http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/227400-top-senate-dem-slams-obama-on-cubaDecember 17, 2014, 10:39 am
Senate Dem: Cuba trade rewards 'brutal behavior'
By Peter Sullivan
Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is slamming President Obama over his prisoner swap to release an American held in Cuba.
“President Obama's actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government," Menendez, known for his tough stance on Cuba, said in a statement.
"There is no equivalence between an international aid worker and convicted spies who were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage against our nation."
American aid worker Alan Gross, who was held in Cuba for five years for trying to set up Internet for a small Jewish community, was released on Wednesday in exchange for the release of three Cuban agents convicted of spying in the U.S.
Menendez said the swap "sets an extremely dangerous precedent."
"It invites dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans serving overseas as bargaining chips. I fear that today’s actions will put at risk the thousands of Americans that work overseas to support civil society, advocate for access to information, provide humanitarian services, and promote democratic reforms."
Obama's move to begin normalizing relations with Cuba is reverberating across the political world, with members of both parties expected to blast the decision.
“This asymmetrical trade will invite further belligerence toward Cuba's opposition movement and the hardening of the government’s dictatorial hold on its people," Menendez continued. "Let us all remind ourselves that an untold number of ordinary people yearning for democracy remain imprisoned by the exact same tormentors that have punished Alan Gross and they, along with all Cubans, deserve a free and liberated Cuba."
