Statement from Miami-Dade County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez on the National Security Threat Posed by the Murderous Communist and Socialist Cuban Regime

The reports that Cuba has acquired hundreds of military drones with the support of hostile foreign actors should alarm every American, especially here in South Florida.

According to these reports, those drones are not abstract weapons sitting in storage. They are being discussed as tools to target American lives at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels, and even South Florida. Any regime that is preparing or even contemplating attacks on American service members, American assets, or American communities has crossed a line that demands a serious and immediate response from the United States.

We cannot allow a desperate, murderous communist regime to threaten American lives as its last move to cling to power. The United States has both the right and the responsibility to defend its citizens, its military personnel, and its national security interests from any hostile threat operating 90 miles from our shores.

This is what desperation looks like. The Cuban dictatorship is broke, isolated, exposed, and losing its grip. Its military-controlled economy is under pressure. Its foreign lifelines are being cut. Its people are demanding freedom. So the regime is doing what communist dictatorships always do when they are cornered. They turn to repression, foreign enemies, and threats of violence.

This is the same threat the Cuban exile community has been warning about for decades. Cuba is not simply a failed communist dictatorship near our shores. The regime has become a strategic outpost for America’s adversaries, including Russia and Iran, and now we are seeing those alliances evolve into a direct security threat to the United States.

As Tax Collector, my office has a responsibility to ensure that businesses operating in Miami-Dade are following the law, that local licenses are not used to legitimize questionable activity, and that entities tied to the Cuban regime are not allowed to hide behind paperwork and bureaucracy.

The reports about shipping companies halting operations and restructuring contracts following the new GAESA sanctions show the growing consequences of the regime’s corruption, militarization, and dependence on foreign authoritarian powers. When major international carriers begin pulling back, that is not a routine business decision. It is a sign that the regime’s economic lifelines are under pressure.

For years, the dictatorship has relied on military-controlled enterprises, foreign influence, and shadow networks to maintain power while the Cuban people suffer shortages, repression, and fear. The Cuban people deserve freedom and opportunity, not a system built on surveillance, intimidation, and alliances with regimes hostile to the United States.

South Florida understands this threat better than anyone because many families here lived through it firsthand. We cannot afford to ignore the warnings now standing directly in front of us. When a hostile regime threatens American lives, inaction is not restraint. It is weakness.

Dariel Fernandez

Tax Collector

Miami-Dade County