This upcoming Sunday, the people of Venezuela will hold an election that, if legitimate, would put an end to years of the oppressive Maduro narco-regime. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued a statement in support of the Venezuelan people: “The...
NOTICIAS
Últimas Noticias
Rubio: “La Tenacidad y Valentía del Pueblo venezolano Estarán a la Vista”
Este próximo domingo, el pueblo venezolano tendrá una elección que, de ser legítima, pondría fin a años de opresión por parte del narco-régimen de Maduro. El senador estadounidense Marco Rubio (R-FL) grabó un mensaje de video en español y emitió una declaración en...
Rubio, Scott, Colleagues to Biden Admin: No Privileges Should Be Given to 9/11 Terrorist
Twenty-three years ago, the United States was attacked by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001. Now, Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in a U.S. court for his role in the attack, has requested the U.S. Department of Justice to allow a prisoner transfer...
Next Week: Rubio Staff Hosts Mobile Office Hours
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host virtual Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of Senator Rubio’s...
Rubio, Colleagues Introduce Ensuring Continuity in Veterans’ Health Act
As the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) opens up new facilities, many veterans are losing access to the VA’s Community Care Program and, consequently, their long-term healthcare providers. Veterans throughout the country have reported a loss of care, including...
Rubio Introduces Bill to Strengthen U.S.-India Security Partnership
The U.S.-India partnership is vital to countering influences from Communist China. In order to strengthen this partnership, it is essential to enhance our strategic diplomatic, economic, and military relationship with New Delhi. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)...
Rubio: U.S. Should Do More To Promote Internet Freedom In Cuba
Rubio: “What do we need to do to start, not just this program, but expand it, so that people in Cuba can do what I just did? And that is speak freely to the world, and to each other, about the reality of Cuban life, and about anything else they want…”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today highlighted the importance of Internet freedom in Cuba, defending the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) role in ZunZuneo, a social media network created for the Cuban people. During a Committee hearing, Rubio questioned Rajiv Shah, the Administrator of the USAID, and stressed the need for programs that promote democracy, human rights and other goals of U.S. foreign policy.
During the hearing, Rubio illustrated the importance of freedom of speech in the 21st century by live-tweeting, demonstrating a basic freedom that is not allowed in Cuba and would result in imprisonment. Rubio’s tweet is below:
A video of the full exchange is available here.
A transcript of the exchange is available below:
…
Senator Marco Rubio: “Rightfully so, that you focused on information sharing, and so forth, because Cuba, according to Freedom House, is the second most repressive government in the world, only after Iran — and my understanding is it was a very close second — after Iran in terms of denying access to information sharing, denying access to the Internet. People in Cuba can’t go on the Internet. I mean, if you’re close to the government you may be able to sneak in Internet access here or there. But the average person on the street cannot go on the Internet in Cuba. It’s not just a capacity issue, it is prohibited.
“In fact, I’m going to send out a tweet right now. If I sent this tweet in Cuba, I would be put in jail. And I’m going to send it right now as an example of what people in Cuba cannot do. People in Cuba cannot do what I’m about to do. And so as a result of that, USAID — as has been revealed in the last few days, but was available for people to see if they were interested in it — USAID had a program, called ZunZuneo, which was designed to provide the people of Cuba access to information, and to break the information blockade and to allow people to share information. And I want to walk through this. First of all, there’s been an insinuation made by some that this program was illegal. When, in fact, this program, in my opinion and I think in yours as well, was completely within the stated mandate, within the stated purpose of your programs in Cuba: To break the information blockade, to promote information-sharing. That’s accurate, right? That was right within that goal?”
Honorary Rajiv Shah: “We have publicly notified that these programs are designed to enable open communications.”
Rubio: “And the other argument I’ve heard is, ‘Well, this was a covert program.’ But, in fact, this program was reviewed by the General Accounting Office, right?”
Shah: “Correct.”
Rubio: “And they made no suggestions for changes? They had no criticism of the way the money was being administered?”
Shah: “They actually complimented USAID on improved management oversight of the program.”
Rubio: “This wasn’t an intelligence program? We weren’t spying on the Cuban government using this program?”
Shah: “No.”
Rubio: “We weren’t selling weapons on this program, or somehow arming elements on the ground in Cuba through this program?”
Shah: “No.”
Rubio: “So this program basically was allowing Cubans to be able to communicate with other Cubans because their government doesn’t let them do that. By the way, in an advanced society in the 21st century, people should at least be able to do that, right? But in Cuba they’re not, and so, what this program chose to do was to fulfil the mandate of this program, as informed by Congress, to break the information blockade and to promote information sharing. So I read this article, and it said that, at its peak, there were 40,000 users on the program. That’s actually not true, right? At its peak it had 68,000 users.
“So here’s my question, when was the last time that we stopped a program because it was too successful? Because this program, in my mind, is successful. Not only am I glad that we did this program, what I’m upset about is that we stopped. And I don’t think we should just stop at Twitter-like programs, I think we should do everything possible, maybe USAID is not the perfect agency for this, what I’m about to talk about, but I believe we should do everything we can to provide the people of Cuba and other repressed societies full access to the Internet, so they can go on any website they want. If they want to visit Granma, which is the communist rag in Cuba, they can read it all they want online. And if they want to read the CNN website or the New York Times o Huffington Post or Drudge, whatever they want to read, they should be able to do that as well.
“I think, for everyone who is outraged by this program, when was the last time that undermining a tyranny is counter to the stated purposes of the United States of America? When is the last time that we’ve been outraged by a government program that undermines a tyranny and provides access to a people of a country to the free flow of information and the ability to talk to each other?
“I read these quotes in the paper, people setting themselves on fire around here, ‘Oh this program,’ I heard one quote, ‘cockamamie.’ Since when? We had radio broadcasts to Europe during the Cold War. We have radio broadcasts to Cuba right now. Those actually have content in them. All we wanted people to do was to talk to each other. And I want to know, when was the last time that it was against a stated purpose and goals of the United States of America to undermine a tyranny? By the way, a tyranny that, we heard testimony here just three days ago, that is involved in the single greatest violation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea since they were imposed, a tyranny that votes against us in every international forum, a tyranny that is consistently on the side of every mad man and tyrant on the planet. If there was a vote on Syria, they’re with Assad. When there was a vote on Libya, they were with Qaddafi. If there was a vote on Russia, they’re with Putin. If there is a vote on human rights violations in China, they’re with China, time and again. When was the last time that Cuba, in an international forum, ever lined up on the side of decency and human rights. This is an anti-American government that doesn’t just undermine its own people, it tries to undermine our foreign policy aims and the foreign policy aims of the free world.
“And so, my question would be, and I know this is a long-winded question: when do we start this program again? What do we need to do to start, not just this program, but expand it, so that people in Cuba can do what I just did? And that is speak freely to the world, and to each other, about the reality of Cuban life, and about anything else they want, including the latest record from Beyoncé or Jay-Z or what someone wore to the Oscars – whatever they want to write about. When do we start this again?”
…