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Republicans in Florida’s congressional delegation said an indictment of Raúl Castro is only a good first step, and that neither the federal government nor the state of Florida should consider interactions until there is full regime change.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a candidate for Governor, said Florida could be poised for economic trade and interaction with the nation 90 miles to the south. Seaports and airports are fully equipped to move investments through the U.S. and help Cubans stabilize the country.
“But I want to stress, Florida will fully cooperate with a free Cuba,” Donalds said. “Florida will not cooperate with some amalgam of a new dictatorship if the Castros are gone.”
Donalds appeared at the U.S. Capitol alongside other members of Florida’s congressional delegation praising an announcement by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to indict Cuba’s former President. Charges stem from Castro as Defense Minister authorizing the military to shoot down civilian planes from Brothers to the Rescue, killing three American citizens and one legal U.S. resident.
But U.S. Sen. Rick Scott stressed that atrocities by the communist government extend much further. He brought photos of Alexander Díaz-Rodriguez, a political prisoner on the island.
“This is not a Holocaust survivor,” the Naples Republican said. “This is not somebody from World War II.”
While Scott cheered the indictment of Castro, he declined to speculate what the next steps may be to bring the political figure to justice. But Scott would like to see Castro stand trial in the U.S.
“The same thing that happened to (Venezuelan President Nicolás) Maduro should happen to Raúl Castro. “But I’m not going to get ahead of whatever the (Donald) Trump administration wants to do.”
The U.S. military in January conducted an extraction of Maduro from Venezuela, taking him into custody on U.S. narcoterrorism charges.
Of note, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez the day of the indictment posted on social media in Spanish that the indictment was a farce.
“It is an act that rests on lies and conceals duly documented historical truths about the events that led to the downing, in Cuban airspace and in legitimate defense, of two aircraft belonging to the terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue,” reads a translation of the post.
“It seeks to reinforce the fraudulent narrative to justify the intensified aggression against the Cuban people. It is done by the same government that has been complicit in the organization and execution of terrorist and violent actions against Cuba from its territory and that has recently committed crimes of extrajudicial executions against nearly 200 people in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, for alleged links to drug trafficking operations.”
But Florida’s federal lawmakers openly laughed at the remarks. U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez said the Ministry only represents a puppet government anyway, while a massive enterprise known as GAESA controls the military and most business on the island. The Castro family controls that entity.
“It doesn’t really matter what the foreign minister says,” Giménez said. “He’s really got nothing to say, or his words mean nothing, because he doesn’t really govern Cuba.”
U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Coral Gables Republican, said even GAESA’s resources right now don’t account for much.
“The difference between the Castros and the Ayatollahs (in Iran) is that the Castros do not have resources,” she said. “Russia is not helping them anymore. Venezuela is gone. And (Claudia) Sheinbaum, the President of Mexico, President Trump sent a very clear message that she could not be helping these thieves any longer.”
Still, Maduro’s extraction drew stark international criticism. And while Florida politicians from across the political spectrum have issued supportive statements about the Castro indictment, many Democrats in Washington have still shown sympathy toward the regime.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois traveled to Havana last month to meet with the government. Republican leaders said that was a move against U.S. interests.
“They’ve gone down there to prop up the Cuban regime,” Scott said.
Added Giménez, “There isn’t one dictatorship that the Democrats don’t support. Look around the world. It’s always America’s fault.”
Donalds also scoffed.
“It makes zero sense at all, the fact that you have Democrat Senators who want to stop the United States government and stop President Trump from doing what he can to help free Cuba from more than 60 years of totalitarianism and a dictatorship,” he said. “But then the same Democrats will come here and lecture everybody in America about how they’re the only ones that stand for freedom, that stand for democracy. Give me a break.”
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