News

Washington, D.C. —  U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Actualidad Radio 1040AM, Miami to discuss current events and foreign policy issues. A partial transcript of Rubio’s remarks is below.


Importance of not returning to the old “normal” that left us dependent on China
“In terms of what I said, it is very easy. There was a policy, which was really bipartisan policy, but it was greatly expanded during the Obama years, which was very much about fitting in with the rest of the world. Which, I’m not against looking good with the rest of the world and cooperating with other countries. But, as an American politician, my number one obligation is to act in defense of the interests of this nation. 
[…]

“Obama’s deal with Iran was a total disaster. I know [Obama] looked very good with European nations and the world, but it was a disaster for the US and Israel. Iran could continue to develop their long-range missiles and they could continue using the funds they received through that arrangement to continue helping all these different terrorist elements, which have even killed Americans. ” 
Biden’s potential nominees and Rubio’s comment 

“Two very clear examples, in terms of China, these group of people are from the think tank world. They arrive thinking the following, and it is: well, it is true that the Chinese are stealing the secrets of the US, they are not competing fairly, they prevent our companies from entering China but their companies can enter the U.S. And, we are going to complain. But at the end of the day, what can we do? That was their attitude for four, five years. And we have seen the result ”.   

 “Now when the pandemic hit, protective shields or masks to protect ourselves could not be produced here. Even very basic products, but beyond that also a lot of electronic components and everything else. That was the attitude. Not only from them, but also from a series of traditional politicians, and we are not living in a time when we can be accepting that. China is no longer a poor developing country, China is a developed nation that is using its government to take advantage [of] the US and the rest of the world. That has to be faced.

 “That is an example. And the other is the issue of Cuba. And those are the [people] who had the theory that when you opened Cuba, the government was now going to change and it was not like that. When you are a dictatorship, you control the benefits and whom they reach. They were willing to accept all the money from tourism, investments, but they were not going to give it to the people. Because what they don’t want is for the people to have economic independence. 

“Now the Castro regime is facing a very serious situation. They are going to have to [make] decisions very soon. We have seen the actions [that are] increasing in the country, which is not part of a Miami plot. That is an organic movement within Cuba. These are people living in Cuba who are demanding more freedom of expression and everything else. And that will continue to grow as a movement, without any type of interference from the outside ”. 

Attack against Rubio by the Cuban regime’s newspaper, Granma, for his support to the San Isidro Movement                      
“For me that is the best thing they can tell me. Granma is not journalism. It is a propaganda weapon of the communist government. But, the interesting thing about all this is that the Cuban [people] no longer believe them. Cubans already know that these are all lies. Obviously there are serious repercussions for whoever [publicly] says so, but we have seen several people who have already lost their fear. What Cuba has is unsustainable, they cannot sustain it in the long term and they know it. And, that generation of high ranking members of the communist party and the government know that they are going to disappear soon. Those who [will succeed] them are going to have a problem because Cubans will not continue to accept the way they are [currently] living. So that time is coming, and we are ready to help. But as I have always said, the fate of Cuba belongs to the Cuban people. We are here to support them in whatever decision they make.”

Twitter and its double standards against conservative politicians and journalists         
“It is a problem for two reasons, their problem is [they have] a double standard. A Chinese government official posted a fake photo on Twitter accusing Australia of murdering a child in Afghanistan. And that is something very serious because if the Taliban see that [picture] they can start killing people, planting bombs and doing terrorist acts because they believe that is true. And Twitter did absolutely nothing. I had to send a letter, publicly complain, and finally, almost two days later, they put a notification saying that this was something that was true. That was a Chinese official. And Twitter [doesn’t] even work in China. When POTUS posted on Twitter that he was going to send the National Guard to Minneapolis if they [arsonists] started burning [the city], Twitter blocked his tweet saying it was something that promoted violence. How is that possible?  
“And the crisis is not really that they speak badly about the conservatives, because this is a free society. It has to be allowed. The problem is that society has lost confidence in the media.  

“24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every that comes out of many media outlets, always, always, are negative towards Republicans. For example: in the state of Florida, they have attacked Governor DeSantis. [Saying] that he’s a [disaster due to his handling of the] virus, etc. Meanwhile, in [the state of] New York, which has less population, there have been more infections, there have been more deaths, they gave an Emmy to the governor of New York for his press conferences. So it’s ridiculous, it’s ridiculous. 

“This happens every day and people realize these things. People don’t believe them anymore. When there comes a time they talk about something serious, people don’t pay attention to them. They don’t trust the media because they see them as biased. That has always existed, but never at the level that we have seen in recent years.       

What can Congress do about Section 230?  
“[Section 230] is an option for non-press media. That is, a place where they simply put content that other people produce. But when you now take the editorial power to decide what is the truth and what is a lie, what we are going to publish, what voices are going to be allowed and what voices are not going to be allowed, you are no longer a social page. Now you are a newspaper, now you are [a member of] the press. And that’s what Twitter has done. You have decided what you are going to allow and what you are not going to allow. They have decided for themselves what’s true and what’s a lie. So they should no longer have that protection. 

“They have done terrible harm to several people here. 

“Do you know how many people there are who are afraid to say who they voted for out of fear of losing their job? People who were afraid to put up a banner in front of their house because their homes [would] be vandalized. People who are afraid to talk about [political issues] because they fear that they would be called racists or discriminated against. And also, one more thing, at the national level the only minority group that the press is allowed to attack are the Cubans, now the Venezuelans and Nicaraguans. Why? Because they decided to vote for Donald Trump. We have seen attacks from the media and people in the press against South Florida because they voted in high numbers for the president.