In March, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), along with Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), introduced a War Powers Resolution regarding Cuba. The resolution, which called for “the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Republic of Cuba that have not been authorized by Congress,” stalled again yesterday after a failed motion to discharge the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and bring the resolution to a vote. The message to the White House is clear: Republicans support violence against the Cuban people.
The discharge petition failed in a 51-47 vote, largely along party lines. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Susan Collins (R-ME) voted with 45 Democrats to bring the resolution to a vote, while John Fetterman (D-PA) voted with 50 Republicans to prevent a vote. Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Mark Warner (D-VA) did not vote. During the debate about the resolution, the rhetoric against Cuba from Republicans was increasingly hyperbolic and focused on intervention in Cuba’s internal politics, a violation of the UN Charter and international law.
While Republicans who echo Cuban American hardliners claim that they are speaking for the Cuban people, they are equally responsible for the decades of suffering on the island and the deaths caused by sanctions. In what is seemingly a coordinated campaign, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is making the rounds in the media while lawmakers in both chambers are taking to social media to share the same dubious assertions that Cuba is a failed state, not due to sanctions, but because they claim the Cuban government is incompetent. An assertion that ignores countless studies that say otherwise.
Rubio has made wildly fictional claims suggesting not only that Cuba is a failed state but that the island nation is also hosting foreign military and surveillance bases. A claim that has been widely debunked for years. As he continues to make this ridiculous claim, like other hardliners, Rubio never mentions the U.S. military presence that occupies the island and what it may be doing from its base in Guantanamo.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) joined in on the social media pile-on of Cuba, saying that, “Democrats should be ASHAMED for putting on a show in the Senate while we’re fighting EVERYDAY to free innocent Cubans from starvation and torture. We will NEVER stop fighting for FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY in Cuba.” Scott is intentionally ignoring the impacts of U.S. sanctions on the island and Trump’s use of an oil embargo to attempt to use starvation as a weapon.
“If we want REAL reform in Cuba, the illegitimate Castro/Díaz-Canel regime must fall,” Scott said in a separate social media post. “They deserve to be in PRISON for their heinous crimes. I’m glad that under [POTUS’] leadership, there is actual hope for a new day of freedom, prosperity, and Patria y Vida.”
Cuban America hardliners also chimed in, exposing how their political motivations outweigh the humanitarian cause they claim to represent. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) took to social media to make her case, arguing that there will be no change in Cuba without political change. She, too, claims the island’s struggles stem from incompetence rather than 65 years of Cuba trying to navigate hundreds of economic sanctions.
“[Secretary Rubio] has once again made it clear: there is NO economic change in Cuba without political change,’” said Salazar. “This crisis is not an accident, and it is the direct result of a regime that has failed its people for decades. They’re economically incompetent, and POWER is their only business.”
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) has gone even further. From saying “the dictatorship in Cuba must be annihilated,” to calling for blocking remittances to the island, imposing harsher travel restrictions, and revoking the trading licenses of “those who trade with Cuba.”
For all the hype, hardliners are overlooking the talks being had and concessions being made to avert war. Instead, they have chosen to weaponize militaristic language and threaten the leaders of a foreign nation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, took to social media to provide a more rational and fact-based view of the matter.
“It is absurd for the US State Department to claim that Cuba, a relatively small developing country, submitted to a brutal economic warfare, could be a threat to the biggest military, technological, and economic power in the world,” said Rodríguez Parrilla. “It is all the more so when it is known that Cuba is a peace-loving country that doesn’t attack others, that doesn’t allow its territory to be used against others, and keeps a clean record against terrorism, international organized crime, and violence,” continued Rodriguez Parilla. “All of that is known by the US government and its security and defense agencies. It is impossible to fabricate pretexts by resorting to arguments that are so weak and deceitful.”
The language and bloodthirst for control of Cuba by well-connected and well-funded Cuban American hardliners is becoming more obvious to the layman every day. If hardliners had their way, they would do to Cuba what Israel is doing to Gaza. While diplomatic talks are underway, many people in power are pushing for a much more violent outcome. History tells us that this quest for dominion over Cuba, like many other places, isn’t about liberation, freedom, or democracy. It’s about greed and power over a majority nonwhite island.
As they have for more than six decades, White men in power will ensure that the only people who suffer are those at the other end of their bombs: the Cuban people. Meanwhile, as is typical of legacy media, the conversation about what’s happening in Cuba has been pushed aside and glossed over. What the administration is doing today highlights the decades of U.S. aggression toward Cuba and exposes corporate media’s outright bias.
Arturo is an independent freelance journalist. He has written hundreds of articles on policing, immigration, race, and Latin America. His work has been featured in outlets such as Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
War mongers continue to wage war against all people of color.
Headline could read "Florida Republicans hunger for war against Cuba, and Congress refuses to stop them'