Cuba-Obsessed Hardliners Ignore Constituents

During a sit-down interview on “My View with Lara Trump,” Cuban-American Republican legislators ramped up threats against Cuba as the United States intensifies its economic warfare against the island.

Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) claimed that “we are seeing the beginning of the end” as Cuba is “closer than ever” to collapse. He accused Havana of aligning itself with “America’s greatest adversaries,” including China, Russia and Iran, while neglecting to mention how U.S. hostility forced Cuba to seek out alliances with Washington’s adversaries.

While South Florida’s Republican hardliners obsess about regime change, polling has shown that many Cuban-American voters are less interested in Cuba policy than rising housing costs, healthcare, inflation and immigration.

This last issue could pose a problem for Republican incumbents in upcoming midterms given their silence in the face of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, which has impacted many Cubans living in their districts.

Human Rights Watch warns that deportations of Cubans to Mexico and third countries are exposing deportees to kidnapping, extortion and violence.