{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=news&id=2043", "Breitbart: Cruz on Cuba: Another Obama 'Very, Very Bad Deal'", "2014-12-17", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "TX", "Ted Cruz", "C001098", "www.cruz.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "While the release of U.S. aid worker Alan Gross is a welcome news, the Obama administration has made the underlying issues with the Castro regime in Cuba \u201cworse,\u201d according to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).  \u201cFidel and Raul Castro have just received both international legitimacy and a badly-needed economic lifeline from President Obama,\u201d Cruz \u2014 whose father immigrated to the United States from Cuba \u2014 said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.  \u201cBut they remain in control of a totalitarian police state modeled on their old state sponsor, the Soviet Union. Their government can continue to detain individuals like Alan Gross indefinitely without process\u2013as the many political prisoners still languishing in the Castros\u2019 prisons can attest,\u201d he continued, noting the regime has close ties with \u201chostile\u201d nation including Russia, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela as well as support terrorist groups including FARC, Hezbollah and Hamas. Earlier in the day, in conjunction with Gross\u2019 release, President Obama announced moves to begin normalizing relations with Cuba. According to Cruz, while Obama spoke of a \u201cnew era\u201d for American and Cuban people the plan does \u201cnot bode well for either.\u201d Read more", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=news&id=2043"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8459710516035557, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}