Criticism Mounts over Obama's Cuba Plans

President Barack Obama is facing stiff opposition at home over his plans to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba.

Obama returned to Washington Sunday after his historic meeting in Panama with Cuban leader Raul Castro at the Summit of the Americas.

Obama is restoring diplomatic ties with the communist regime. He plans to announce this week that he's removing Cuba from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Cuban-American politicians on both sides of the political aisle are blasting the president for failing to secure any meaningful human rights reforms from Castro when the United States had the chance.

They argue that Cuba should have been willing to make concessions, especially since Venezuela has been losing its ability to prop up the Cuban regime with aid.

"Well, I think the president has a misguided calculation that if you open your hands to dictators that they will un-clinch their fists," Sen. Bob Menendez, D- N.J., said on "Fox News Sunday."

"We got nothing in terms of the people of Cuba, in terms of human rights and democracy," he said. "We just saw even at this summit that human rights activists and political dissidents were attacked by Castro's bullies."

Menendez points out that Castro just arrested 600 innocent people, right before his meeting with Obama.

"And last year we had 1,600 detentions and there are still many long political prisoners sitting and languishing in Castro's jails," he continued. "And when you say that and provide those facts, as well as their violations of armed shipments in contravention to international law and a whole host of other things like having one of the 10 top terrorists of the FBI list in their country, then people change their attitude about what this policy is all about."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said she was sickened to see Obama shaking hands with Castro.

"How can the U.S. treat Cuba like other Democratic countries? The president should stand up for American principles and not give a hand to Raul Castro," Ros-Lehtinen said. "Castro hasn't had to change anything and nothing is expected of him, and in return he'll get the riches he desperately needs and doesn't deserve."

Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have family ties to Cuba and also object to normalization with the Castro regime.

Another potential GOP presidential candidate, Gov. Mike Huckabee, also blasted President Obama's Cuba plans.

"I'm not sure you can say that it's going to be healthy for democracy unless there is a complete repudiation of the policies that have left political prisoners in place in Cuba," Huckabee said on ABC's "This Week."

"Until there's some recognition of basic human rights and some reparations made for those who have been run over by the Castro machine, no, I don't think that sitting down, making nice and yukking it up with Raul Castro, who was personally involved in the shooting down of the Christian brothers airplane and involved in some murderous activities and kidnappings of Americans in the '50s, really makes a lot of sense right now," he said.