Swift bipartisan condemnation from Florida follows as Joe Biden removes Cuba from terrorist sponsor list

Reps. Carlos Giménez, Mario Díaz-Balart and María Elvira Salazar. Image via X.

A decision by President Joe Biden’s administration to take Cuba off a list of state sponsors of terror infuriated Florida leaders across the political spectrum.

Three Cuban-American Representatives from South Florida released a joint video statement condemning the action. There, U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart called the move a gift a communist regime still controlled by the family of former dictator Fidel Castro.

“The Biden-Harris administration in an affront to the national security interests of the United States, and while lying to Congress and to the American people, have given everything possible to the Castro regime so that it can continue to be in power,” said Díaz-Balart, a Hialeah Republican.

“They’ve lied to the American people. They’ve taken them off of the State Sponsor of Terrorists designation list, despite that regime harboring terrorists, harboring fugitives from American law, and despite the damage to the national security interest of the United States. This is shameful and an aggression to the national security interest.”

Officials in the administration said the move was part of a deal brokered by the Catholic Church to exchange the release of political prisoners on the island in exchange for the change in status. But that explanation did little to contain anger within South Florida’s Cuban community. U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, a Miami-Dade Republican and the only Cuba-born member of Congress, categorized the policy announcement as duplicitous.

“Never listen to what the Biden administration tells you. Watch what they’re doing,” he said. “And this is the last act, watching what they’re doing, which is helping our enemies, and just trying to destroy our friends.

“This is something actually I quite expected. The fact that it took this long is actually surprising. But it’s a final shot, and just proof of the pudding that yes, everything in this administration has been a disaster,” he added.

Condemnation of the action didn’t come exclusively from Republicans. Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried released a rare statement repudiating the Democratic administration for the decision.

“I am disappointed at the Biden Administration’s plan to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism,” Fried said. “While any return of political prisoners from the clutches of Communist Cuba is cause for celebration, the regime’s treatment of the Cuban people continues to be one of the biggest human rights violations of the last century. It would be naïve to think that this negotiated exchange would signal a change in treatment for the Cuban people.”

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Naples Republican, criticized the timing of the announcement as well, coming days before Biden turns over power to Republican President-elect Donald Trump.

“Joe Biden’s parting gift to dictators and terrorists around the world: taking Cuba off the State Sponsor of Terrorism List and making it easier for them to threaten our national security. This is reckless and dangerous,” Scott said.

“Biden’s appeasement is feeding right into the hands of Cuba’s dictators, who fuel terrorism and oppress their people. I’ll be working with President Trump on DAY ONE to hold the Communist Cuban regime accountable and free the Cuban people.”

U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Coral Gables Republican, expressed specific outrage that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had given specific assurance in a public hearing that he wasn’t considering removal from the list. “I don’t anticipate any changes in our policy toward Cuba,” Blinken said in a House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee last week.

But the Congresswoman said Blinken has since called her to say the decision was made and had come from the Oval Office.

Salazar said the only salve to the insult is that the change in designation could be short lived.

“I thought it was not going to happen but it did, a week before President Trump is sworn into the White House,” she said. “But you know, Trump can reverse that the following week. So maybe the Cubans will have a very short party, and that is only a couple of weeks off of the list of terrorist countries.”