U.S. senator calls congressional delegation’s trip to Cuba “very productive”

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin said Tuesday that the threeday trip to Cuba last weekend by a delegation of six Democratic lawmakers from his country was “very productive.”

In a communique, Durbin said that “reestablishing travel and trade relations will mean real benefits” for the United States, especially for farmers, small businesses and working families.

Durbin said that the policy changes announced by President Barack Obama go beyond trade and travel “it’s about opening Cuba to new ideas, new values, and improved human rights that our 50 year old policy of exclusion could not achieve.”

However, he warned that the changes won’t happen immediately and that “we have to be realistic,” above all about the total lifting of the embargo on Cuba by means of “legislation in a Congress where a single senator can scuttle it.”

“But the American people are ready for this change and my colleagues and I are committed to getting it done,” he said.

The visit of the Democratic delegation, which also included Senators Patrick Leahy, Debbie Stabenow and Sheldon Whitehose and Congressmen Chris Van Hollen and Peter Welch, was the first since the U.S. and Cuba announced the normalization of diplomatic relations last month.

The presence of the lawmakers preceded the arrival in Havana this week of the assistant aecretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, Roberta Jacobson, to negotiate the reopening of embassies in both countries.

According to Durbin, in their interviews with “many Cuban reformers and activists,” they were able to see “a renewed sense of hope for the first time in a long time in Cuba.”

The delegation did not meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, but did speak for several hours with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and with officials of the Culture Ministry, the communique said.