Democrats Disagree on Removing Cuba, Venezuela Sanctions
A group of House members asked President Joe Biden to reverse sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, saying the measures are contributing to historic levels of migration to the U.S. But Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said U.S. sanctions aren’t the root cause of the migration, and the U.S. should find other ways to address the issue.
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“Cubans and Venezuelans are leaving their homeland because of one simple fact: they are suffering under the yoke of brutal dictatorships that violently repress their citizens and that have destroyed their countries’ economies through widespread mismanagement and graft,” Menendez said in a May 11 letter to Reps. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., who led 19 other lawmakers in a letter the previous day asking Biden to remove the sanctions.
In their letter, Escobar and Grijalva said “broad-based U.S. sanctions” are a “critical contributing factor in the current increase in migration” from the two countries. “In light of their grave humanitarian toll on the peoples of those countries, and the significant logistical challenges that the resulting increase in migration is causing for federal, state, and local authorities, we urge you to act swiftly to lift the failed and indiscriminate economic sanctions that were imposed by the prior administration,” the lawmakers said. They called for a “broader review of preexisting sanctions policies that your administration inherited, which exacerbate hardship for innocent civilians and serve as additional push-factors for migration.”
But Menendez pointed to “political repression,” economic mismanagement and other factors as causes for the migration. “These actions, not U.S. sanctions policies, are responsible for the ongoing exodus of Venezuelan and Cuban refugees and migrants,” he said. “Removing U.S. sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela will only betray our democratic values and further empower criminal dictators.”
The White House didn’t comment.