Progressive US Democrats defend Cuba trip, will seek changes

Two Democratic U.S. lawmakers who just returned from Cuba pushed back against Republicans’ criticism of the trip, calling on President Joe Biden’s administration to ease restrictions on relations with the Communist-ruled island.

Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar, chair and deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, were in Cuba from Feb. 19-22.

Republicans accused them of sympathizing with Cuba’s communist government. Representative Nicole Malliotakis said on social media, “Say it out loud: The Congressional Communist Sympathizing Caucus.” Representative Mike Waltz said they had gone “to get a refresher course on communism to bring back to DC.”

Jayapal dismissed such comments as “ridiculous,” noting that agriculture secretaries from several U.S. states, some Republicanled, had been visiting

Havana when she and Omar were on the island.

“The reality is a lot of people in the United States want to engage with Cuba. And we should figure out a way to do that and we should support the reforms that the Cuban government is working to implement,” Jayapal told Reuters in the first interview she and Omar have given about the trip.

Jayapal and Omar met with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and other Cuban officials, community leaders and relatives of people imprisoned for protesting against the government.

The two representatives lean farther left than Democratic leaders, but are important voices in the party this election year as Biden tries to respond to progressives’ criticism over issues from immigration policy to support for Israel in its war against Hamas.

Cuba-U.S. relations remain a hot-button political issue for the right as well, particularly in the swing state Florida where many Cuban-Americans strongly back strict sanctions on the country.