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Cardin Calls Direct Flights to Cuba a Milestone, Urges Progress on Improving Human Rights

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on the agreement reached between the United States and Cuba to allow for the scheduling of direct flights between the two nations. 

“The renewal of direct flights marks yet another milestone in the restoration of the US-Cuba relationship. As people-to-people contacts increase, the United States will be in a better position to advance our national interests, engage the Cuban people directly, and advocate an agenda defined by fundamental freedoms. As we move from stage to stage in this new relationship between our nations, we will continue to press Cuba on improving the state of human rights on the island, ending arrests and detentions of dissidents, and taking steps toward genuine political pluralism, which are long overdue.”  

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