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Four Republican members of Congress from Florida are among a groupasking IKEA s North American president to explain reports that theSwedish furniture maker once benefited from Cuban prison laborfor its products. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, along with U.S. Rep. IleanaRos-Lehtinen, R-Miami, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Miami, and U.S.Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, were among the signers of a letterseeking a prompt meeting over reports that IKEA had teamed withCuban dictator Fidel Castro in the 1980s to use political prisonersto make some furniture. We want to know the exact circumstances that led IKEA toapparently enter into an accord with the Castro dictatorship toproduce some of its furniture in Cuba, Ros-Lehtinen stated in arelease. These are serious allegations and they have causedmuch consternation in our communities, and rightly so. "I urge IKEA to continue its investigation regarding these seriousallegations. All entities, including major corporations, have amoral responsibility to assure they are not used by tyrannicalregimes to further violate human rights," Ros-Lehtinen continued."If true, these press accusations are more grievances in a longlist of horrors committed against the Cuban people by the Castrobrothers. IKEA USA spokeswoman Mona Liss said the company has received theletter, and "we are in communication to set up a meeting." IKEA also issued a statement that noted the company no longer hadbusiness relations with Cuba and that since 2000 the company hashad a very strong code of conduct for suppliers, with a zerotolerance for forced labor. As far as we know there have only been occasional test purchasesof a limited amount of products from suppliers in Cuba in the late80s, IKEA stated. The congressional letter to IKEA came on the heels of a report fromthe German media source Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that the furniture maker struck a deal with Castro s communistgovernment in 1987. The deal was uncovered with the release ofStasi secret police files. "It is the responsibility of every company to ensure that itsproducts and their respective components are derived fromresponsible labor practices," the letter addressed to Mike Ward,head of IKEA USA, stated. "They certainly should not derive from the dark prisons ofauthoritarian regimes that repress their own populations, includingthe denial of basic workers' rights." The four from Florida were joined in the letter by Sen. BobMenendez, D-New Jersey, and Rep. Albio Sires, D-New Jersey. All six are Cuban-Americans. IKEA has stores in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa. According to FOX News Latino , IKEA already faces allegations that it used former communistEast German prisoners to make its furniture. IKEA told FOX News Latino an internal inquiry was underway. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article refers to events thatsupposedly took place around 25 years ago and we will immediatelylook deeper into this as part of the ongoing investigation in GDR,as well as Cuba, according to an IKEA statement to FOX News Latino. We are now accelerating this investigation and have also takenin external expertise. Before the investigation is complete, wewill not speculate on the outcome. I am an expert from ego-electroniccigarettes.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Electronic Disposable Cigarette , Pen Style E Cigarette, Ego C Cigarette,and more.
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