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The Cuban-American congresswoman María Elvira Salazar strongly celebrated the new executive order signed by Donald Trump against the Cuban regime and issued a direct call to the exile community, urging them to stop financially supporting a system that, she stated, survives only thanks to the money coming from outside the island.
“Complicity with the Cuban dictatorship is over,” Salazar wrote on X, expressing support for the decision by the U.S. president, who declares a national emergency and opens the door to imposing tariffs on countries that continue to send oil to Cuba.
Salazar went beyond Washington's politics and highlighted the responsibility of the exile community. “Every dollar that enters Cuba prolongs the life of the dictatorship and the suffering of the Cuban people,” he stated, directly referring to remittances and the flows of money that, according to critical sectors, ultimately support the regime in Havana while the population remains trapped in scarcity.
The congresswoman described the moment as decisive and appealed to an “unavoidable historical responsibility” of Cubans outside the island. Her message comes at a time when the Trump administration is tightening the economic and diplomatic blockade against the dictatorship of Miguel Díaz-Canel, which it considers a threat to the national security of the United States due to its alliances with Russia, China, Iran, and groups classified as terrorists.
"This is the year of Cuba's freedom. It's now or never," declared Salazar, in a statement that encapsulates the spirit of a strategy that relies on the ultimate collapse of a system weakened by internal crisis, the loss of Venezuelan support, and increasingly tight international pressure.
While in Cuba blackouts and hopelessness define daily life, the congresswoman's call raises an uncomfortable question for the exile community: to what extent can economic and familial sacrifice also serve as a tool for political pressure at a moment many consider crucial for the island's future?
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