Florida Democrats are bewildered by President Joe Biden’s last-minute decision to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Axios reported Wednesday.
The Biden White House announced Tuesday that Cuba no longer meets the criteria for a terror-sponsoring state since they have not provided “material support” for a terrorist organization in six months. However, Florida Democrats were blindsided by the move, now fearing that Florida’s Cuban-American population may move even further away from their party due to their disdain for the communist regime, according to Axios.
“This is Joe Biden literally sinking the Democratic Party in the state of Florida. Big time,” Democratic Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz told Axios. “Just as we try to patch the hole in the boat, Biden punches another hole in it. Florida is a red state, and Biden just waved the white flag of surrender.”
Florida Hispanics helped propel Trump to win the state in the 2024 election, with Cubans in particular being one of the most conservative sects of Hispanics in the nation, according to Pew Research Data. Cuba remains one of the world’s last communist countries, with Cubans who escape the island often holding deep resentment towards the regime.
Biden’s team said the order was part of a deal brokered by the Catholic Church to release 553 Cuban political prisoners in the nation, according to Axios.
“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,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a party statement Tuesday.
Cuba was previously put on the list by president-elect Donald Trump’s first administration, saying the regime does “oppress its people” and also supported the National Liberation Army, a U.S.-designated Colombian terrorist organization, according to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba on Jan. 11, 2021.
Cuba is one of the least free countries in the entire world, with human rights abuses including the regular practice of torture, political imprisonment, arbitrary arrests and squalid prison conditions, according to a 2023 State Department report.
The Florida Democratic Party deferred to their official statement when the Daily Caller News Foundation requested comment.
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