The Republican senator from Florida Rick Scott reiterated his criticism of socialism this Wednesday, using Cuba as an example of what he perceives as the failure of that model.
If socialism worked, everyone would want to move to Havana right now, he stated during an interview on Fox Business.
Scott also defended his project Rescuing America, a political platform that aims to present his economic proposals as a counter to the advance of socialism in the United States.
The senator himself had presented the plan in the Senate this week, focused on balancing the federal budget, cutting regulations, and promoting employment in the private sector.
“We have to explain why socialism fails. Socialism always fails. It sounds nice to say 'everything is free', but it never works,” Scott said in the interview, according to the video he shared and also reported by Breitbart News Daily.
The senator added that his goal is to defend what he referred to as the “American dream” and linked the ideological debate to the rising cost of living in the United States.
During the conversation, he stated that the prices of housing, education, and healthcare have risen sharply over the past few decades and asserted that Washington must seek ways to reduce them.
The intervention occurred after one of the presenters asked Scott about the increased interest in socialism among certain American voters, particularly among the youth, and about the impact of inflation and the cost of living on the current political debate.
The reference to Havana is not new in the senator's discourse. In mid-September, Scott had already questioned those who defend socialism and asked: “If you like socialism so much, why don't you go to Havana?” during an interview with Breitbart News Daily.
Scott's statements also present stark evidence of the crisis facing Cuba.
In July, official data showed that Cuba's population lost over 66,000 inhabitants in just one year due to the decline in births and emigration.
In 2024, the external migration balance was -251,221 people and, since 2021, more than a million Cubans have left the country.
The demographic crisis in Cuba exacerbates this situation. By the end of 2024, 50% of those who emigrated from the island were under 35 years old, which accelerates the aging population and decreases the available workforce.
Scott has maintained a critical stance toward the Cuban government for years. In January, he stated that the regime in Havana could fall between 2026 and 2027 following the changes that have taken place in Venezuela, a political assessment expressed by the senator himself.
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