Kerry To Visit Cuba To Insist On Human Rights Issues

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to travel to Cuba in the "next week or two" in order “to have a human rights dialogue, specifically," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

"The president hopes to press forward on the agenda of speaking to the people of Cuba about the future and obviously he is anxious to press on the rights of people to be able to demonstrate, to have democracy, to be free, to be able to speak and hang a sign in their window without being put in jail for several years," Kerry said.

Kerry went to Cuba in August for the formal reopening of the U.S. Embassy after both countries started a process of normalizing diplomatic relations in December 2014.

The U.N. has repeatedly praised Cuba for its respect for human rights, in particular for granting free access to public health care and education. On the other hand, the international organization has condemned Washington for imposing an unfair blockade against the Cuban people for over half a century and has also criticized racism and police brutality against the Black community and other minorities in the United States.