President Obama announced that he would establish diplomatic relations with the oppressive communist regime in Cuba. As a part of the “normalization” process, the United States will re-open its “embassy in Havana and significantly ease restrictions on travel and commerce within the next several weeks and months.” The Washington Post,
Although Obama has the power to establish diplomatic relations, the move was the latest in a series of steps he has taken to use executive powers to circumvent legislative [laws].
While those laws remain standing, the administration made clear that the measures announced Wednesday are designed to undermine them as much as possible…
Normalization fulfills a goal set by the President early in his administration, which officials only saw as possible during his last two years in office, following November’s midterm elections.
But Cuban-American lawmakers were quick to denounce the move. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Obama’s actions “will invite further belligerence toward Cuba’s opposition movement and the hardening of the government’s dictatorial hold on its people.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called the announcement “just the latest in a long line of failed attempts by President Obama to appease rogue regimes at all cost.”
