2016 presidential candidates on President Obama's Cuba trip
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For information about the Trump administration on Cuba, click here.
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
On March 20, 2016, President Barack Obama traveled to Cuba for a historic three-day visit. The last U.S. president to visit the island nation was Calvin Coolidge in 1928. President Obama met with Cuban leaders and entrepreneurs during the trip and urged Cuba to embrace the free market. During a joint press conference with Cuban President Raul Castro on March 21, 2016, Obama pressed Castro to respond to questions about human rights and the U.S. trade embargo. Both leaders expressed their commitment to normalizing relations.[1]
President Obama received both praise and criticism from the 2016 presidential candidates for making the trip. Read what the candidates said about President Obama's trip to Cuba below.
Democratic candidate
Hillary Clinton
| CANDIDATE SUMMARY | |
- In 2016, Hillary Clinton endorsed repealing the economic embargo with Cuba.[2]
- During the March 9, 2016, Democratic presidential debate in Miami, Florida, Clinton criticized Bernie Sanders' argument that progress already made by the Castro government shouldn't be overlooked. She said, "You know, if the values are that you oppress people, you disappear people, you imprison people or even kill people for expressing their opinions, for expressing freedom of speech, that is not the kind of revolution or values that I ever want to see anywhere."[3]
- Clinton expressed her support of President Obama's efforts to normalize U.S.-Cuba relations and ease travel restrictions during the March 9, 2016, Democratic presidential debate.[3]
Republican candidate
Donald Trump
- See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
| CANDIDATE SUMMARY | |
- Said the president "should have made a better deal" before moving forward with normalizing relations with Cuba.[4]
- Following two deadly attacks in Brussels, Belgium, on March 22, 2016, Trump tweeted that President Obama “looks and sounds so ridiculous making his speech in Cuba, especially in the shadows of Brussels.”[5]
- On March 20, 2016, Trump weighed in on President Obama’s trip to Cuba in the following tweet: “Wow, President Obama just landed in Cuba, a big deal, and Raul Castro wasn't even there to greet him. He greeted Pope and others. No respect.”[6]
- During a gathering of the Palm Beach Republican Club on March 20, 2016, Trump asked, "Folks, what are we doing?" Speaking about President Obama's trip to Cuba, he said, "You don't go unless there's somebody there because you don't want to look like a fool ... we are amateur hour, folks. Obama should have turned the plane around and left."[7]
Withdrawn candidates
Ted Cruz
- See also: Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016
- Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., following the March 22, 2016, attacks in Brussels, Belgium, Ted Cruz said, “We don’t need another lecture from Obama on Islamophobia.”[8]
- Referencing Cuban leader Raul Castro, Cruz told reporters, “The people of America deserve a president who doesn’t grovel before a communist dictator who hates America.”
- Cruz added, “President Obama should be back in America keeping this country safe or President Obama should be planning to travel to Brussels.”[8]
- Cruz criticized President Obama’s trip to Cuba during an interview with CNN on March 21, 2016. He said, "As Barack Obama is sitting there sipping mojitos with brutal Communist dictators, he can't be bothered to meet the dissidents, he can't be bothered to visit with the Ladies in White, he can't be bothered to hear the screams of oppression.” During the interview, Cruz also attacked Donald Trump for saying that “the U.S. should rethink its involvement in NATO.” Cruz said, "Everything I just said, I bet you dollars to donuts Donald Trump has no idea about any of that. It has been Russia's objective, it has been Putin's objective for decades to break NATO. What Donald Trump is saying that he would unilaterally surrender to Russia and Putin, give Putin a massive foreign policy victory by breaking NATO and abandoning Europe."[9]
John Kasich
- See also: John Kasich presidential campaign, 2016
- After two separate attacks killed at least 31 people in Brussels, Belgium, early on March 22, 2016, Kasich told Fox News, "What I hope he will say he's leaving Cuba and heading back to the White House he’s gonna begin to organize meetings with the leaders around the world and at the same time get himself in the position of where we can send teams of people immediately to Europe to begin to dig in terms of what we need to do to address the vulnerabilities we have.”[8]
- Jim DeFede of CBS4 in Miami caught up with Kasich on the campaign trail in New Hampshire in February and asked if the candidate would break diplomatic relations with Cuba if elected. Kasich replied, “Well let’s see where we are when I come [into office] and what the administration has done.” Kasich continued, “I think [the Obama Administration] made a big mistake because I think Cuba needed to do something [before diplomatic relations were restored last year]. Why are we always reaching out? Why are we always moving? My sense is they haven’t made any compromises; they keep demanding things so I don’t understand what the administration is doing.”[10]
Bernie Sanders
| CANDIDATE SUMMARY | |
- During a March 21, 2016, interview with CNN, Sanders supported Obama's Cuba diplomacy and suggested that it would be proper for Cuban leader Raul Castro to visit the White House. "Last I heard, we have invited the leaders of Saudi Arabia, we have invited the leaders of China, we have invited the leaders of a whole lot of authoritarian countries to come to the United States," Sanders said. "I think Cuba should be treated similarly."[9]
- On March 20, 2016, Bernie Sanders commented on President Obama’s trip to Cuba in a statement, saying, “I applaud President Obama for making history by traveling to Cuba and moving relations between our two countries into a new era. I continue to stand by his calls for Congress to fully lift the failed embargo. … fifty years of cold war is enough. It is time for Cuba and the United States to turn the page and normalize relations.”[6]
- During the March 9, 2016, Democratic presidential debate, Sanders and Hillary Clinton clashed on the topic of U.S.-Cuba relations. Sanders expressed support for President Obama's efforts to normalize relations and ease travel restrictions. "It would be wrong not to state that in Cuba they have made some good advances in health care," said Sanders. "They are sending doctors all over the world. They have made some progress in education. I think by restoring full diplomatic relations with Cuba, it will result in significant improvements to the lives of Cubans and it will help the United States and our business community invest."[3]
Recent news
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ The New York Times, "Cuba Meeting between Obama and Castro Exposes Old Grievances," March 21, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Obama Hopes Cuba Visit Can Be Harbinger of Political Change," March 19, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 NPR, "7 Democratic Debate Moments: Clinton And Sanders Clash Over Cuba, Immigration Reform," March 10, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Obama Hopes Cuba Visit Can Be Harbinger of Change," March 19, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Obama's Cuba moves overshadowed by Brussels attacks," March 22, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 ABC News, "Donald Trump Tweets That Cuban Leader Raul Castro Has 'No Respect' for President Obama," March 21, 2016
- ↑ teleSUR, "Trump Knocks Obama's Cuba Visit in Speech to Florida Republicans," March 20, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Politico, "Cruz, Kasich call on Obama to return home or go to Brussels," March 22, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 CNN, "5 candidates make closing arguments on CNN ahead of Western Tuesday," March 22, 2016
- ↑ CBS4 Miami, "John Kasich On Cuba, Social Security And Voters’ Mood," February 10, 2016
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