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Salazar, Gimenez Condemn DHS for Facility Fiasco

Over the weekend, Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas condemning the DHS for allowing agents of the Cuban regime to visit U.S. military facilities.

Joining Rep. Salazar in directing the letter to Secretary Mayorkas were Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R), Tennessee Rep. Mark Green (R), and Texas Rep. Michael McCaul (R), who are leadership members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Homeland Security.

The letter references a meeting to be held this week. The Cuban government plans on sending officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Border Guard to meet with the U.S. Coast Guard. The members of the Cuban regime will be touring some of the United States' port facilities.

A press release from Salazar's office warns that "most alarmingly, the Border Guard within the Cuban Ministry of the Interior is one of the most repressive agencies the regime weaponizes against its dissenters." It adds that "aside from committing routine crimes against its own citizenry, the Cuban regime is also a known adversary and counterintelligence threat to the United States and remains on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism."

In the letter, the GOP members share that they are "deeply concerned about the U.S. national security implications of allowing government officials with a known adversarial foreign intelligence service to access sensitive U.S. Federal Government facilities."

They warn that "not only is Cuba still a U.S. designated State Sponsor of Terrorism along with North Korea, Iran, and Syria2, but Cuba remains a chief counterintelligence threat," adding that "the U.S. Director of National Intelligence consistently identifies Cuba as a core and continuing counterintelligence mission, similar to Iran and North Korea." They also highlight current tension between the U.S. and Russia, noting that "Cuba and Russia have continued to deepen bilateral relations, including in security cooperation, amplifying the threat to U.S. national security."

Daniel Molina

Daniel Molina is an award-winning senior reporter based in Miami. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Florida International University.