Menendez: Ambassador, Embassy For Cuba Not In Cards Anytime Soon
PARAMUS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Cuba will be a hot-button issue for members of the 114th Congress after President Barack Obama normalized relations with the island nation last month.
But Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said Sunday it won't be easy to build diplomatic relations, saying he won't be able to garner the necessary votes to appoint an ambassador or secure funding for an embassy in Cuba.
"The suggestions that just our engagement with a regime that oppresses its people without any commitment to civil liberties and individual rights doesn't indicate to me that time alone is going to change the course of events," Menendez told WCBS 880's Monica Miller.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez said the president's decision vindicated the brutal actions of the Castro brothers.
"They have blood on their hands," he said.
The outcome of a protest in Cuba on New Year's Eve is a sign the government is not willing to change its ways, the senator said.
"Dozens of activists and political dissidents were arrested," Menendez said.
Menendez, a Democrat, will become the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.
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