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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and members of the Leader’s Advisory Team on Cuba, in sending a letter to President Joe Biden requesting a meeting, as soon as possible, to discuss how the White House and Congress can work together to end the “oppressive regime in Havana and liberate the Cuban people.”
“This is a moment in time when the United States can change the course of human history for the better,” the legislators wrote. “The United States is a bastion of freedom and democracy; a beacon across the globe for those seeking to toss away their shackles of communist oppression. We must support our Cuban brothers and sisters as they seek to take control of their future and liberate themselves from the communist malignancy.”
Joining Rubio and McCarthy were Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) and Representatives Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), Carlos Giménez (R-FL), María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Alex Mooney (R-WV), Mark Green (R-TN), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Jennifer González-Colón (R-PR), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Hal Rogers (R-KY), Victoria Spartz (R-IN), and Kay Granger (R-TX).
Rubio is the Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues.
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear President Biden:
On this day in 1953, Fidel Castro began his violent, communist revolution in Cuba. After roughly six years, Castro seized control of the Cuban government, installing himself as dictator and ruling the Cuban people with an iron fist. Communism has contributed to the deaths of hundreds of millions of people across the globe over the past century, including in Cuba. The Castro regime spent the past sixty-eight years brutalizing the Cuban people, committing heinous acts of torture and repression, suppressing the Cuban people’s freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion, and becoming a bastion of totalitarianism, all a mere 90 miles off the coast of the United States.
After years of torment, arbitrary imprisonments, brutality, corruption, and human rights abuses, the Cuban people have taken to the streets in protest. On July 11, 2021, the largest protests in years broke out in the towns and cities of Cuba. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, the communist regime decided to block access to the Internet, brutally suppress the protests by attacking and jailing protestors, and refuse to acknowledge the Cuban people’s desires for a better life and freedom. However, the Cuban people and their allies in Congress refuse to be deterred.
This is a moment when the United States can change the course of human history for the better. The United States is a bastion of freedom and democracy; a beacon across the globe for those seeking to cast off the shackles of communist oppression. We must support our Cuban brothers and sisters as they seek to take control of their future and liberate themselves from the communist malignancy. President Ronald Reagan once said, “The West will not contain communism, it will transcend communism.” The time of that transcendence in Cuba is upon us, and we must act. However, we are concerned that this pivotal moment is being squandered by indecision, bureaucracy, and a failure to lead.
Therefore, we request a meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss how Congress and your Administration can work together to bring an end to the oppressive communist regime in Havana and liberate the Cuban people. Now is the time to act.