Members of Florida’s congressional delegation are rallying around a crackdown on trade with Cuba.
“For decades, they have hidden behind the excuse of the embargo, but that lie no longer works,” U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Coral Gables Republican, posted on social media. “It’s time for the regime to fall once and for all.”
The remark came days after Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson condemned the U.S. embargo policy to the United Nations Human Rights Council.[1]
“The Cuban diplomat urged the Council to take note of the repeated calls by special procedures for an end to these unilateral coercive measures, which continue to be ignored by Washington,” read a statement from Cuban state media.
“In this context, he called on all UN member states to vote in favour of the resolution that will be presented on 28 and 29 October at the General Assembly, demanding an end to the blockade.”
The State Department, headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, dismissed the rhetoric as misinformation.
“The false narrative of a ‘blockade’ against Cuba is just one of the many lies spread by the failing dictatorship on the island. The Cuban people and the world can see it with their own eyes,” read a statement from the State Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs released in Spanish and English. “If the ‘revolution’ is going so well, why is the dictatorship so afraid of truly free and democratic elections?”[2]
Cuban American members of Congress representing South Florida voiced steadfast support of a hawkish policy in Cuba.
“The murderous dictatorship in Cuba must be destroyed and relegated to the ash heap of history,” posted U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, a Miami-Dade Republican and the only member of Congress born in Cuba.[3]
The Cuban government in recent weeks has stepped up pressure for the U.S. to end its embargo policy, including a billboard campaign promoted in Chinese media that characterizes the sanctions as a “blockade.”[4]
But U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, a Hialeah Republican, said U.S. policy aims to empower the Cuban people oppressed by the communist government.
“The United States stands with the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom, and will continue to deny resources to their oppressors until basic human rights in Cuba are respected,” he posted on X. “Supporting the Cuban regime not only betrays those fighting for liberty but also empowers a regime that consistently acts against U.S. national security.”
Salazar suggested the real problem in the eyes of the Cuban government is that the policy is nearing success.
“The regime’s true fear is what the people’s voice would reveal: the end of the dictatorship,” she wrote.
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References
- ^ to the United Nations Human Rights Council (cubaminrex.cu)
- ^ statement (x.com)
- ^ born in Cuba (gimenez.house.gov)
- ^ promoted in Chinese media (english.news.cn)