A delegation of U.S. senators visiting Cuba on Saturday said they hope Congress would support President Obama’s opening toward the Communist-run island, Reuters reported.
The two Democrats, Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Ben Cardin of Maryland, and one Republican, Dean Heller of Nevada, spoke at a news conference after meeting First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
“We think that can be achieved this year and we can make additional progress next year,” Cardin said. “We’re optimistic this path that President Obama and President (Raul) Castro started will be continued.”
Obama, who announced the opening to Cuba in December, has asked Congress to remove the travel ban on Americans and rescind the more-than-50-year old economic embargo, but the Republican leadership opposes both moves.
Republicans have criticized the president’s decision last month to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, with House Speaker John Boehner saying “the Obama administration has handed the Castro regime a significant political win in return for nothing.”
The administration also plans to re-open an embassy in Havana for the first time since 1961, but the nomination of an ambassador will have to get through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which includes two Cuban Americans who have opposed the move: Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, a GOP presidential candidate.
