Skip to main content
Image
Front of the Capitol building

Cuban American Rep. Nicole Malliotakis to Biden: Push for Human Rights, Freedom in Cuba

July 12, 2021

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), daughter of a Cuban refugee and member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today released the following statement urging President Biden to not revert to President Obama's failed foreign policy strategy with Cuba and instead push for real change on the island nation:

"As the daughter of a Cuban refugee and as someone who still has relatives on the Island, this ongoing situation in Cuba is incredibly personal to me. The United States must stand with the Cuban people who are displaying courage by protesting the communist regime that has destroyed their lives for the last 60 years. In the past, protests by Cubans have historically led to jailings, beatings, and murders by the regime.

"There is a unique opportunity for the 10 Cuban Americans serving in Congress to work with the Biden Administration to push for democracy, human rights, freedom of speech and rid the island nation of the dual currency and economic systems that have inhumanely suppressed the Cuban people, leading to poverty, starvation, and poor living conditions.

"I'm encouraged that the people of Cuba are rising up against communism and I hope this is the beginning of real change toward freedom and democracy on the island. President Biden, as leader of the free world, must do all he can to influence this change."

Congresswoman Malliotakis is the daughter of a Cuban refugee who fled the island nation in 1959, and a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Malliotakis traveled to Cuba in 2009 to visit her relatives that are still residing on the island nation today.

Issues:Congress