Marco Rubio: Democracy in Cuba is in U.S. National Interest

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the U.S. should do everything possible to encourage the post-Castro Cuba to move toward democratic reforms.

“I believe it is in our national interest to see democracy take hold on the island of Cuba,” Rubio said on Sunday’s broadcast of “Face the Nation” on CBS. “We should examine our foreign policy, including all of the changes that president Obama made in that lens and through that lens.”

The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio described such needed reforms as a free press and changes to Cuba’s domestic and foreign policy.

“Stop putting people in jail because they don’t agree with you politically. Stop helping countries like North Korea evade U.N. sanctions," he asserted. "Don’t invite the Russians to open a military base 90 miles from our shores. Allow independent political parties to be able to function — you know the kind of things that you find in virtually every country in the western hemisphere except Cuba, and now increasingly Venezuela.”

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro died on Friday at 90, sparking celebrations throughout the Cuban-American community in Miami and other parts of Florida, where there is a large population of Cuban immigrants. Singer Gloria Estefan took to social media on Saturday to defend the celebrations.

“I am not against changes in U.S. policy towards Cuba,” Rubio said. “I just want to make sure that those changes are reciprocal, that they are reciprocated by the Cuban government. That was not part of what president Obama did, and I want to make sure that they are the kinds of things that help create a pathway towards democracy in Cuba.”

He noted that Cuba’s current president, Raul Castro, is not a young man either.

“While Fidel Castro was 90-years-old, his brother is 85. There is going to a generational leadership change in Cuba over the next five to 10 years and hopefully sooner,” said Rubio, Rubio, a Republican, who recently won re-election to a second term in Washington. “We need to ensure that our foreign policy towards Cuba incentivizes, and makes it easier for there to be a democratic transition. That’s how I would examine our foreign policy towards Cuba.”

He said that the island nation is no longer important from a Cold War perspective, but it remains a neighbor of the United States.

“Cuba continues to be a source of instability in the region. For example, (an) historic number of people are fleeing the island of Cuba, putting migratory pressure on the United States,” according to Rubio. “Number two: This Cuban government is anti-American. They allow the Chinese and the Russians to conduct espionage, electronic espionage and others from the island of Cuba.”

Finally, Rubio said that Cuba harbors American fugitives. “There are people living on the island of Cuba who have violated American law, including those who have stolen millions of dollars from Medicare fraud in South Florida and have fled to Cuba.”

The senator said that he does not believe alleged Russian meddling with the recent U.S. presidential election had any effect on the outcome, but that Americans have a right to know if there is evidence that a foreign government tried to interfere, or influence the direction of the country.

Rubio said that President-elect Trump has a “bevy” of qualified candidates to choose from for the position of secretary of state.

“Ultimately, he has to choose someone that he’s comfortable with because he won this election,” Rubio observed. “He has a right to pick someone as his secretary of state that he feels comfortable with and I think there are number of qualified candidates that could fit the bill.”

Photo from Marco Rubio’s Facebook page.