With President Barack Obama visiting Cuba this week, Republicans from the Sunshine State are lining up to criticize it while Florida Democrats--with one prominent exception--are keeping a lower profile.
From his perch as the chairman of the U.S. Senate Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., weighed in on the trip over the weekend
“On Sunday, President Obama will touch down in Cuba for what promises to be one of the most disgraceful trips ever taken by a U.S. president anywhere in the world,” Rubio said on Saturday. “This is an Obama presidential trip whose ultimate results will be giving away legitimacy and money to an anti-American regime that actively undermines our national security interests and acts against our values every single day. President Obama’s entourage will sleep in hotels controlled by the Cuban military that were confiscated by the regime and are among the $7 billion in unpaid legal claims owed to American property owners. When President Obama arrives in Havana on Sunday, he will visit Catholic Church sights and church officials, yet he’s inexplicably expected to skip St. Rita Church, where the Ladies In White have shed much blood and received routine beatings at the hands of the Castro regime for simply demanding their loved ones’ freedom.
“On Monday, President Obama will showcase the most damaging part of his Cuba policy: the lawless, one-sided weakening of the LIBERTAD Act that seeks to enrich American businesses and the Castro regime’s police state, without any concessions from Cuba that lead to greater freedoms for the Cuban people,” Rubio added. “The Obama-Castro state dinner promises to be another low point of this visit, one that I fully expect will be attended by some of the Castro regime’s biggest low-lifes who will seek to exploit this opportunity to mock this president, his administration and the American people.
“On Tuesday, the irony should not be lost on anyone that President Obama will be giving a speech at yet another property confiscated by the Castro regime,” Rubio continued. “President Obama’s decision to end his trip at a baseball game is a fitting symbol of this trip and of his entire Cuba policy: he thinks this is a game. What’s not a game is the repression, intimidation and exploitation Cuba’s baseball players face and that has led to many of them defecting the first chance they get, and that would probably lead some of them, should they be able to meet and speak freely with President Obama, to ask him directly for asylum and a flight to freedom on Air Force One.
“As a whole, President Obama’s trip to Cuba and his policy of one-sided concessions to this regime are as naïve as his world view and as misguided as his foreign policy affecting other parts of the world,” Rubio concluded. “America should be standing with our allies and democracy advocates around the world, not embracing, enriching and empowering our enemies, the way President Obama is about to do in Cuba.”
Rubio wasn’t alone in his criticism of Obama and his efforts to normalize relations with the Castro regime. State Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), came out swinging at Obama on Sunday.
“Rather than fighting for American interests and standing with the Cuban people, President Obama has been more focused on building a friendship with the repressive Cuban regime,” Ingoglia said on Sunday. “In addition to violating the human rights of the Cuban people, the Castro's have undermined our nation by sheltering U.S. criminals on the FBI’s terrorist list, been complicit in the deaths of Americans on humanitarian efforts over international waters, and attempted to illegally ship weapons to North Korea. It’s time for President Obama to stop sending mixed messages that legitimize and embolden an already repressive regime that seeks to only enrich themselves at the expense of its people.”
On the other side of the aisle, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., accompanied Obama on his trip to Cuba. This marks the third time in recent years, the Tampa Democrat has visited Cuba. Castor has been a prominent supporter of normalizing relations with Cuba, insisting it will help Tampa Bay’s economy.
“This monumental and historic step is needed to help turn the page on a failed policy of isolation and move forward with greater engagement and normalizing relations with Cuba,” Castor said last week. “President Obama and the congressional delegation’s visit will encourage further economic and human rights changes on the island.”
Unlike Rubio, Castor praised the baseball game as the Tampa Bay Rays head down to play the Cuban national team.
“This is a wonderful goodwill gesture between the United States and Cuba," Castor insisted. “Everyone who has a passion for baseball and a passion for positive change are looking forward to it.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
