What does Marco Rubio’s ascension to Secretary of State mean to South Florida’s Cuban diaspora?

Reporting by Jacob Ogles and Jesse Scheckner.

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U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio will make history as the first Hispanic Secretary of State if confirmed. But perhaps more importantly to his home community, a leader raised in South Florida’s Cuban American diaspora will bring its core values to international relations as he becomes the country’s top diplomat.

The child of Cuban immigrants and a longtime hawk against communist expansion in the Western Hemisphere, allies and critics alike see dramatic change regarding Cuban relations coming to the State Department under Rubio.

“As far as Cuba goes, the days of constant unilateral concessions to that regime, in violation of the spirit of the law if not the law itself, are done,” U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart said.

While enthusiasm about Rubio’s Cuba policies may vary, few doubt more attention will be paid to the island nation that sits just 90 miles from South Florida’s coast than in decades prior.

“Senator Rubio will bring to Foggy Bottom in Washington, D.C. a robust focus towards Cuba and Venezuela,” John Kavulich, President of the U.S. Cuba Trade Economic Council in New York, wrote in an analysis of Rubio’s nomination.

“He and Michael Waltz, soon-to-be Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, given they are both from the State of Florida, will take another look at the Trump-Pence Administration (2017-2021) Western Hemisphere Affairs and National Security Council playbook for Cuba and Venezuela.”

And Rubio will look at the issues through the eyes of someone who has raised his family in a West Miami home just 200 miles from Matanzas.

Cuban American leaders in South Florida see Rubio bringing a worldliness and work ethic well known in and around Little Havana. Former Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, who served as an aide in the Florida House during Rubio’s history-making tenure as Speaker, said Rubio’s ascension to being fourth in line to the presidency is a byproduct of that.

“There’s folks who get elected because they love going to cocktail hours and galas and this and that,” he said. “Marco Rubio does the work, and he’s had to; he didn’t have a silver spoon, was born to working-class parents, went to public school.”

That’s the story of myriad first-generation Americans of Cuban heritage, many of whom grew up in South Florida households where Fidel Castro’s oppressive regime stood in stark contrast with the opportunities afforded here.

Esteban “Steve” Bovo, who as Mayor of Hialeah leads the largest Cuban-majority city in the country, lauded Rubio’s new role as another milestone in a trailblazing career.

Since Rubio’s two-year term as Florida House Speaker in 2008, when Bovo served alongside him in the chamber, two other Cuban Americans from Miami have held the job, including current Speaker Daniel Perez.

“He opens doors for others, opportunities, and elevates us all. I can tell my kids and somebody can tell their grandkids, ‘You can aspire to almost anything in this country, and here’s proof,’” he said. “Marco, whether he likes it or not, is a torch bearer now for Cubans on both sides of the aisle. And the shoe fits; he’s established himself as a foreign policy expert. That’s what earned him this honor.”

To Hialeah state Rep. Alex Rizo, Chair of the Miami-Dade GOP, Rubio’s journey in the public sphere represents the latest step in a steady progression toward broader inclusion, influence and prominence of Hispanic voices in conservative politics.

Shortly after news of Trump’s nomination broke, Rizo penned an op-ed in his and Rubio’s hometown paper, the Miami Herald, celebrating Rubio’s rise as part of a larger rightward shift in which “more Americans recognize in the GOP a party that stands for economic opportunity and the strength of individual rights, not identity politics.”

“Now, as the first Cuban American Secretary of State, he’s not only representing American interests abroad, he’s also serving as a symbol of hope and pride for Miami’s Cuban American community — a community that has long been characterized by its dedication to freedom, democracy and opportunity — as well as all freedom-loving people that have made Miami-Dade their home,” Rizo wrote.

Senate loss

Of course, Rubio’s move to the administration also means the loss of a Cuban American voice in the U.S. Senate. Just this year, he was one of three such voices in the upper chamber alongside U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.

The three worked across party lines on policies regarding Cuba, including pressing Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration to isolate the government to prevent it becoming a conduit for aid from Russia and China into Latin America.

Menendez resigned his seat in August after a jury convicted him on bribery charges, taking with him bipartisan luster to the hawkish Cuba policies championed by Rubio in a Democrat-majority chamber. Now Rubio appears to be on his way out as Republicans take control of the Senate once more, giving up the chance to serve as Senate Intelligence Committee Chair.

“It’s bittersweet to see the Senate lose such a distinguished Cuban American voice, but our community continues to punch far above its weight in Congress,” said Giancarlo Sopo, a Republican media strategist who also hails from Miami. “Senator Rubio has long been a source of pride for all Floridians. Now, as Secretary of State, the world will see that our values are, at their core, American values, as he champions America’s interests on the global stage.”

Rubio’s departure from the Senate will be a loss for those who valued his pro-democracy, anti-communism voice in the chamber that echoed the sentiments of countless members of his home community, said Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado.

But as one of 100 Senators, he wasn’t alone in speaking about those issues and writing laws to address them. At the right hand of the President, Regalado said, Rubio could push through changes he could only dream of on Capitol Hill.

“For those of us in the Cuban diaspora that were born and raised here, we fought such a great fight to gain political power,” she said. “What we gain with him as Secretary is that he can really change the minds and hearts of American people by talking about the importance of democracy, not just for Cuba but for every nation and its impact on this hemisphere.”

Miami-Dade Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez said Rubio leaves “big shoes to fill” in the U.S. Senate, but added, “I only see this as a win.”

Island politics intimacy

Díaz-Balart has known Rubio for decades, serving in the Florida House with the future U.S. Senator for two years. Over time, he said Rubio became one of the country’s foremost authorities on foreign relations and national security. The dean of the Florida congressional delegation will bring deep knowledge to a particular set of issues especially critical to the Cuban diaspora.

That includes awareness of the statutory requirements that must be met for sanctions on Cuba in place since 1962 to be lifted. Those most notably include freeing political prisoners and allowing businesses on the island to operate independent of the Cuban regime.

“This administration has looked at ways to skirt the law to give access to the regime, even to the U.S. banking system,” Díaz-Balart said. “That’s a total violation of the law, and they haven’t been able to do it.”

Díaz-Balart, a Hialeah Republican, said leaders within South Florida’s Cuban community see past certain attempts by Cuba’s government to obscure policies that still warrant scrutiny. For example, he said Cuba claims to allow small businesses to operate independent of government control, but social media reports from the island indicate most businesses licensed to operate there have family ties to members of the regime.

Those types of issues have regularly been raised by Cuban American lawmakers in Congress like Díaz-Balart and fellow U.S. Reps. Carlos Giménez and María Elvira Salazar. Now, that type of intimacy with information from pro-democracy activists in Cuba, not to mention a personal familiarity with families of political prisoners, will belong to the serving Secretary of State.

Kavulich foresees economic consequences that could hurt efforts undertaken since the early 1990s to somewhat normalize relations with the foreign country closest to Florida shores. In consideration, he wrote, will be what was authorized during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Biden and “how to reverse, rescind, strengthen or lessen” those approaches.

“While China and other countries have used sanctions imposed upon them by the United States as opportunities to restructure, strengthen, revitalize and absorb, with results being commercial, economic, financial and political stability in most instances, Cuba just complains and asks others to help them, so they do not have to make difficult decisions,” he wrote.

Kavulich said that when President-elect Donald Trump first served in the White House and Mauricio Claver-Carone became Senior Director of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, that administration largely shut down any efforts at reengagement or appeasement with Cuba. He predicted a return to that outlook, if not one amplified, under Rubio.

“With Secretary of State Rubio, whose parents are of Cuban descent, and whose advocacy for policies, regulations, and statutes relating to Cuba are well known, the Claver-Carone terrifying years will be replaced by the Rubio terrifying years — where the United States Secretary of State has far more authority,” Kavulich said.

But Díaz-Balart welcomes that and predicts Rubio will utilize the full authority of the law and his position to pressure Cuba. He also said Floridians should not overlook the national security threat Cuba poses, something he believes Rubio will keep top-of-mind. Rubio last year sounded alarms on intelligence reports saying China may establish a military presence in Cuba. Florida officials also expressed anger as Russia conducted military exercises in waters there.

“Cuba represents a real threat to the U.S.,” he said. “When you have a Russian nuclear submarine, when you have Chinese and Russian military stationed on that island, they are not there to help the Cuban people. They are there to kill people in the U.S.”

The post-Rubio era

The three-term Senator appears to be on a glidepath to confirmation in the chamber, where he has served for the last 14 years. Incoming U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, praised the Secretary of State nominee during an interview in NBC’s Meet The Press that otherwise focused on Trump’s more controversial Cabinet nominees.

“Sen. Marco Rubio is enormously well-qualified for the job in which he’s been nominated,” Schiff said. “I still want to ask questions. I’m not going to completely pre-judge even him, but he’s unquestionably qualified.”

As for whom Gov. Ron DeSantis taps to replace Rubio in the chamber and who serves in the seat long-term, it should be more about ideology than genealogy, according to Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera.

Several names have been floated as Rubio’s potential successors, including Attorney General Ashley Moody and DeSantis’ Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier. DeSantis could extend an olive branch by nominating Trump’s daughter-in-law, Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump, to help repair relations between him and the President-elect.

The Governor could also appoint one of several experienced Cuban American politicos from South Florida like Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez or former House Speaker José Oliva.

Cabrera, a former government relations specialist who led Trump’s successful Florida push in the 2020 Presidential Election, said there’s no shortage of capable Cuban American leaders who would ably serve.

“But ultimately that person could be Black, White, Hispanic, Asian. I don’t really buy into the identity politics of this so much,” he said. “The reality is people want people whose policies are going to uplift them, which I think is what we saw in President Trump and historic gains amongst all minorities.”