A small victory against the castro lovers

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on 3 amendments to a Transporation and Treasury bill that would have weakened sanctions against Cuba. The amendments were put forward by congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), congresswoman BarbaraLee (D-CA), and congressman Jim Davis (D-FL) who aspires to be the next governor of Florida. All 3 amendments were defeated. One of the tragic things was the posterboy these characters paraded around. His name is Sgt. Carlos Lazo, A Cuban-American who has served in the U.S. armed forces in Iraq. He claims he wants to visit his sons in Cuba but that he can't because of President Bush's strengthened travel restrictions. I thought it was interesting that Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) said that when Lazo came to his office to complain about the policy, an aide asked Lazo if he wanted to file paperwork to try to get his sons to be able to visit him in the United States rather than vice versa. Astonishingly, he said he wasn't interested in that option. So what you have here is nothing more than a concocted story about family separation in an effort to make a political point. By the way, even if the amendments had passed, it has been reported that President Bush sent a letter to all 435 congressmen that he would veto any spending bill that weakened sanctions against Cuba. I have a lot of bones to pick with President Bush, but he has stood firm against this onslaught from both the left and the agrarian sectors.

UPDATE:
Lincoln Diaz Balart told the story about Lazo rejecting the idea of petitioning for his sons to come to visit him to Ninoska Perez-Castellon on 710 AM (Radio Mambi) at approximately 3:15 this afternoon. Balart said that he was not in the office when Sgt. Lazo came to discuss his situation vis-a-vis the travel restrictions but that an aide offered the alternative of the boys coming to the US for a visit. The implication is of course that he's more interested in making a political statement than seeing his boys. I leave that judgement to the reader. I can only confirm what Diaz-Balart said because I personally heard it.