WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Cuba represents a threat to the United States as the Castro regime continues to compromise US national security, US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said.
“Let me be clear: Cuba poses a clear and present danger to the United States,” Ros-Lehtinen stated at a hearing of the US House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee on Thursday.
“The Castro regime undermines our national security at every turn and reinforces instability in the entire region by exporting their Cuban military and espionage apparatus across the region,” she said.
“I firmly believe that the President’s concessions to the Castro brothers on December 17 poses a real national security threat,” Ros-Lehtinen concluded, referring to US President Barack Obama’s December decision to normalize relations with Cuba.
The Obama policy encompasses easing trade and travel restrictions, and potentially reopening the US embassy in Cuba.
The US State Department announced on Wednesday that US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson will lead a US government delegation to Cuba on February 27 in an additional effort to restore diplomatic relations with Havana.
US House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that the United States should end its trade embargo on Cuba, and take the country off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
The United States has maintained an embargo against Cuba since 1961 because of Cold-War antagonism between Washington and the communist government in Havana.
