Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) slammed President Joe Biden for his lackluster response to human rights abuses in Cuba following week-long anti-government protests on the island.
“I think Biden’s policy for everything is ‘do nothing.’ There’s a good hashtag out there ‘¿Donde Está Joe?’ Where is Joe? He’s nowhere, Joe is nowhere,” Scott said when speaking to Breitbart News on Saturday at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida.
Since Scott’s interview with Breitbart News on Saturday, the Washington Post reported that Biden is expected to announce sanctions “against a number of Cuban officials deemed directly involved in human rights abuses during a government crackdown on widespread protests.”
The news of potential sanctions comes more than a week after protests began and follows a call by 140 Republican lawmakers, including Scott, to set up an international criminal tribunal “to investigate alleged human rights abuses by the Cuban government,” according to the Hill.
“It’s committing genocide against its citizens,” Scott said on Saturday. “They are beating up peaceful protesters. They are are arresting people.”
AP photographer, Spanish Ramon Espinosa, is attacked by the police while covering a demonstration against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana, Cuba. Thousands of Cubans took part in rare protests against the communist government, marching through a town chanting “Down with the dictatorship” and “We want liberty.” (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP via Getty Images)
A man is seized by his neck during a demonstration against the government of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana, Cuba (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP via Getty Images)
Protesters in more than 40 municipalities in Cuba took to the streets to participate in the largest demonstration on the island in decades demanding the end of Fidel Castro’s 62-year communist dictatorship. Since protests began, police have opened fire on crowds and beaten people in the streets. Independent media confirmed the arrests of at least 5,000 people since protests began, Breitbart News reported. Current figurehead President Miguel Díaz-Canel openly called on civilians to violently attack protesters on the streets in an “order of combat” issued last week.
Watch the full interview below:
Matt Perdie / Breitbart NewsExtreme-left Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and organizations like Black Lives Matter have repeatedly blamed the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for unrest instead of condemning the communist government’s brutal oppression of its people. Scott noted that Democrats’ unenthusiastic response to widespread protests across Cuba is in part because the party has drifted toward socialist ideals.
“This is not a nice place where you can go have a beer. This is a brutal government that is doing exactly what the Democrats are trying to do in this country — socialism. It doesn’t work,” he said. “I think Americans agree with us. I think the media is partnered with the Democrat party now. I think a lot of people in the media, they are all in for this socialism stuff because it sounds nice right? It sounds really good — it just doesn’t work.”
Scott presented a threefold plan for addressing communism in Cuba when speaking to Breitbart News:
1. Restore internet to Cuba.
Both the GOP and Democrats have discussed ways to restore internet to island after the Cuban government shut it down during protests last week, though action has yet to be taken.
“The Cuban government is scared to death of their people. If we can get the internet back on, the Cuban people are going to make sure this happens,” Scott said. “If the government won’t do it, if Joe Biden won’t do it, I’m going to make sure the private sector does it. We’re going to figure this out.”
2. President Biden needs to step up on the world stage and call out Cuba’s communist dictatorship.
“Joe Biden ought to be a world leader. Show the heck up. He wants to be a part of all these world clubs — he thinks getting together with Merkel and Johnson and Macrone is so great. Well then, call them up and say it is time for us all to show up and call the dictatorship out in Cuba for what it is,” he said.
3. Speak the truth about socialism and bring attention to human rights abuses being committed by the Cuban government against its people.
“All of us have to talk about it. We have to get the pictures out. We have to show them,” he said. “…We have to stand up and speak the truth. The truth is: socialism is horrible for you and your family.”
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