Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Thursday that his office is willing to help Black Lives Matter leaders move to Cuba after the organization issued a statement in support of the country’s communist regime and against the United States.
“My office stands ready to help the leaders of the Black Lives Matter organization emigrate to Cuba,” Rubio wrote in a Thursday post on Twitter.
My office stands ready to help the leaders of the Black Lives Matter organization emigrate to #Cuba
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 15, 2021
The self-described “[m]ovement to fight for Freedom, Liberation and Justice,” Black Lives Matter, whose top brass is riddled with allegations of corruption, condemned the U.S. in a Thursday post on Instagram, blaming the federal government for the “inhumane treatment of Cubans.”
During the week of the Cuban freedom movement demonstrations that began Sunday, however, it was the communist government of Cuba that clamped down on journalists, the internet and activists — not the U.S. government.
BLM, which was founded by self-described “trained Marxists,” went on to demand that the U.S. end its embargo against the communist government of the country, alleging that “[s]ince 1962, the United States has forced pain and suffering on the people of Cuba by cutting off food, medicine and supplies, costing the tiny island nation an estimated $130 billion.
“The people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. government because the country has maintained its commitment to sovereignty and self-determination.”
Black Lives Matter has released a statement on Cuba: pic.twitter.com/NgnT1o1oZE
— Sabrina Rodríguez (@sabrod123) July 15, 2021
According to the State Department, the U.S. has a “comprehensive economic embargo” against Cuba. Then-President John F. Kennedy declared a trade embargo against the country, responding to actions taken by the communist-dominated Cuban government, in February 1962. Kennedy had directed the Departments of Commerce and the Treasury to enforce the embargo, which stands to this day.
The slogans the Cuban people chanted during the Sunday demonstrations, however, were not directed against the American government and in support of the communists clutching onto power in Havana.
Rather they were shouts of “Liberty,” “We are not afraid!” and “Homeland and Life,” calling for an end to over 60 years of communist repression on the island nation that left Cuban people deprived of the prosperity and freedoms citizens of freer nations enjoy.
Some of the demonstrators waved the American flag — a utilization of the national flag of the U.S. as a symbol of liberty seen in other parts of the world such as Hong Kong where people fought for freedom.
“Cuba has historically demonstrated solidarity with oppressed peoples of African descent, from protecting Black revolutionaries like Assata Shakur through granting her asylum, to supporting Black liberation struggles in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau and South Africa,” BLM went on to say.
Assata Shakur, or Joanne Chesimard, is an anti-American, Federal Bureau of Investigation most wanted terrorist responsible for slaughtering and injuring over a dozen law enforcement officers before reportedly fleeing to Cuba, where she was allegedly sheltered by the Castro regime.
BLM closed its statement noting that the organization “look[s] to President [Joe] Biden to end the embargo, something Barack Obama called for in 2016. This embargo is a blatant human rights violation and it must come to an end.”
The extortionist ring known as the Black Lives Matter organization took a break today from shaking down corporations for millions & buying themselves mansions to share their support for the Communist regime in #Cuba https://t.co/xir94EIJ4X
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 15, 2021
“The extortionist ring known as the Black Lives Matter organization took a break today from shaking down corporations for millions & buying themselves mansions to share their support for the Communist regime in Cuba,” Rubio, a descendant of Cuban refugees himself, wrote in a Twitter post responding to BLM’s statement.
Others pointed out the dual standard on police brutality BLM demonstrated in its silence on Cuban police crackdowns against the demonstrators.
Well but this is GOOD police violence
— alessio (@lxssio) July 15, 2021
“So wait, they support police brutality now?” radio show host Dan O’Donnell asked, to which one Twitter user responded saying, “Well but this is GOOD police violence.”
BLM is not the only left-leaning organization calling for an end to the embargo against Cuba.
The Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida released a statement Thursday calling on Biden to enact a “complete and immediate repeal of the United States embargo against Cuba,” saying that the embargo “is inarguably one of the greatest failures of American foreign policy in modern history.”
“As an American of Cuban descent myself, I plead for President Biden to act quickly. I’m fortunate enough to not have family on the island and can only imagine the anxiety and panic felt by Cuban-Americans who are not able to see or help their loved ones,” DPCF President Michael Calderin said.
“Had the Trump Administration continued to improve relations with Cuba instead of rolling back the Obama-era improvements, everyday Cubans on the island and Cuban-Americans would be able to comfort each other. The situation has escalated now where only a full repeal of the embargo will alleviate the suffering from the pandemic.”
The group claimed that the Cuban people took to the streets because “the conditions pushing them past their breaking points are in no small part exacerbated by the United States’ embargo against Cuba.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
