Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden attempted to tie "Trump's international failures" to the push for Cuba to gain a seat on the United Nations' Human Rights Council.
"Trump's international failures have cleared a path for Cuba to join the U.N. Human Rights Council," he tweeted. "This would betray Cuba's political prisoners and further undermine U.S. diplomacy. As President, I will lead by empowering the Cuban people and defending human rights."
There is just one problem, however. Actually, more like three, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) reminded him.
"Joe, am glad you agree that the UN Human Rights Council is a joke & Cuba is a repressive totalitarian dictatorship," he said. "That's why Trump pulled the US out. You might want to mention that Cuba was elected to 'Human Rights Council' THREE TIMES while you were VP: 2009, 2013 & 2016."
Joe, am glad you agree that the UN Human Rights Council is a joke & Cuba is a repressive totalitarian dictatorship. That’s why Trump pulled the US out. You might want to mention that Cuba was elected to “Human Rights Council” THREE TIMES while you were VP: 2009, 2013 & 2016. https://t.co/PbruhzyRAX
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 19, 2020
Whoops.
"Joe Biden can barely remember what office he's running for, so it's not surprising he forgot that Cuba was elected three times to the corrupt U.N. Human Rights Council while he was VP," Trump campaign senior advisor Mercedes Schlapp told Fox News.
Biden's tweet came after the Miami Herald ran an opinion piece about how the UN could soon elect Cuba, Russia, and Saudi Arabia to the human-rights body.
The column blames the U.S. even though it's not in control of the Human Rights Council's membership vote.
Problem is, President Trump has alienated America’s traditional European allies, and the United States has lost much of its international clout since Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Change Accord and abdicated much of the U.S. leadership on human-rights issues by embracing North Korea’s brutal dictator, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and other autocrats without criticizing their human-rights abuses.
Trump has even refused to strongly condemn Saudi Arabia’s killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which, according to U.S. intelligence agencies, was ordered from the Saudi presidential palace. Thus, in the eyes of most democracies, the Trump administration has little moral authority to lead a human rights-related campaign.
Still, the U.S. government should join with other world democracies in trying to stop new repressive regimes from joining the Council. Human-rights groups should step up their campaigns to stop this charade and to get Venezuela expelled from the Council. (Miami Herald)
"What's outrageous is that Sleepy Joe wants to return to the failed Obama-Biden Cuba policy, which hurt the Cuban people and helped prop-up Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro," Schlapp said. "Biden has always appeased communists. Just like he sold out Americans to China while Hunter got rich, now he's selling-out Cubans and Venezuelans to coddle Bernie Sanders and AOC. This may help with Chavistas in his party, but he'll lose the election in November."
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