DNC Statement on Castro Resignation

The Democratic National Committee Hispanic Caucus reacted to the news of Fidel Castro's resignation today, standing with the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom and democracy. DNC Hispanic Caucus Vice Chair Eliseo Roques issued the following statement:

"Today's developments in Cuba are a welcome, dramatic, and long overdue change. Unfortunately, the Cuban people and the island's political dissidents will continue to face a tyrannical dictatorship led by Fidel's brother Raul.

"Despite promising to help bring democracy to Cuba as a presidential candidate, President Bush has repatriated some 8,000 Cuban refugees fleeing the Castro regime during his tenure, and this week becomes the President who presided while power was transferred seamlessly from one Castro to another. The Republican frontrunner, John McCain, offered more of the same wait-and-see attitude today after months of remaining silent while his fellow Republican candidates used Castro's lines in their speeches and warned that Cuban refugees might bring suitcase bombs with them while inciting fear over immigrants.

"We all stand united to help the Cuban people reclaim the freedom they have been denied for almost five decades and to help a free Cuba take its rightful place among the democratic natios of the Americas. But the Cuban people deserve straight talk, not a third Bush term of empty promises and shallow rhetoric from their elected officials."