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Cuban-American Republican congressmen from Florida stated to Fox News that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are for Cuba «what José Martí and Simón Bolívar were for Latin America: liberating figures capable of ending decades of dictatorship».
Carlos Giménez, María Elvira Salazar, and Mario Díaz-Balart made these statements on the program "My View with Lara Trump" on Fox News, where they agreed that Cuba is closer than ever to a regime change.
"We had never been so close to seeing a change and for this regime to be overthrown," said Giménez, who added that the administration has "the right president and the right Secretary of State" to achieve the historic goal of freeing the Island.
The comparison to Martí —hero of Cuban independence— and Bolívar —liberator of South America— carries a deeply symbolic meaning: equating Trump and Rubio with these figures suggests presenting them as liberators of the continent against authoritarianism, a message aimed at both the exile community and the Latin American electorate at large.
The statements come in a context of sustained pressure. Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against the Cuban regime and has cut oil supplies, worsening the already severe energy and economic crisis faced by the Island.
Salazar, who in March indicated that "the dictatorship is finally cracking" following the protests in Morón, reiterated in May that there is "a genuine hope for a free Cuba" and described the regime's alignment with Iran and Hezbollah as "a national security reality just 90 miles off our coast."
Díaz-Balart, for his part, stated in April that the dictatorship "will not survive" Trump's term, while Giménez had warned in March that "the Cuban regime's time is running out" and called for the maintenance of economic sanctions and a total oil embargo.
Rubio, architect of the "maximum pressure" policy towards Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, declared that the United States "will not allow any foreign military, intelligence, or security apparatus to operate with impunity 90 miles off the U.S. coast under President Trump."
The three lawmakers requested in February to apply "zero tolerance" and "maximum pressure" with the explicit aim of forcing a regime change, a stance they firmly uphold at every public appearance.
The political weight of this position is significant: according to Politico, the Cuban-American community in Florida warned the White House that any outcome other than a regime change could cost Trump political support in the southern part of the state.
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