Carlos Curbelo
Members of Florida’s congressional delegation marked the death of former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro on Friday by calling for U.S. policies that ensure a future of freedom and democracy in Cuba.
U.S Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) said Castro terrorized the people of Cuba for decades with religious and political persecution, oppression of free speech and press, and disrespect for basic human rights.
“For the past 50-plus years Castro and his regime undermined American interests in Latin America and on our home-front,” Curbelo said. “His anti-American policies and relationships with brutal regimes like Iran and North Korea have proved a significant threat to our national security time and time again. Policies that have not changed despite the Obama administration’s endless concessions to the regime over the past two years.”
Under the Obama administration, U.S. relations with Cuba have improved. In 2015, diplomatic relations with Cuba resumed, and Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was rescinded. The United States also facilitated an expansion of travel to Cuba earlier this year.
Now more than ever, Curbelo said, the United States and its allies must demand political reforms that ensure human rights for all Cubans.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said Castro’s death signaled that the last remaining communist bastion of the western hemisphere could see a new beginning.
“Those who still rule Cuba with an iron grip may attempt to delay the island’s liberation, but they cannot stop it,” Ros-Lehtinen said. ”No regime, no matter who leads it, will have a shred of legitimacy if it has not been chosen by the people of Cuba in free and fair elections.”
Not until the gulags are closed, elections are held, political prisoners are freed and liberty is restored, Ros-Lehtinen added, should the United States end its embargo on Cuba.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Castro seized power promising freedom and prosperity, but his communist regime turned the country into an “impoverished island prison.”
“Sadly, Fidel Castro’s death does not mean freedom for the Cuban people or justice for the democratic activists, religious leaders and political opponents he and his brother have jailed and persecuted,” Rubio said. “The dictator has died, but the dictatorship has not.”
Rubio added that the new Congress and administration must stand with the Cuban people against brutal ruler and support their struggles for freedom.