NOTICIAS

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement today regarding President Obama’s nomination of Jeffrey DeLaurentis to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Castro regime:

“President Obama capitulated to the Castros in December 2014, and his Cuba policy has allowed the regime to further cozy up with other terrorist regimes like Iran, help North Korea evade international sanctions, carry out more repression and human rights abuses, and do nothing to improve the lives of the Cuban people. It’s been 21 months and by any objective measure, President Obama’s appeasement of the region’s only totalitarian regime has been a complete disaster.

“From the Obama Administration’s failure to invite dissidents to the opening of the embassy in Havana, to its muted response to the ongoing repression in Cuba – including an embassy Twitter handle under Mr. DeLaurentis’ leadership that seems more like a travel agency than an advocate for American values and interests – President Obama has failed the Cuban people. 

“Just like releasing all terrorists from Guantanamo and sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Iranian regime, rewarding the Castro government with a U.S. ambassador is another last-ditch legacy project for the President that needs to be stopped. A U.S. ambassador is not going to influence the Cuban government, which is a dictatorial and closed regime. This nomination should go nowhere until the Castro regime makes significant and irreversible progress in the areas of human rights and political freedom for the Cuban people, and until longstanding concerns about the Cuban regime’s theft of property and crimes against American citizens are addressed.”