Marco Rubio: Obama Should Invite Cuban Dissidents to Flag Raising in Havana

From his perch as chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., slammed the Obama administration for not inviting dissidents to the opening of the American embassy in Havana on Friday. 

“This is a new low for President Obama and a slap in the face by this administration to Cuba’s courageous democracy activists,” Rubio said. “Cuban dissidents are the legitimate representatives of the Cuban people and it is they who deserve America's red carpet treatment,‎ not Castro regime officials. What a pathetic policy President Obama has embarked on that shuns Cuban dissidents like this, yet has welcomed Castro regime officials to the White House.” 

Rubio, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, has been  leading critic of Obama’s normalization efforts. U.S. Sec. of State John Kerry will be representing the U.S. at the flag raising in Havana as the embassy is reopened.