Rubio: ‘The dictator has died but the dictatorship has not’
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Saturday lamented the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s reign, saying the dictatorship he built will outlive its creator.
“Fidel Castro seized power to bring freedom and prosperity to Cuba, but his communist regime turned it into an impoverished island prison,” Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, said in a statement the morning after Castro’s death was announced.
{mosads}”Over six decades, millions of Cubans were forced to flee to their own country, and those accused of opposing the regime were routinely jailed and even killed,” he added.
“Sadly, Fidel Castro’s death does not mean freedom for the Cuban people or justice for the democratic activists, religious leaders, and political opponents he and his brother have jailed and persecuted. The dictator has died but the dictatorship has not. And one thing is clear, history will not absolve Fidel Castro; it will remember him as an evil, murderous dictator who inflicted misery and suffering on his own people.”
Rubio said Cuba’s future now belongs to its citizens. He encouraged Congress and the incoming Trump administration to stand with Cuban people and “support their struggle for freedom and basic human rights.”
“The future of Cuba ultimately remains in the hands of the Cuban people, and now more than ever Congress and the new administration must stand with them against their brutal rulers and support their struggle for freedom and basic human rights,” he concluded.
Castro’s death was announced on state television by his brother, Raul Castro, early Saturday.
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