Cuba’s brutal regime is collapsing in real time. The economy is in free fall, the population is starving and the communist dictatorship is running out of money, fuel and legitimacy. After more than sixty years of oppression, the regime is weaker today than it has ever been in my lifetime – and I know it personally. I lived under it. I fled from it. And today I am the only Cuban-born member of the United States Congress.
This moment calls for clarity and resolve from the United States. We are closer than ever to ending tyranny in Havana, but only if we act decisively and refuse to repeat the failed policies of the past.
The situation on the island is dire in every respect. Cuba is facing serious shortages of food, medicine, electricity and fuel. Hospitals do not have basic facilities. Power outages last for days. Families are rationing meals and struggling to survive.
RUBIO SCHEDULED TO APPEAR BEFORE THE SENATE TO PROMOTE TRUMP’S VENEZUELA POLICY
Make no mistake: this crisis is the sole responsibility of the regime. It is the inevitable result of socialism, corruption and decades of catastrophic mismanagement by a cynical dictatorship that puts regime survival above human dignity.
For years, the regime survived by exporting repression and importing lifelines: Venezuelan oil, remittances, tourist dollars and shoddy business deals that funneled hard currency directly into the hands of the military and intelligence services. Those lifelines are finally being cut off.
Thanks to President Donald Trump’s decisive leadership and aggressive enforcement of US law – championed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio – the regime is being hit where it hurts most: its ability to finance repression. Oil shipments are drying up. International partners are withdrawing. Havana is running out of options.
That’s exactly why it’s different this time.
TRUMP ULTIMATUM FOR CUBA: ‘Make a deal before it’s too late’ or face consequences
History teaches us that dictatorships do not reform when they are weak. They creak louder. When confronted with collapse, the Cuban regime does what it has always done: silence dissent, jail protesters and look abroad for new patrons.
The new patron of the Cuban regime is increasingly communist China.
Beijing has alarmingly expanded its intelligence and strategic footprint on the island, which is just 90 miles from Florida, turning Cuba into a base of operations aimed directly at the United States. A collapsing dictatorship aligned with America’s greatest geopolitical adversary is not just a humanitarian tragedy – it is a grave threat to national security.
The United States should not provide a lifeline to the Castro regime.
First, we must enforce existing law – fully and without exception. No licenses. No loopholes. No false ‘humanitarian’ exceptions that enrich regime-controlled entities while ordinary Cubans see nothing of it. President Obama strove for engagement. It failed – spectacularly.
Second, we must cut off all remaining financial flows that sustain the dictatorship, including remittances and travel mechanisms seized by the military’s business conglomerates. These funds do not empower the Cuban people; they empower their oppressors.
Sanctions do no more harm to the Cuban people than the regime already does. As history with South Africa has shown, sustained pressure weakens dictatorships and accelerates FREEDOM.
Ronald Reagan once said that communism “is not a permanent condition. It will end because it goes against human nature.” We saw that truth when the Berlin Wall fell – not because dictators suddenly reformed, but because FREEDOM proved far more powerful than fear.
Cuba is approaching its Berlin Wall moment.
THE REPUBLICAN SENATE PREDICTS THE FALL OF THE CUBAN REGIME
As a child I lost my homeland. I grew up in the Cuban exile community in Miami – exceptional men and women from whom everything was stolen, yet who built a new life in the greatest country in the world. We are deeply grateful to America and we stand firm in our belief that FREEDOM is worth fighting for. My community has overwhelmingly supported President Trump because we know that strength, not appeasement, is exactly what puts America first.
Finally, we must speak directly to the Cuban people: America stands with you – not with your jailers. Our goal is not chaos or suffering. It is FREEDOM.
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The communist regime is on its knees. This is not the time to blink. It’s time to get the job done – by enforcing the law, applying maximum pressure and proudly standing on the side of FREEDOM.
President Trump, now is the time for a free Cuba.
