Statement from Dariel Fernandez: Visit By Rep. Jayapal And Rep. Jackson To Cuba Undermines Freedom and Legitimizes A Murderous Regime

The visit of Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Jonathan L. Jackson to Cuba is deeply concerning. Meeting with a socialist and communist dictatorship that has oppressed its people for decades only serves to legitimize a regime responsible for repression, political imprisonment, and the suffering of millions.

While they sit down with these murderous socialist and communist officials, children remain separated from their families under that same dictatorship, and thousands of political prisoners continue to be held captive for demanding freedom. This is the reality they are choosing to ignore while giving legitimacy to a regime built on fear and oppression.

This is not about dialogue, this is about optics that the regime will use as propaganda to clean its image while the Cuban people continue to live without freedom. Any engagement that ignores the reality of political prisoners, the lack of human rights, and the absence of democracy is a betrayal of those who are fighting for liberty on the island.

As we have said many times, and as President Donald J. Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the FBI have warned, this murderous dictatorship represents a direct threat to the national security of the United States of America.

We must be clear: you do not negotiate with oppression, you stand firmly against it. The Cuban people deserve leaders who defend freedom, not those who give a platform to a dictatorship that has destroyed an entire nation.

God bless Miami-Dade County, and God bless the United States of America.