Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Hannity to discuss the historic protests happening in Cuba. See below for highlights and watch the full interview here.
On the Biden Administration’s weak response:
“I don’t know why it’s so hard for the [Biden Administration] to criticize Marxists. I do think, and it’s pretty clear, there are people out there who aren’t saying anything and the President took a whole day… at least he finally said something. He still left out the word Marxist and communist and socialist.
“What you just described – the murderous nature of the Castro regime – that’s the way every Marxist regime has ever been, always. Because Marxism, and socialism, is built on this: there’s this group of good, noble people and there’s this group of oppressors that are trying to destroy them. [They say] give us the power to crush the oppressors and give us the power we are going to give you security, we are going to give you a stable economy, we are going to give you all the things you need. But the price of that, of course, is your freedom.
“So they win, and then what happens? You don’t get those things, and you don’t get your freedom back, and then if you complain about it they crack your head open, they put you in jail, they exile you, or they kill you. And that’s what’s happening. And that’s what happens everywhere all the time.
“Socialism is about control, about controlling people and every aspect of their lives. And the passion you see in the streets of Miami tonight, and in other parts of Florida, and the country are people that suffered under that evil, saw their families divided, their lives destroyed, their kids have to go overseas, people never saw their parents before they died because of evil.
“That’s what Marxism is,and I wish we had a president and more leaders in Congress on the Democratic side of the aisle. We have a few, but not enough who are willing to say that.”
On how the United States can help the people of Cuba achieve freedom:
“First of all, make it very clear whose side we are on here, and why [Cuban protesters] are doing this. People are in the street because they want liberty from Marxism and we are with them.
“Number two, make abundantly clear to the regime in Cuba that the Trump policies aren’t going to change, because that’s what they are hoping is going to come out of this. ‘You see how bad things are here, if only you guys would lift the embargo, lift sanctions, maybe things would be better for the people of Cuba’ — [the Biden Administration should] come out right now and say we are done with our review, we are keeping the Trump policies.
“Number three, make it the top priority of the U.S. Government to provide internet access using satellite technology, or whatever we can get our hands on, so the people of Cuba can speak to each other and show the world what’s happening inside of Cuba.
“And the fourth thing that I would do is I would make it abundantly clear to the Castro regime that if you guys threaten us with mass migration, or if you encourage a mass migration, like Mariel, like the Rafter crisis of ’94, that is an act of hostility against the United States, and we will act accordingly. Those four things have to come across.”
On the Cuban government shutting down the internet:
“A full court press. First and foremost, U.S. Office of information, USAID – all of these agencies we have available – should make it clear to the people of Cuba what these VPNs are that allow you to get around these filters.
“By the way, that system in Cuba that shuts down the internet, guess who gave it to them? China. China built it, China installed it, and I believe China operates it on behalf of the Cuban government. So it’s a Chinese system that they are using to shut down the internet.
“But I think long-term, it’s something we’ve been pushing for a long time, we were making progress on it when Trump was in office, and that is to provide internet access, satellite internet access so Cubans don’t have to go through the lines and the cables that the Cuban government can shut on and off, but can actually use satellite to communicate to the world and to each other. It will take some time, but that should be our number one priority in terms of what we can do to help the people of Cuba.”
On the Cuban military’s oppressive tactics:
“When we talk about the Cuban military, the bulk of the Cuban military are 17, 18 and 19 year-olds that are forced, by law, to serve in the military for a couple of years. And what they are telling those kids right now is listen, we’re going to send you to a town halfway across the country where you don’t know anyone, and if you don’t repress people, you’re not going to get to go to the university. So that’s why I think it’s important for us to say, ‘do not stay in your hands and blood, do not go to some other town and stain your hands in blood. And one of the things I hope we do is start a list and use these pictures from online that we are getting with the name and last name of these people that are out in the street repressing because they need to be banned.
“A lot of these people wind up coming to America two or three years from now saying a political person or, I’m fleeing oppression but we’ve got people in this country that were part of those oppressive operations in the past. We have to know who they are, identify them, unmask them, and put them on a list so not only now, but in the future they have to face justice.”