7 members of the U.S. Congress visited Cuba Saturday and are set to return Tuesday.
The delegation includes Representatives [crscore]Kathy Castor[/crscore], [crscore]John Garamendi[/crscore], [crscore]Paul Gosar[/crscore], [crscore]Tom Emmer[/crscore], [crscore]Brendan Boyle[/crscore], [crscore]Alan Lowenthal[/crscore] and [crscore]Mike Bishop[/crscore], according to John Kavulich, President of the U.S.- Cuba Trade and Economic Council.
Of the 7 congressmen, none of the representatives posted about the visit on their house.gov page, and only Castor and Emmer were publicly recognized as participating in the trip.
Castor said about the visit, “We intend to meet with small business owners and entrepreneurs to gain a better understanding of how the changes in the Cuban economy are working,” Florida Politics reports.
Castor, a Democrat, has been identified as the leader of the Cuba trip. Following her previous visit in 2013, Castor called for an end to the economic sanctions against the country, making her the first lawmaker to do so.
Since her 2013 visit, Castor has been working with the Obama administration to restore the relationship between the countries.
Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar is less optimistic about the repaired relationships, stating that he does not believe there have been any positive human rights changes since Obama called for the diplomatic restoration.
While Gosar did not acknowledge on his house.gov page that he was visiting Cuba, he did write Friday, “Imagine the frustration of legal immigrants when President Obama unilaterally normalized relations with Cuba last year but refused to end provisions from the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act which grant instant amnesty to Cubans who set foot on American soil.”
Gosar thinks Cuban immigrants receive special treatment from the U.S. government and questioned, “why would we still treat immigrants from that nation any different than those from other countries?”
The group has not disclosed how the trip’s expenses are being paid for.