GOP Rep. Backs Kerry Into a Corner Over Obama Shaking the ‘Bloody Hand of a Ruthless Dictator Like Raul Castro’
While attending the late Nelson
Mandela’s memorial service in South Africa on Tuesday, President Barack
Obama engaged in a reportedly spontaneous handshake with Cuban dictator
Raul Castro. The White House downplayed the exchange, but Republicans
were quick to criticize the move.
CSPAN2
Secretary of State John Kerry was
backed into a corner during a congressional hearing on Tuesday by Rep.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who blasted the president for shaking the
“bloody hand” of someone like Castro.
“Mr. Secretary, sometimes a handshake
is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the
bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a
propaganda coup for the tyrant. Castro uses that hand to sign the orders
to repress and jail democracy advocates,” the congresswoman lectured.
Ros-Lehtinen went on to ask Kerry to
“tell the Cuban people living under that repressive regime that, a
handshake notwithstanding, the U.S. policy toward the cruel and sadistic
Cuban dictatorship has not weakened.”
Dodging the question, Kerry argued that
“today is about honoring Nelson Mandela” and pointed out that Obama
called on world leaders to honor the late South African leader’s by
upholding “basic human rights.”
Secretary
of State John Kerry testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday,
Dec. 10, 2013, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the hope of
persuading Congress to not forge any new economic sanctions on Iran.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“And would you say Raul Castro is upholding basic human rights?” Ros-Lehtinen shot back.
“No,” Kerry quickly replied. “Absolutely not.”
Watch the interaction below:
(H/T: Mediaite)
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