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Gingrich talks Puerto Rican statehood, Cuba policy at Hispanic forum
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01/27/12 02:46 PM ET
During the Hispanic Leadership Conference meeting Friday in Miami, Newt Gingrich refused to express an opinion on Puerto Rican statehood and said that he would prevent human-rights abuses in Cuba by flooding the country with camera-phones.
Gingrich was speaking about how he believed Puerto Rico should be allowed to vote on whether it would seek statehood, independence or a continuation of its current status as an incorporated territory when he was interrupted by a Puerto Rican woman who had asked a question on the issue during Thursday's GOP debate.
She accused Gingrich of equivocating, saying he should say in no uncertain terms whether he would support and advocate for Puerto Rican statehood.
That response drew applause from the crowd.
Gingrich also spoke of his plan to support the people of Cuba, enabling a "Cuban Spring" a la the populist uprisings in the Middle East. The former Speaker said America needed to express a "willingness to intimidate those who would be oppressors" by clearly articulating that it would support punishment for the enforcers of the Castro regime after the government fell.
"So one of my goals would be to nonviolently flood the island with enough cellphones that are videocameras that any act of oppression gets filmed by 30 people. And we start posting it — this person will be on the list after the revolution. You'll see the morale of the police force drop dramatically as they are no longer all-powerful and all secret," Gingrich said.
Gingrich picked up the endorsement of the Hispanic Leadership Network at the event, and argued that the Obama administration has been neglecting Latin American issues.
“Our commitment to every person in Latin America should be that we want you to have the opportunity to live under the rule of law, to have private property, to pursue happiness, to develop prosperity,” Gingrich said. “We want America to be your closest friend and your closest ally in giving you a chance for your family to pursue a better future.”
Gingrich also reiterated his call to privatize the visa system to re-enter the country, arguing that doing so would help tourism, and again expressed his support for a permanent resident program that would enable families with established roots in America to become legal.
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