A few weeks ago, Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat) and a couple of his fellow (also Democrat) senators paid a little visit to Castro’s island paradise. Not surprisingly, their little excursion flew under the mainstreams’ radar ~ Democrats Visit Mass-Murderer Raul Castro to Denounce President Trump’s Policies ~

“(The group) arrived in Cuba last weekend (Feb. 17-18) to review changes in Washington’s policy toward the island since President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2017. During the press conference, Leahy mentioned the meeting that he and his colleagues held yesterday with Cuban President, Raúl Castro… The Senator from Vermont criticized the new direction taken by the Trump administration with regard to Cuba policy.”
(Source: Cuba’s Communist party paper, Granma.)
 
 
The rest of the U.S. delegation consisted of senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Kathy Castor (D-Fl) and Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego). […]

 
Jorge González-Gallarza is curious about the group’s agenda ~ Senator Leahy: report back from Cuba immediately ~

Over the latest congressional recess, a bicameral group of members snuck away to Cuba for a round of talks with different elements of the Castro regime. The four-day visit was unusually lengthy for a congressional delegation, and suspiciously furtive from the get-go.

 
The delegation spoke to senior staff at the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s US Directorate led by Carlos Fernández de Cossío — who less than a week before was still serving as Cuban Ambassador to South Africa — , met with US exchange students at Havana University and held a wrap-up press briefing at the Embassy. The visit also allegedly involved some form of “fact-finding efforts” to dig into the attacks on embassy staff of the past year, as well as encounters with members of Cuba’s minute business community.

González-Gallarza continues ~

The rationale for so-called “engagement” underpinning the Leahy-led trip is flawed anywhere you look at it. Far from a “fact-finding” mission, the delegation made a point not to ask Castro’s entourage the tough questions begged by the reported facts surrounding the attacks. No effort was even made to assuage the opposition’s fears that they may be the next target of whatever technology was used to inflict damage on our diplomats.
 
Most crucially, Leahy and his colleagues can’t be relied on to press the Castro regime on their repressive zeal at home and their key role in abetting Maduro’s crimes in Venezuela. That type of backroom mingling spells dissonance in our foreign policy at a time of heightened uncertainty over a potentially grave national security threat.

 
Hmmm… any infringement of the Logan Act here…?
Probably not, but this Democrat diplomacy is certainly problematic.

What is it with Dems and dictators? Cuba is still pals with the Russians, has attempted to smuggle weaponry to North Korea and is a state-sponsor of terrorism. Not to mention this (from Babalu Blog) ➡ Shocking! Castro regime has over 200 spies in the United States ~

Colonel Chris Simmons, former head of the counterintelligence unit for Cuba at the United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DNI) , claims that the Castro regime has just over 200 agents scattered throughout the United States.
 
The sale of intelligence information is the largest source of income that Cuba has, said Col. Chris Simmons… “The income generated by tourism is mere pennies in comparison with the profits that the sale of secret information brings in for Havana,” said the colonel.

 
And Leahy and his cohorts are fine with all this? As González-Gallarza reported, the delegation couldn’t be bothered to meet with the Cuba opposition (Something even BHO took the time to do back in 2016) ~

Not one meeting with opposition leaders was squeezed into the schedule. By Leahy’s own telling, he even refused to “go into difficult conversations” in his talks with regime bigwigs, meaning no allusion was made to their rampant crackdown on dissent since Obama’s thaw of relations in 2016. The refusal to reckon with the opposition as a necessary partner is all the more shocking given the delegation’s stated intent to gain a deeper understanding of recent changes in Cuban political life.

So who knows what the real purpose of their little excursion was. But it’s certainly difficult to see how the visit will ever benefit the average Cuban.

On left is group of incredibly brave Cubans willing to risk life & liberty standing up for their rights. On right are tourists who don't really much care… #Cuba pic.twitter.com/X7InTIwiyI

— Jose Cardenas (@JoseCardenasUSA) March 9, 2018

 
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Related:
• Congressional Democrats Condemn Trump Policy on Cuba After Meeting with Raúl Castro
• Cuban Exiles Recount ‘Sonic’ Torture By Castro Regime
• One foot out the door, Mr. “Hope & Change” extinguishes hope for persecuted Cubans
• Cuba: Our new diplomacy with dictators
• Fidel may be gone, but his legacy of oppression lives on
• Dictators of a feather – Obama cozies up to Communist Cuba