Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.,) promised to “make every effort to block” President Obama’s ability to “appease the Castro brothers” by normalizing relations with them.
“I intend to use my role as incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Western Hemisphere subcommittee to make every effort to block this dangerous and desperate attempt by the president to burnish his legacy at the Cuban people’s expense,” Rubio said in a Tuesday statement.
Cuba released captive American aid worker Alan Gross Wednesday, while three Cubans who’d been imprisoned in the United States were released in exchange.
“The United States and Cuba have agreed to establish diplomatic relations and open economic and travel ties, marking the most significant shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island in decades,” according to the Associated Press.
Rubio denounced the deal as an act of appeasement. “Appeasing the Castro brothers will only cause other tyrants from Caracas to Tehran to Pyongyang to see that they can take advantage of President Obama’s naiveté during his final two years in office,” he said. “As a result, America will be less safe as a result of the president’s change in policy. When America is unwilling to advocate for individual liberty and freedom of political expression 90 miles from our shores, it represents a terrible setback for the hopes of all oppressed people around the globe.”