brain surgeon. So perhaps 
maybe there's something I do not know.
    But I've looked--I'm sitting here thinking. Totalitarian 
dictators in the past, how many of them with opened economic 
have actually stepped down from power and allowed for a 
republic to develop? I cannot think of one in history.
    A question for Ms. Paya. There's strong international 
consensus for restoring Venezuela's democracy. People are 
working together. Countries are supporting us and our, you 
know, actions there.
    Yet, in Cuba, as Mr. Vivanco has said, they are doing in 
Cuba--I mean, we haven't gotten others to join us there. What 
is the difference? And this is just a genuine question. What is 
the difference and why are--why are they not helping with Cuba 
but they seemed to be very helpful with Venezuela and the 
socialist dictator down there?
    Ms. Paya. I think that's a question for the rest of the 
world, because what it is--a reality is that tolerating 62 
years of the communist dictatorship in the island of Cuba does 
not only affected several generations in my country but have 
gravely and seriously affected the democratic stability of the 
whole continent.
    Actually, we wouldn't be talking about the collapse of the 
democracy in Venezuela without the support, the coordination, 
and the interference of the Cuban regime.
    Same thing with the--with the repression in Nicaragua, and 
you know history. You know about the interference programs of 
the Cuban G2, well trained by the Stasi and KGB in Latin 
America.
    So this--in this pivotal moment that we are living as a 
Nation, a nation that lives inside but also outside the island 
because of the dictatorship, our goal for the international 
community is, please, see directly to the Cuban people, to the 
suffering of the Cuban people, and to the demand of the Cuban 
people, and that demand is freedom and that demand is the end 
of the dictatorship.
    And that demand is not only going to help Cuba, but it's 
going to help peace and national security of our whole 
hemisphere.
    Mr. Green. Throughout the region. Absolutely. It seems to 
boggle the mind that the world will join us to jump on 
Venezuela, but the folks that are actually--I mean, the Cuban 
military is in Venezuela. The Cuban military is helping 
Nicaragua.
    Ms. Paya. Yes.
    Mr. Green. I mean, it just makes no sense to me that the 
rest of the world is--has joined us in this fight and yet that 
seems to be the reason why it's failed. Because we haven't 
gotten all the rest of the world involved, so let's just lift 
the sanctions. Makes no sense to me. Thank you.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman Green.
    Congressman Vargas, thank you for coming.
    Mr. Vargas. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much and thank you 
for allowing me to be here. I apologize. I had a committee 
running same time as this one. The only thing I would correct 
for the record, maybe, Dr. Green said, I'm not sure that a ER 
physician would yield to a brain surgeon in every instance. 
Maybe in this case.
    [Laughter.]
    Mr. Green. Point taken.
    Mr. Vargas. With that being said, I have great concern for 
what's going on, obviously, in Cuba. I'd like to see the 
dictatorship gone, the authoritarian rule and, obviously, have 
democracy and have people have the opportunity to vote and to 
choose whomever they want. They haven't had that opportunity.
    I'd like to see the Cuban people be able to lift their 
standards of living. Obviously, Cuban Americans, when they come 
to the United States, they do very, very well and I'm sure that 
that country would be able to lift up its standard of living if 
it had freedom, if it had democracy.
    But a lot of people ask, in a practical sense what can we 
do to really help, I mean, other--short of sending the Marines. 
I mean, how, in a practical sense, can we help Cuba in this 
moment?
    Why do not I begin with you, Mr. Vivanco?
    Mr. Vivanco. What we need is the support of the rest of the 
international community. Bringing change on Cuba and improving 
the record of Cuban human rights and democracy without the 
support of Western democracies, European democracies, Canada, 
Latin American democracies, is going to be difficult--has been 
very, very difficult.
    And normally, when you raise questions about Cuba to a head 
of a State in any Western democracy, they will ask you what 
about the embargo. That is the problem. It becomes a 
distraction.
    And they say, you know, we are not going to join forces. 
This has been told to me many times because I care about Cuba, 
and I travel the world raising questions about Cuba or 
Venezuela.
    So when you say, you know, what about those--you know, free 
speech in Cuba, freedom of religion in Cuba, free association? 
You know that we have never heard about a strike in Cuba. Why 
are there no strikes in Cuba? Because there are not independent 
unions in Cuba--are not allowed.
    So when you try to create a debate outside the U.S., in 
Mexico, for instance, which has a lot of influence in Cuba, the 
natural reaction of those ones who should be supporting human 
rights in Cuba is what about the embargo? We do not support the 
embargo.
    And then you try to divide the conversation and say, you 
know, let's discuss the embargo later. Let's focus on Cuba now, 
you know, and the rest of the world is not willing to----
    Mr. Vargas. Let me interrupt you just for 1 second, and 
thank you for that answer. I mean, a lot of people believed, 
including myself, maybe there was going to be an opening when 
the Soviet Union imploded.
    When the Soviet Union imploded, a lot of us thought, well, 
this is a satellite State, really, of the Soviet Union and 
there's going to be change in Cuba. But it didn't really happen 
because they continued to have support from other countries 
around the globe, and they continue to have it.
    So in a practical sense, when you say that Western 
democracies should kick in, well, I think they should, but if 
they do, how would that really make a difference if they're 
getting support from these other countries--if Cuba is getting 
support from other countries?
    Of course, they do not like us very much. It still seems 
like they will carry on. I mean, that's what people want to 
know. How, in a practical sense, can we make a difference with 
the reality on the ground there and the international reality 
as it is? How can we make a difference?
    Mr. Vivanco. The only--look, I sound like a broken record. 
But the best way to contribute constructively to the Cuban 
debate is by looking into your own policy and make a very 
objective empirical assessment of the--whether that policy has 
been effective or has failed.
    My conclusion is it has failed because, you know, you have 
a very strong dictatorship in place. So it's time to introduce 
some adjustments. Former President Obama didn't lift the policy 
of isolation. What he did was to reestablish diplomatic 
relations with Cuba.
    But the heavy lifting--the work needs to be done here in 
Congress. If this policy is not subject of a real and serious 
objective nonpartisan, you know, evaluation, we will keep the 
status quo and I bet you that nothing will change in Cuba.
    Mr. Vargas. Thank you. I have more questions, but my time 
is up. So I will yield. Thank you.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman.
    Congresswoman Salazar.
    Ms. Salazar. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I have a 
couple of questions for both of you. Let me start with you, 
Rosa Maria.
    Basically, yes or no--if the White House gives green light 
to connect internet either through Guantanamo or Raven Company 
or the U.S. embassy in the middle of El Malecon, will the 
Cubans go back into the streets?
    Ms. Paya. The Cubans are already in the streets and----
    Ms. Salazar. But more and more.
    Ms. Paya. Of course. Of course. I mean, that connection 
allows communication and allows coordination.
    Ms. Salazar. Do you think that then more Cubans will feel 
emboldened because they know that the world is watching them 
because of the wi-fi?
    Ms. Paya. That's very important. That's key. I do think 
that and I do think that everybody needs to send a message to 
the Cuban people that they are not alone.
    Ms. Salazar. But if the Biden Administration is not saying 
clearly that they are with--that the Biden Administration or 
the U.S. Government is with the Cuban people, are they 
receiving that information?
    Ms. Paya. The best way to deal with the Cuban people is 
with real actions and internet is one of them.
    Ms. Salazar. Right. Now, what else can we do besides 
forcing the Biden Administration to give the green light so we 
can turn on the internet right now, which is the most effective 
manner, through the embassy or in Guantanamo with a tower, a 
wi-fi tower?
    We're talking about Netflix quality video. We're talking 
about just the ability to lift the videos that show how they're 
being beaten on the streets. What else could we do besides 
that?
    Ms. Paya. You could, please, help us to put these 
recommendations on the radar of the--of the president and, 
please, also do it as not just personal recommendations but, 
actually, these are the suggestions, the recommendations of the 
majority of the Cuban civil society in opposition that took 
part of a platform called Pasos de Cambio, and----
    Ms. Salazar. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration is not 
paying attention to us or to the Cuban people, which is the 
most important part.
    So then I go to Mr. Vivanco. Were you saying--you're 
saying--I've been hearing you repeat once and many times that 
we need the international community to join the United States 
in order to create change in Cuba.
    But then my question is now, putting the embargo aside, 
putting politics aside, where is the international community 
now when they see that the people are shouting on the streets? 
That has nothing to do with the Americans or with the embargo. 
Where is that international community?
    Mr. Vivanco. Unfortunately, the reaction of the 
international community is not, you know, up to the level that 
is required.
    Ms. Salazar. And why is that? Why is that? Why do you think 
that is?
    Mr. Vivanco. Because, unfortunately--let me give you--let 
me cite you an example. The president--the current president of 
Argentina----
    Ms. Salazar. Okay.
    Mr. Vivanco [continuing]. Alberto Fernandez----
    Ms. Salazar. Yes.
    Mr. Vivanco [continuing]. He says, I have no idea what is 
going on in Cuba but I am against the embargo. So that is a 
very unfortunate reaction, right. He is the leader of a 
democratic country. He is not a dictator. So this is not--you 
know, we are not looking into Russia or China.
    This is one of the biggest democracies in Latin America. 
And he, you know, he seems to be, you know, somebody who should 
be aware about what is going on in Cuba.
    Ms. Salazar. So everything is the embargo. But then if you 
are telling me that he does not even know what's happening in 
Cuba. So that means that they do not care what's happening. And 
like I repeat, what's happening in Cuba has nothing to do with 
the embargo.
    But then--and I want you to tell me where I'm wrong in this 
statement. You lift the embargo, as you're advocating the 
United States to do. Then the Castro brothers will have access 
to loans, specifically from the World Bank from and the IMF, 
and everybody will be doing business with Cuba because there is 
no more American embargo on it. Right?
    And then what happens then? Then, accordingly, so I go back 
to Obama. Then what happens next? We will then have given 
oxygen to a repressive apparatus to continue repressing the 
Cubans. And then where's the democracy in this whole picture?
    Mr. Vivanco. Let me--let me answer your question, and I 
think it's also relevant for the comment made by Congressman 
Green. He said--and I believe and I agree with you, Congressman 
Green. You said, I do not believe that lifting the embargo will 
bring change and democracy overnight in Cuba.
    Ms. Salazar. So then we have to wait, what, 50 years----
    Mr. Vivanco. I agree--I agree 100 percent. I agree 100 
percent. So, in other words, this is not a trickle-down 
economics. It's not like you lift the embargo, then bingo, you 
have democracy in Cuba the following day.
    What you need is the multilateral pressure and you need to 
build that one, and that will take time to build that, you 
know, diplomacy with democracies in the world who care about 
human rights in Cuba.
    Ms. Salazar. But that depends on those democracies. And I 
agree, that depends on those democracies and you just pointed 
out the fact that those democracies are just not tuned in.
    So we do not--if they will, at some point. So one way or 
the other, we do not know when democracy is going to get to 
Cuba. But in the meantime, the Cubans are on the street and no 
one is paying attention including the Biden Administration. 
That's reality.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congresswoman.
    Ms. Salazar. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you for the time.
    Mr. Sires. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I'd 
like to turn to the subject of Cuban doctors and just reference 
a March 2019 report by the New York Times that detailed how 
members of Cuba's medical mission in Venezuela said that they 
were told to provide oxygen tanks and other desperately needed 
medical assistance only to individuals who committed to voting 
for the Maduro regime.
    In multiple cases, they described being ordered to withhold 
lifesaving treatment to individuals who hadn't proven their 
political loyalty to Maduro.
    Are these medical missions still going on in Venezuela, and 
what has been their impact?
    To either one of you.
    Ms. Paya. Yes, they have--they have been taking place in 
Venezuela and in many other--and in many other countries, and 
it is very important that not only--not only United States, not 
only the United Nations that actually issued a report elevating 
the Cuban medical brigades' treatment to the treatment of 
forced labor.
    And it's very important that the rest of the world restrain 
for participating in these kind of activities that are designed 
to give money to the Cuban repressors as in over the life and 
the human rights of the Cuban doctors.
    But you made a very good point because it's not this--these 
international missions that the Cuban regime has around the 
world and not just for--and not just for money. Also for 
espionage, and I have a very--a specific data from the Cuban 
medical missions that took place in Bolivia during the Evo 
Morales--during the Evo Morales presidency.
    From 503 medical doctors are supposed--medical doctors 
working on Venezuela, 497 were not medical graduates. So that 
the impression that the Bolivian State was making in medicine 
or health was actually being made on espionage and given a 
State security.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. And Senor Vivanco, you mentioned 
earlier that the exploitation of Cuban doctors has been helpful 
in some countries. But compare that with the information coming 
out of Cuba in terms of the reality of health care on the 
island, where in--even in Havana, pregnant women are required 
to bring their own sheets, that they actually have to bring 
cleanser so that they can clean the feces off of the walls and 
the toilets so that they can have some semblance of sanitary 
conditions to give birth.
    Can you--can either view describe the facade, the real 
lies, fabrications, of the wonderment that is portrayed of how 
excellent the Cuban healthcare system is compared to the 
reality of it being rationed and individuals, particularly of 
Afro-Cuban descent, are actually discriminated against when it 
comes to access to health care?
    Mr. Vivanco. Just a couple of points. I do believe that the 
Cuban doctors, those ones who are doctors--I'm not talking 
about spies--Cuban doctors are heroes and should--and deserve 
as much respect as we could give them because they go----
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Right, and this is not of them.
    Mr. Vivanco. Say it again.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. My criticism is not them.
    Mr. Vivanco. No. No. No. That's right.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. I think they're being enslaved.
    Mr. Vivanco. It's very important to make that distinction 
between the doctors who goes to, you know, remote and poor 
communities all over the world to service them from the 
machinery, the structure used by the Cuban government where the 
doctors become actually victims, and they have no rights, no 
right to, you know, privacy, free speech, association, and so 
on and so forth.
    By the way, the chair of the subcommittee asked me before 
what happened if those--any of those doctors applied for 
political asylum, for instance, and abandoned----
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. But if you could focus--if you could 
focus specifically on the actual--the reality of healthcare 
access and conditions on the island.
    Mr. Vivanco. I do not have that data, the current data of 
reliable data of the current----
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Do you? Ms. Paya, do you?
    Ms. Paya. Yes, I do not have data because we do not have 
any statistics. But we have seen videos and we are in total 
connection with the Cubans in the island and the--and the 
reality seems to be of a total collapse of the healthcare 
system, at least in the provinces Matanzas, the people were 
even--Matanzas, yes--the people were even dying in the aisles 
and in the entrance and in the houses without proper medical--
without proper medical attention.
    We are facing a very--a very high prices of the sanitary 
system, of the healthcare system, and it's clear that the 
authorities of the dictatorship are not--are not capable of 
actually solving the problem. They are not prepared or they are 
not willing to.
    Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Mr. Chairman, the portrayal of the 
Cuban healthcare system is mythological, that is one that 
provides all kinds of free and wonderful access to health care 
to people on the island. That is simply untrue.
    And in addition to that, the reason that we do not have the 
information that we need is because they deny access to the 
data, unlike free countries which universally share data so 
that everyone can have access to it and see what's really going 
on in terms of the treatment and the health and well-being of 
their people.
    I yield back the balance of my time.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congresswoman.
    Congressman Perry.
    Mr. Perry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank the 
witnesses.
    I read a book one time entitled, ``And the Russians 
Stayed,'' talking about Cuba.
    Now, the folks that are for ending the embargo--so I'm 
sitting at the table, some on the other side of the aisle here 
in this building, and most, I think, importantly and 
vociferously the Chinese, the Russians, and the Cuban 
dictatorship. I think that's an interesting coalition and it's 
important to recognize it for what it is.
    Ms. Paya.  can you--can you describe to us, if you can, 
because we have heard the reports but it's hard to get 
verification, what are the Venezuelans and the Russians and the 
Chinese doing in Cuba right now to stomp out this freedom 
movement?
    Ms. Paya. Yes. And again, we only--we only know what is 
public. We only know what the anecdotes of the witness in Cuba 
mentioned. But just taking into consideration what is public, 
Russia issued a statement in the first days of last week, 
encouraging Miguel Diaz-Canel, the puppet of Raul Castro, which 
holds the charge of president of the dictatorship, encouraging 
Diaz-Canel to use all the measurements available within the 
Cuban law to a stop the protest. That were not the exact words, 
but that was the message.
    And I have to say to use all the measurements within the 
Cuban law includes the--includes the violence, includes the 
weapons against the Cubans--the Cubans that are actually trying 
to change the system because, actually, the Cuban constitution 
that was imposed in 2019 in the Article 4 that constitution 
allows anyone to fight even using the--they call it lucha 
armada, even using weapons to fight anyone that is trying to 
change their political and economical system that that 
constitution established, which is the Cuban Communist Party as 
the Director of the Society and the State.
    So, basically, Putin was giving his endorsement to the 
killing of the Cubans in the streets if they were trying to 
change the--to change the system.
    Having said so, Cuba--the Cuban regime has been the gateway 
to the intelligence service of Chinese, of Russians, and the 
connections, the coordination, the kind of a relationship that 
the Cuban regime passed over the Maduro dictatorship have been 
widely documented.
    And they are in charge, for instance, of the counter 
intelligence, specifically, the military counter intelligence. 
So that's there now.
    Mr. Perry. So everyone knows that the Russians and the 
Chinese have their most important listening stations located in 
Cuba, and so with people are saying, well, Mr. Vivanco, the 
embargo is not working.
    And I agree with you to a certain extent that doing the 
same thing over and over again and expecting different results 
is insanity. And for 60 years, and before that Bautista, the 
same thing, right? Dictatorship and us with the embargo now and 
hoping it will work.
    But I would submit to you that while I agree with you that 
it's not working under its current form, because other 
countries are happy to trade with Cuba, they're happy to trade 
because there's something in it for them.
    There's money in it for them. There's influence. There's 
China. There's Russia. And this is the time--right now is the 
time when the United States with the embargo needs to step up 
and do even more as the Cuban people put their lives on the 
line, literally, on the streets of Cuba at the hands of the 
Venezuelans, at the hands of the Chinese and the Russians, who 
will kill them in their homes.
    And now's the time for the United States to up the ante, to 
say we--go to these other countries and say, you must stop 
trading with them. You must stop helping. Now is the time, not 
to back off, not to do exactly what the dictatorship wants.
    Ms. Paya.  certainly, the Cuban people can defend 
themselves against the Venezuelan police, the Russians, the 
Chinese. Certainly they can defend themselves. They're armed, 
aren't they?
    Ms. Paya. No, they are disarmed----
    Mr. Perry. Say it isn't so.
    Ms. Paya [continuing]. And peaceful people demanding 
freedom in the streets and they are confronting an eState with 
all its resources and the resources of their--of their other--
of the other enemies of freedom to the world.
    Mr. Perry. Ladies and gentlemen, now is the time for the 
United States to lead, not back off on the embargo but to step 
up and force other countries, demand other countries, to step 
up and stop the insanity happening 90 miles off our coast.
    I yield the balance.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman.
    Congressman Vargas.
    Mr. Vargas. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I believe it was 
Albert Einstein who was credited with saying, if you do the 
same thing over and over again and you expect a different 
result, that's insanity. And I think that that's right.
    I mean, if you continue to do the same thing and expect a 
different result, that is insanity. I'd argue, I mean, 
everybody's putting the blame seems--not everybody, some people 
to be putting the blame on this administration.
    But I would say, hey, where was the Reagan Administration? 
Where was the George H. W. administration? Where was the George 
W. administration? Where was the Trump administration?
    If it's so easy to do, why wasn't it done? I mean, the 
reality is, I think it's very difficult to get change there and 
again, because it does have, I think, these other States that 
help it.
    I gave the chance last time to Ms. Paya.
    Mr. Vivanco, how would you do it differently? Because it 
does seem to me that nothing's going to come of all this. 
You're going to have a lot of poor people suffering in Cuba 
again.
    You're going to have this, you know, the people in the 
streets. They're going to get repressed. They're going to get 
attacked. A lot of them--not a lot of them, but a number of 
them are going to get killed. They're going to disappear.
    All the terrible things that normally happen, and nothing's 
going to change because we're going to continue to do the same 
thing.
    Ms. Paya. Congressman Vargas, I do appreciate the analysis 
of the--of the history because I do believe that we are in a 
pivotal moment, that this moment is qualitatively different 
from anything that we have seen before in the 62 years.
    We have seen massive protests across the whole island, tens 
of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of Cubans, maybe a 
million Cubans in the streets demanding freedom and demanding 
the end of the dictatorship, demanding those things from a 
dictatorship that actually is in one of the most vulnerable 
moments in history, too, for many reasons, but also because the 
access to resources have been--have been diminished during the 
last--during the last years, but especially because the Cuban 
people have fundamentally changed in its behavior, and it's 
going out in the streets and it's demanding freedom, not just--
not just on Sunday, but only during this year til January--til 
June 30 there have been more than 1,100 protests in Cuba.
    So there are many fresh and important things that 
international community and United States can do--can do to 
help us, and one of these is rise the cost of the repression 
against the Cuban people, imposing targeted individual 
sanctions against the ones that are giving the orders to kill 
and to shut down young people in the streets. Internet access.
    Mr. Vargas. If I could interrupt.
    But I have to say, ma'am, I'm old enough to remember the 
collapse of the Soviet Union and that was also a moment like 
this, when everyone said, oh, here it comes. Here's the--here's 
where it's going to be the big change. There wasn't. There 
wasn't, and----
    Ms. Paya. So, sir, you're talking about the collapse of the 
Soviet Union and I'm talking about the Cuban people in the 
streets.
    Mr. Vargas. But, remember, Cuba--no, I understand. But the 
reason I say that is that history seems to repeat itself. I 
remember that time. Now I'm 60 years old. I do not know how old 
you are, but I'm 60, and so I remember that time very well, 
that this is an opportunity. Everybody was saying, now it's 
going to happen. There's going to be changed on the island. 
You're going to see now a democracy. The Castros are going to 
fall. They didn't.
    Ms. Paya. Again, we----
    Mr. Vargas. And now I look at it again, and I do not--I 
mean, I do not want to argue with you because I agree--I'd like 
to see the change. Probably we'd both like to see--I'd like to 
see a democracy where people can vote freely for whomever they 
want and not to have the dictatorship that they have today.
    I just fear that we're going to do the same thing again and 
nothing is going to change.
    Ms. Paya. Well, you can help us to change that and that's 
part of why we are--we are doing this. And just to clarify what 
is fundamentally different from 1900's is that it's not the 
Soviet Union collapsing. It's the Cuban people protesting in 
the streets. The product flow here does not rely on any other 
foreign country. It relied on the Cuban people. We are the 
protagonist of our--of our history. We are already being that, 
and what we are asking is solidarity with the solution and the 
demand that we are----
    Mr. Vargas. And I guess if I could--my time is about over. 
That's the problem. The solution--I mean, I think that there's 
a lot of solidarity. There was back when the Soviet Union 
collapsed, too, and nothing happened. That's my point, that the 
solidarity was there but it's the policy that does not change. 
Have you----
    Ms. Paya. Then practical things to do rise the--rise the 
cost of the repression. Impose targeted sanctions over those 
that are still commanding a repression. Give internet access. 
We saw the censorship of the--of the Cuban regime.
    Apply the Sullivan Principles and take a similar approach 
to the one that you took with South Africa to end the 
apartheid.
    Involve the international community, the European Union, 
the OAS, not under the premise of the cynicism of the--of the 
world with the embargo but on the premise of the Cuban people 
demanding freedom on the streets. I think that's--that would be 
a fresh approach.
    Mr. Vargas. Thank you very much.
    Ms. Paya. Thank you.
    Mr. Vargas. My time is up.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman Vargas. Congresswoman 
Malliotakis?
    Ms. Malliotakis. Thank you very much and I, again, want to 
thank both of you for being here today and to discuss a topic 
that is very personal and important to me. And, certainly, we 
talked a lot about what the Biden Administration should be 
doing and I echo what you say, Ms. Paya, when you say we need 
to involve the international community.
    We need to--we need the president to lead as the leader of 
the free world to push for freedom and democracy in Cuba and, 
certainly, use whatever abilities we have to engage the 
international community, the freedom-loving democracies from 
around the world, to also join that effort to push this regime 
out.
    What I want to ask, though, is what can the United Nations, 
because I've been very disappointed with their lack of interest 
in actually assisting in this situation right now, what do you 
believe the United Nations should be doing at this time to help 
this cause?
    Ms. Paya. Thank you so much for that question, and I have 
to say that I have been shut down by the Cuban--by the 
dictatorship--the Ambassador of the Cuban dictatorship in the 
Human Rights Councils in the United Nations. The fact that they 
have a seat there is very, very telling to what the United 
Nations have been doing for the Cuban people.
    Anyways, there are special rapporteurs that have to make 
his work--their work, and they have been doing it and those 
kind of technical approach as the one that reported on the 
forced labors of the Cuban doctors should be taken into 
consideration.
    My suggestion, of course, I was--I'm hoping that the High 
Representative Michelle Bachelet asks for a visit to the island 
and actually confirm with her own eyes what is taking place in 
Cuba.
    I do not have a lot of hope for the Cuban regime accepting 
that, but that should be the kind of--the kind of bold 
involvement that we are hoping for an organization that should 
be protecting the right to democracy and the human rights in 
Cuba.
    Ms. Malliotakis. You mentioned the Human Rights Council, 
and I'm glad you brought it up because one of the reasons why 
President Trump withdrew the United States from the Human 
Rights Council is because it's a farce. It's an absolute sham, 
particularly when you look at the members who sit on that 
Council.
    It's not just Cuba who, you know, allows no freedom of 
speech, no freedom of press, no freedom to demonstrate, as 
we're seeing people being beat in the streets by communist 
regime forces. They're being abducted and jailed and shot at. 
They're treated as slaves for what equates to 15 U.S. dollars a 
month. They have a dual currency system.
    When something is--they're being paid in Cuban pesos and 
yet they're being asked to purchase things in something that is 
equivalent of U.S. dollars. You know, it's a 25 to 1 ratio.
    How do you expect them to do that, and they're slaves to 
the government and they do not have the right to come and go 
from the island as they please.
    So the fact that Cuba is on the Human Rights Council along 
with China, Venezuela, Russia, the most egregious human rights 
violators.
    Mr. Vivanco, as somebody who is involved with the Human 
Rights Watch, I would love for you to comment on that.
    Mr. Vivanco. It is a shame. It is a shame. There is no 
other, you know, reaction. That is the--probably the most 
honest comment that I can give you how dictatorships are 
members of the Human Rights Council.
    But let me explain to you one little detail which is--I 
think is relevant. They get elected because every region, every 
geographical region of the world, has some chance to present, 
for instance, one or two candidates for one or two vacancies.
    Last time, when Venezuela was, you know, competing for a 
position, unfortunately, Latin America were given two posts and 
Latin America as a--as a region presented two candidates for 
two posts.
    So there was--I mean, and one of the candidates was 
Venezuela, the other one was Brazil. And Brazil, under the 
current government of President Bolsonaro, very close ally to 
President--former President Trump, you know, decided to avoid 
any further candidate from stepping in because they were afraid 
that if there were three candidates for two posts at the Human 
Rights Council Brazil will be eliminated.
    So what we did was to convince Costa Rica in the last 
minute to run to try to defeat Venezuela and Costa Rica did it. 
But, you know, it was late already, you know, and 
unfortunately, finally, Brazil was selected and Venezuela was 
selected.
    Ms. Malliotakis. Any advice you have for the Biden 
Administration at this moment when they're looking to reenter 
Human Rights Council how we can use that as leverage to try to 
change the makeup of this council?
    Mr. Vivanco. I think that if you look at the votes, the 
positions of the Human Rights Council, not the membership--the 
membership, I agree with you. I mean, at least, I do not know, 
40 percent of them are dictatorships, who get selected at the 
Human Rights Council to protect themselves, you know, to try to 
interfere in the business of the top entity that is supposed to 
supervise human rights all over the world.
    But there is still a slim majority that is committed to 
fundamental freedoms and rights. So I welcome the decision of 
the current administration, the Biden Administration, to rejoin 
the Human Rights Council because there are very important 
battles and debates that are happening precisely there.
    Ms. Malliotakis. Thank you.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you. Well, we have come to the end. I want 
to thank you for your patience. I want to thank you for coming 
and testifying before our committee.
    And we'll just have some closing remarks, then we'll close 
the hearing.
    Thank you again for joining us today. I have been inspired 
by the scenes of courage we are witnessing in Cuba. Young 
people, in particular, have been stepping up and making clear 
that they refuse to become a lost generation.
    Their creativity, bravery, and advocacy ought to remind 
that the status quo in Cuba is a tremendous waste of talent and 
potential.
    I urge the Biden Administration and my colleagues in 
Congress to rise to the occasion and seize the best opportunity 
to help the Cuban people. Nothing is more important to me than 
seeing the Cuban people finally become free.
    With that, I turn it over to my colleague, Congressman 
Green.
    Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing some 
closing comments, and I want to thank the witnesses for being 
here. I want to thank you for your intensity. I think on both--
everybody here is excited about the opportunity that we see at 
this moment in time.
    We're frustrated and angry with the human rights abuses 
that have gone on for so many years, and I agree that with the 
embargo not working, I just--I think it's time to double down.
    I think it's time, and my criticisms aren't of the Biden 
Administration, per se, as much about, you know, earlier when I 
was talking about socialism and communism and I was referring 
to sort of fringe members.
    I think we all know the senator I'm talking about who 
supports socialism and my own colleagues here in the House who 
support socialism, and some who've advocated for universal rent 
control, which is right out of Karl Marx.
    That's not--I'm not saying that's the Biden Administration. 
I'm saying when I--my criticism there is just let's act. It's 
time, and there's a chance--there's an opportunity to bring 
freedom to another group of people and that's why I'm so 
passionate.
    But I believe very deeply that there's a lot of--I was 
listening to, you know, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, who I 
do not agree with very often.
    But as she was talking about this, I'm, like, yes, that's 
right. Those physicians are enslaved, and if they're doing that 
they'll probably sell vaccine we give them anyway, right.
    So, I mean, let's do what we can to continue to agree where 
we can, and, Chairman Sires, I just want to thank you for your 
friendship and your unbelievable leadership on this issue over 
the decades.
    You are a champion for the people of Cuba because you are 
one of them, and you have done an amazing job leading through 
the challenges of a divided government here in Washington, DC.
    Thanks for your time. Appreciate you all.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman Green, for those remarks. 
Thank you for your comments.
    And with that, this hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 12:24 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]

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