The Republican senator from Florida Rick Scott posted a video on his X account with a direct message to the Cuban regime: "Your days are numbered."
In the video, Scott starkly describes the repressive pattern in Havana: "They take a young, healthy person, imprison them for their political beliefs, starve them, torture them, and prevent them from receiving treatment for their cancer. This is what they do. This is the face of the communist regime in Cuba. It's repulsive."
The senator concluded the message with a direct warning to Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel: "I eagerly await to see them serve sentences for the crimes against humanity they have committed against so many people in Cuba."
The video refers to the case of Alexander Díaz Rodríguez, a political prisoner from the 11J protests originally from Cárdenas, Matanzas, sentenced to five years in prison for sedition and contempt following the massive protests on July 11, 2021.
Díaz Rodríguez entered the Kilo 5½ prison in Pinar del Río weighing 81 kg and was released on April 12 weighing just 37 kg, a loss of 44 kg over five years of incarceration.
During his imprisonment, he developed thyroid cancer—diagnosed in October 2022—and contracted hepatitis B, without receiving adequate oncological treatment at any point. He was also subjected to punishment cells, beatings, and forced labor.
His mother, Moraima Rodríguez Batista, publicly reported him in May 2025: "All I want is for my son to be able to live. He has cancer and is getting worse."
The case of Díaz Rodríguez has become a central symbol of Scott's campaign against the regime. On April 27, during the prayer event "United for Cuba in Bayfront Park, Miami, the senator called for the imprisonment of Díaz-Canel and Raúl Castro and displayed photographs of the political prisoner.
Two days later, on April 29, Scott showcased the image of Díaz Rodríguez before the full Senate during a debate on a Democratic resolution related to Cuba - which was blocked by a vote of 51 to 47 - calling it "the face of the misery of the Cuban people."
On Wednesday, the exiled activist Idelisa Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia launched a campaign to raise 4,000 dollars to secure a permanent home for Díaz Rodríguez, who remains without stable housing and is unable to work.
Scott's message comes on the same day that the organization Prisoners Defenders published a report documenting a new absolute record of 1,260 political prisoners in Cuba as of April 30, 2026, with a historic peak of 1,367 during that month and a total of 2,048 prisoners since July 11.
Since January 2026, Scott has reiterated that the days of the regime are numbered, linking the collapse of Venezuelan chavismo to the weakening of Havana.
On that occasion, he wrote on X: "These are the last days of the Díaz-Canel regime, of the Castro regime in Cuba. There will be no more oil for Cuba, there will be no more money for Cuba."
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