Marco Rubio Doubles Down on Support of Cuba Embargo

After new reports of the Castro regime in Cuba continuing to crack down on supporters of democracy, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pushed back against politicians looking to end the embargo.

This administration has kept trying to loosen sanctions against the Castro dictatorship, even though all the regime in Havana keeps doing is repress and abuse innocent Cubans who express their desire for liberty and democracy, Rubio said on Friday. The Castro regimes repressive apparatus is in full swing as it spent this week beating and detaining dissidents without cause. Activists like Antez, his wife Yris Pez Aguilera, Berta Soler and her husband Angel Moya have been detained and harassed. Independent journalist Roberto de Jes Guerra was violently assaulted and reportedly suffered a broken nose and torn ligaments.

The Castro regimes repression cannot go ignored, Rubio added. The Obama administration should reconsider any policy attempts that ultimately enrich and empower the regime to continue repressing innocent Cubans like this. Let this latest wave of harassment and brutality by the Castro brothers serve as a reminder to those who call for more engagement as a way to bring change to Cuba. The only change that would bring is further entrenching the regime in power by giving them more money to carry out their violent repression of peoples fundamental rights and dignity.