It seems like the most left-wing Democratic members of Congress have been awfully quiet regarding the support of the Cuban people against Cuba’s communist regime. Protesters have been demanding independence and it has backfired against everything New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other socialist democrats stand for.
Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Jamal Bowman, and Corey Bush have yet to comment on the ongoing protests while the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) declared its solidarity with the communist regime. They echoed the Cuban president who had blamed the US trade embargo with the communist regime for the unrest and silence the protesters.
Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, a Cuban who’s a permanent representative to the U.N, blamed the bilateral relations between Cuba and the U.S, saying it causes damage to entire communities of people.
“It is an expression of hostility that denies the Cuban people their right to self-determination, the right to build and develop the political, economic and social model that Cuba has decided to create in a sovereign manner,” Cuesta said.
Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders broke his silence as a politician and urged the Cuban government to abstain from violence while criticizing the US sanctions. He said that all people have the right to protest and live in a democratic society but blamed the U.S embargo on Cuba. He said it has “only hurt, not helped, the Cuban people.”
Sanders praised the socialist policies implemented in Cuba in a 1986 speech but drew back on his comments during his 2020 Democratic primary for president campaign. He said that he was “very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba” but that it is simply unfair to say everything is bad. He brought up the fact that when Fidel Castro came into office, he started a massive literacy program. “Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?” Sanders asked.
Social media, however, has had overflowing support for the people of Cuba demanding freedom. They argued that the Cuban government has never respected the opposition and that the people have the right to choose their own government. Political officials in Cuba have even started a new set of punishment policies for people exercising their right to protest and demonstrate. But this just shows that they never had rights in the first place.
Even former president Donald Trump called out President Joe Biden to stand up against the tyrannical Cuban government. He also reminded the American people that former president Barack Obama attended a baseball game with Raul Castro in 2016 while they “imprisoned, beat, and killed the Cuban people.” Democratic policies have even leaned towards opening up relations with Cuba, something that the Trump Administration had reversed.
Yet the Biden Administration emphasized and pledged during the 2020 campaign that they would revert back to Obama-era policies with Cuba, even though nothing has been changed yet. White House officials have even tried to blame the protests on COVID-19 related mismanagement. Republicans, such as Sen. Marco Rubio, lashed back that the protests were inspired by “62 years of socialism, lies, tyranny, and misery.”
