The Republican congressman Mario Díaz-Balart made one of his most emphatic statements about the future of Cuba this Friday in an exclusive interview with NTN24: "Raúl Castro and the regime are already dead. What needs to be done is to bury them."
The statements from the Cuban-American legislator come at a time of heightened pressure from Washington on Havana, and on the same day that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions against the circle of Raúl Castro, which included the Banco Exterior de Cuba, four state-owned companies, and Fidel Ernesto Castro Calis, the dictator's grandson.
Díaz-Balart was categorical in predicting the end of Castroism: "This regime will not survive the two years and a bit that are left of the Trump administration." He added that Washington "does not rule out military actions on the island."
The congressman denounced the gap between the wealth accumulated by the nomenclature and the misery of the Cuban people. According to his words, the regime, through the economic-military conglomerate GAESA, manages "between 18 to 20 billion dollars," while "the Cuban people have no water, no electricity."
The interview takes place amidst reports —without official confirmation from the Cuban government— that Raúl Castro, at 95 years old, may have suffered a stroke and is in critical condition receiving vital medical assistance.
The dictator had already drawn attention last July by being absent for the first time in at least three decades from the central event on July 26, although he made a public appearance in August, visibly deteriorated, during Fidel Castro's centenary.
Díaz-Balart also recalled the conditions imposed by U.S. legislation for any relaxation of sanctions: the release of all political prisoners without exception, the legalization of freedom of the press, political parties, and independent unions, and the call for multiparty elections.
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