Miami—Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio appeared on a special town hall edition of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” show to discuss the ongoing protests in Cuba, and the protests of support throughout the exile communities across the U.S., particularly in Miami-Dade County.
“After 62 years, something is different on that island right now. We have an opportunity to really take a new chapter in history,” said Gov. DeSantis when asked about the perceived inactions of President Joe Biden as it relates to the protests,” adding that “Cuba would be a phenomenal ally of our country if it was free.”
DeSantis said that Biden needed to “step up” and allow willing American business to stream in internet access to Cuba after the regime shut it down.
“He’s basically just sitting there doing nothing, he’s leaving these folks out to dry,” added DeSantis before saying that if Biden did not seize the moment, his inactions would be a “huge blow to the cause of freedom.”
DeSantis then talked about what few other politicians outside of Senators Rubio and Rick Scott, along with Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, in that the U.S. needed to keep the pressure on the Venezuela regime of Dictator Nicolas Maduro because he and the Cuban regime “are tied at the hip together.”
Before Senator Rubio joined him on stage, DeSantis credited former President Donald Trump and his Cuba policy for the protests and warned that President Biden’s current policy on Cuba will only “entrench the regime.
“Trump turned the screws on Havana and in Venezuela, Biden wants to liberalize all of that and I think that will entrench the regime in power,” concluded DeSantis.
Sen. Rubio then joined DeSantis after coming straight from Miami International Airport, and he added to DeSantis' denouncing of the Cuban regime, saying that "The leaders in Cuba aren’t just evil, they are incompetent people" after explaining "Cuba is a failure because Socialism doesn't work" and that "Marxism doesn't work."
The two men were then joined by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, before heading outside to meet the crowd protestors that gathered outside of the famous Versailles Restaurant.
