From the point of view of the human rights activists in Cuba and the American dissidents who fled both the previous dictator Fugencio Batista and the new dictator Fidel Castro, one of the most repressive men in the history of the world, the new action by Kerry is an empty gesture.
Cuba controls the staffing of the embassy as far as Cuban workers there go and anyone who seeks sanctuary there will be immediately reported to the Cuban police. As Sen. Rubio said, it is more show diplomacy than actual diplomacy.
As one American dissident--Jorge Ponce--said on the dissident blog Babalublog, this all took place in La Obama, Cuba. Ponce went on to quote Jose Marti, Cuban leader for an end to slavery in Cuba and freedom from Spain, as saying, “To set foot in the house of the oppressor is to justify the oppression. As long as a people have not conquered its rights, he/she who visits the house of those who trample on his/her rights to party and have a good time is an enemy of the people.“
I think that the sentiment of Marti and a concern for human rights has disappeared from American thinking.
When the price of oil collapsed, Venezuela under Maduro, who stole an election after the death of Hugo "El Loco" Chavez (whose daughter is now the richest person in Venezuela with assets of at least $5,000,000,000), descended into murder, chaos, and famine. Thus Maduro was no longer able to prop up Castro, who lost money from Russia with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Therefore, the Democrats moved to rescue the Castros, hoping that the American taxpayer is stupid enough to extend credits to the communists so that they can ship grain from companies such as Cargill and then present the bill to the taxpayers in a form of corporate welfare to aid the communists. Bush passed legislation to allow Cuba to buy whatever they want for cash and Cuba trades will all other countries in the world. However, Cuba never repays credit--never. Recently, Putin forgave $30,000,000,000 in loans to Cuba in order to reopen a Russian naval base in Cuba.
The Cuban people are forbidden by law to have any significant property. Everything is controlled. For example, if you catch a lobster in the ocean and you are starving, nevertheless it is illegal for you to sell the lobster or to eat it--it is illegal for you to have such a thing. The communist regime owns most of the restaurants and hotels and fosters prostitution ($3) and child prostitution, catering to the ageing hippies of the western world who realize that Thailand now has a stigma attached to it for such tourism.
The Castros hate blacks and most of the 300 prisons on the island of Cuba are filled with Afro-Cubans. Fidel himself has 20 to 25 mansions, confiscated from other rich people--Fidel was born one of the wealthiest men on the island. Fidel dabbles in the narcotics trade and arms smuggling. No one knows how many women and children that he has and Forbes many years ago estimated his wealth at a billion dollars but more likely than not it is many times that much since he has been stealing for 56 years.
