Rep. Omar Leads Progressive Members of Congress in Statement Condemning Trump State Department’s McCarthyite Attack on Americans’ Free Speech Rights and Collective Punishment of Cubans
WASHINGTON - Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Peace & Security Taskforce Chair Rep. Ilhan Omar and 10 other CPC members—Representatives Greg Casar, Maxine Dexter, Jesús "Chuy" García, Jonathan L. Jackson, Jim McGovern, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan, Delia C. Ramirez, Rashida Tlaib, and Nydia M. Velázquez—issued the following statement in response to the Trump State Department's release of the 100-page report, Cuba: Capital of 21st-Century Communism:
“Trump appears hellbent on taking America back 70 years to the height of Cold War McCarthyism, when hawkish foreign policy was paired with unsubstantiated accusations of communist subversion and political repression against dissidents at home.
“Trump has repeatedly threatened to take over Cuba and has deployed U.S. military ships to seize fuel vessels attempting to arrive on the island. And yet, in an Orwellian move, this administration now claims it is Cuba carrying out the ‘assault’ against the United States, by turning ‘Americans into instruments of their own nation's undoing.’
“We condemn this report’s attack on Americans’ constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. We denounce this administration’s irresponsible attacks against civil society organizations, activists, journalists, labor leaders, Members of Congress, elected officials, and private individuals based on their advocacy for peaceful foreign policy and social justice at home.
“And we stand firmly against this report and other efforts by the Trump Administration to weaponize the federal government against dissent, which is a patriotic tradition. We commit to using our full oversight power as Members of Congress and elected officials to stop the persecution of Trump’s perceived political enemies.
“Trump and Secretary Rubio are intensifying decades of economic war against the very people they say they want to help—all while attacking Americans who oppose the policy. The U.S. blockade deliberately deprives the entire island’s population of adequate food, fuel, and medicine. It is past time for Trump to obey the Constitution and end the dangerous, cruel and illegal naval blockade causing collective punishment against Cuba.”
###