A.G. Gancarski
On MSNBC Monday morning, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was asked whether she preferred the statement on the death of Fidel Castro by President Barack Obama or President-elect Donald Trump.
In a reflection of the non-negotiable political realities of South Florida, the former DNC Chairwoman forged her own path.
“I prefer my own statement. The one that I put out following Fidel Castro’s death,” Wasserman Schultz said.
“The Cuban people will benefit,” Wasserman Schultz said, “from putting behind them their personal tyranny. Unfortunately, they are still ruled by his brother, the dictator Raul Castro. What this really is is an opportunity for the Cuban people to … have human rights reform, to be able to engage in free and fair elections, to elect their own people, to not have to worry about being oppressed for expressing their own opinion or being imprisoned.”
“So what the United States’ role should be is to be a catalyst, especially now that we have more of a relationship with them than we did before, to be a catalyst for insisting upon human rights reform, particularly if the relationship is going to advance.”
Wasserman Schultz was reminded by the interviewer of her historic opposition to the Obama rapprochement with Cuba, calling the moves “unearned changes” in 2014.
“I still feel that way,” Wasserman Schultz said Monday. “I believe a relationship with the United States should be earned.”
Wasserman Schultz noted that “just in the wake of [Fidel] Castro’s death, the women who demonstrate — the Ladies in White — every Monday, were asked (basically told) not to demonstrate yesterday in the wake of Castro’s death.”
“We have an opportunity to press Cuba for more human rights reform, because they’ve engaged in none since the thawing of our relationship,” Wasserman Schultz added.
From there, Wasserman Schultz found familiar partisan footing, in advancing a criticism of President-elect Trump.
“Frankly,” Wasserman Schultz said, “what concerns me is that Donald Trump has business entanglements in Cuba … this is a prime example of how his business entanglements and being aware of what’s going on with his business and not having a blind trust and not being separated from his business is going to potentially impact his decision making as it relates to Cuba.”
“What happens if the people in Cuba who he does business with who most definitely are tied to the government … what happens if they, when the government presses the Trump administration that his business is not going to be able to continue to make the profit or advance in the way the Trump companies expect it to? How do we know that’s not going to affect Donald Trump’s decisions as president?”
