Senator Rick Scott has expressed his concern about the possibility that the Biden administration may remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism before Donald Trump takes office again on January 20.
The fear arises from a letter recently sent to President Biden by a group of Democratic lawmakers.
In the letter, congress members such as Barbara Lee, Jim McGovern, Gregory Meeks, and Joaquín Castro, among others, urged the president to reconsider Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, arguing that easing sanctions would help alleviate the economic and humanitarian hardships on the island.
This request, which lawmakers justified by the impact of blackouts, the energy crisis, and recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Rafael, has provoked a strong reaction from Scott, who believes that this measure would threaten the national security of the United States and bolster the communist regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
For Rick Scott, any attempt to remove Cuba from this list would be a strategic mistake.
"The last-minute calls from the Biden administration by communist sympathizers in the Democratic Party urging President Biden to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism are not only ignorant but also dangerous," he stated.
According to the senator, this measure would only serve to strengthen Díaz-Canel's regime and increase instability in the hemisphere.
"Removing the Castro/Díaz-Canel regime from the list of state sponsors ignores the fact that it harbors terrorists, provides a secret police force to Maduro to oppress the Venezuelan people, and hosts a Chinese Communist Party spying station just 90 miles from Florida," the senator added.
The senator from Florida also emphasized that appeasement policies toward the Cuban regime have always been counterproductive.
"The years of appeasement by the Biden-Harris administration towards the illegitimate Cuban communist regime have fueled terrorism and instability in the Western Hemisphere and have jeopardized the national security of the United States," he emphasized.
The senator added that the Cuban regime has shown no signs of change in its repressive and authoritarian policies.
"The Díaz-Canel regime continues to violate human rights, holding more than a thousand political prisoners subjected to torture and actively supporting authoritarian regimes such as that of Nicolás Maduro," he added.
Rick Scott also emphasized that, with the potential return of Donald Trump to the presidency in January, there should be no changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba "that promote Biden's failed appeasement."
"Removing Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism would only further jeopardize the national security of the United States, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that doesn't happen," he concluded in a lengthy post on X.
In January 2021, just days before leaving the White House, Donald Trump readded Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that involves severe economic and diplomatic restrictions.
The Trump administration justified that measure by claiming that Cuba provided refuge to bomb makers and terrorists linked to Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN), supported insurgent movements in Latin America, and collaborated with organizations such as Hezbollah.
The Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, stated in May of this year that the designation of a country as a state sponsor of terrorism is non-negotiable.
"It is a legal process that involves several government departments and culminates in a decision by the Secretary of State," Nichols explained.
However, the letter from the Democratic legislators reignites the debate over Cuba's inclusion on that list.
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