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Amid the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States, which has now lasted over 35 days without a budget agreement, Republican Senators Ashley Moody and Rick Scott are leading a new push from Florida to tighten sanctions against the Cuban regime by supporting the reintroduction of the DEMOCRACY Act (Denying Earnings to the Military Oligarchy in Cuba and Restricting Activities of the Cuban Intelligence Apparatus), an initiative aimed at punishing human rights abuses and cutting off funding sources for the island's military and repressive apparatus.
The legislative text was officially introduced by Scott on February 6 of this year, with the co-sponsorship of Moody and other Republican lawmakers, and is part of an ongoing effort to maintain pressure on the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The measure proposes to block assets and deny entry to the United States for officials of the Communist Party, the Council of Ministers, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as their immediate family members.
Furthermore, it authorizes the President of the United States to provide free and uncensored internet to Cubans through all possible technological means, in response to state control of communications and digital blackouts implemented after the protests on July 11.
“The Cuban communist regime continues to profit from the oppression of its people. In Florida, we are acutely aware of the cost of that tyranny,” Moody stated in comments reported by Florida Politics. “With this bill, we are cutting off the flows of corrupt money and ensuring that not a single American dollar sustains the dictatorship,” she added.
Rick Scott, the chief author of the project, stated that Cuba "is the root of instability in Latin America and a constant threat to the national security of the United States," and insisted that the law "will close legal loopholes and impose severe sanctions against the communist dictatorship."
The DEMOCRACY Act was reintroduced in Congress following its initial presentation in 2021, after the repression of July 11th. The text aims to increase pressure on the Cuban regime through financial sanctions and restrictions on foreign entities that collaborate with the island's security or intelligence apparatus.
The legislation also imposes strict conditions for lifting the sanctions, such as the release of all political prisoners, the legalization of independent parties, freedom of the press, and the calling of free elections supervised internationally.
Ashley Moody, a figure of the anti-Cuban Republican bloc
Moody's participation strengthens the Republican offensive from Florida, a state where the Cuban-American community has a crucial influence on national politics. The senator, appointed by Ron DeSantis in early 2025 following Marco Rubio's departure, has positioned herself as one of the strongest advocates for a hardline stance against the regime.
In July, Moody publicly supported Donald Trump's sanctions against Havana, describing the Cuban government as a “murderous communist dictatorship” and applauding the measures aimed at depriving the regime “of the resources it uses to continue oppressing the Cuban people.”
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