Ron DeSantis Happy Alan Gross Free, Rips Cuban Normalization

From his perch on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., tore into President Barack Obama after news emerged that the administration exchanged three Cuban spies for aid worker Alan Gross who had been imprisoned by the Castro regime for five years.

"Alan Gross was unjustly imprisoned by the Castro dictatorship and his return is long overdue, DeSantis said on Wednesday. I am happy for him and his family. I am dismayed that, in exchange for the release of Gross, the Obama administration agreed to release imprisoned Cuban spies who conspired to kill Americans, as such an action legitimizes the Castro regime's coercive tactics. This prisoner swap sends a signal to rogue regimes and actors that taking an American hostage can be leveraged into scoring policy concessions. This makes America less safe and emboldens the dictatorship in Cuba.

DeSantis also ripped Obama for looking to normalize relations with Cuba.

Reports suggest that the Obama administration will also unilaterally relax sanctions on Cuba, even though 11 million Cubans still chafe under Castro's tyranny, DeSantis said. The goal of U.S. policy should be to liberate these hostages from the oppressive Castro regime, not to reward the regime with relaxed sanctions.