The chairman of a congressional panel on Friday criticized the policy of the Obama administration towards Cuba and Venezuela at a hearing in Miami to review the respect for human rights in these two Latin American countries.
The representative Jeff Duncan, who chairs the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, said the Obama administration "has not made a real effort with the Cubans to give priority to human rights or issues of property claims "after the historic rapprochement between the two countries, which were enemies during the Cold War.
In its relations with Venezuela, Republican of South Carolina he said the United States "has not seen results" of the talks between the State Department and the government led by President Nicolas Maduro.
Duncan said the government of Cuban President Raul Castro averaged 741 "arbitrary detention" per month last year, and the figure rose to 882 during the historic visit of Pope Francisco in September. He added that more than 6,000 people were arrested and were detained in the first 10 months of this year, and almost 9,000 Americans owned properties that were confiscated after the revolution of Fidel Castro.
Duncan said the Venezuelan government security forces trying to suppress protests by unarmed students injured 900 people and left more than 43 dead. It found that the plans respect for human rights recently announced by Maduro are "laughable" in a time when "the atrocities against human rights continue unabated."
The three-hour hearing was held in Miami, where hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles who left the communist nation Venezuelan immigrants who decided to leave his country, which has a socialist government live, as well.
Representative Alan Grayson, a Democrat from Orlando and committee member, disagreed with criticism of the Obama administration as "the perpetrator is the Cuban government."
Highlighting the "icy" climate of Venezuela around the respect for human rights, Duncan noted the case of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who was convicted in September in a "mock trial" (AP)