Will the GOP stop using Cuba policy to win political points in Florida?

I was surprised that Marco Rubio was re-elected to the US Senate again by a landslide despite his Democrat opponent Val Demings voicing some criticism of aspects of Joe Biden's handling of relations with Latin America and the Caribbean and rejecting charges from Rubio that she had a soft spot from crime, but this article in the Americas Quarterly magazine by Will Freeman should further remind Republicans why calling Fidel Castro evil is not exclusively out of respect for Cuban Americans but instead solely out of respect for US values:

Up and down the ballot, Democrats outperformed expectations in U.S. midterm elections held November 8, staving off what many predicted would be a wipeout by Republicans—except in one state: Florida. There, incumbent Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio each beat their Democratic challengers by close to 20 points. Both looked on track to win Miami Dade county—historically a blue stronghold home to 1.5 million Latino voters—by margins of about 10 points. And exit polls showed DeSantis winning the state’s Latino voters by 13 points.

The results seemed to confirm that Florida’s shift from purple to red is here to stay. Not everyone on the left mourned the loss. Matt Duss, a progressive foreign policy figurehead and advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, tweeted the equivalent of good riddance: “FL going full red can enable Dems to stop pandering to hawkish conservatives on Latin America.”

Duss’s tweet spoke to a widely held perception about U.S. policy towards Latin America—that it’s decided by, and largely for, a small electorate in South Florida that keeps the hands of Democratic leadership tied. If Democrats stop viewing Florida as a swing state, the thinking goes, the constraints disappear.

There’s only one problem: The constraints are already gone. When it comes to hot-button issues—Venezuela policy, Cuba policy and diplomatic relations with Latin America’s leftist governments—Biden hasn’t been walking on eggshells.

Take Venezuela. In March, senior administration officials traveled to Caracas to try to lure Nicolás Maduro back to the negotiating table with the country’s democratic opposition and secured the release of two U.S. prisoners. Two months later, the Treasury Department renewed a license partially exempting Chevron from oil sanctions. An October prisoner swap freed seven more jailed U.S. citizens, and in November, Maduro and the opposition announced they were preparing to resume talks. Meanwhile, the Biden administration refused to get involved in infighting among the opposition over whether Juan Guaidó, whom the U.S. recognizes as Venezuela’s Interim President, will remain its leader.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last month, “On Venezuela, there is no change in our policy or approach,” but it’s a hard point to argue. Before the midterms, and despite smears from both Rubio and DeSantis, Biden had already moved away from Trump’s ultimately ineffective “maximum pressure” strategy.

Florida’s new shade of red won’t dramatically shake up Cuba policy, either. First, Cuba policy already has changed. In late October, the administration announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development would provide an unprecedented $2 million in disaster relief to Cuban communities devastated by Hurricane Ian, routed through independent humanitarian organizations. Earlier this year, the administration also reinstated a program allowing Cubans to apply to bring family members legally to the U.S. and moved towards lifting a cap on remittances. True, none of this means a wholesale reversal of the hardening of Cuba policy under Trump. But if the environment isn’t there for a major policy shift, don’t blame South Florida; it’s the Cuban regime standing in the way. Over the past year, the regime sentenced nearly 400 peaceful protestors to decades behind bars, which Senate Democrats and the Biden administration condemned in strong terms. Regardless of U.S. electoral politics, Cuba’s crackdown hasn’t made a new détente easy.

Just as the GOP's longstanding claim that Democrats have historically had a soft spot for Fidel Castro is undercut by the fact that the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Mongoose were concocted under Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the book Back Channel to Cuba by William LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh includes substantive information on how the Nixon and Ford administrations sought a modus viviendi with communist Cuba (although Nixon continued LBJ's policy of containment towards Fidel Castro, he knew first hand that Fidel Castro was too popular with the masses to be toppled), suggesting that not all GOP presidential administrations in the late Cold War were unwilling to seek an accommodation with Castro (Ronald Reagan stood strong against the Soviet Union and Cuba when it came to reining in their attempts to expand communist influence in the Americas, but late in his first term of office, State Department officials opened talks with Havana on Cuban immigration to the US because of the aftershocks of the Mariel boatlift). Since Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, framed their Cuba policy through foreign policy interests rather than winning Florida, the question is whether to GOP will stop using Cuba policy to win votes in Florida and instead forgive the communist government in Havana because the political system in Cuba isn't changing at all and some early generation Cuban exiles who served under Fulgencio Batista will be accused of hypocrisy when celebrating Cuban Independence Day by ignoring the fact that Fulgencio Batista spit on the virtues of freedom and democracy cherished by Jose Marti.

Cubans in Florida have direct experience with the type of lifestyle the Democrats and leftists want to implement and some of them floated across the sea on rafts made of garbage tied together to escape it.

They have no interest in voting for it to come back to them. Where would they go to get away from it this time?

Sounds like somebody is getting pissy because of the Miami-Dade flip

How silly for a state's politicians to support the will of their constituents instead of the wants of either party.

If it wasn't what Floridians wanted wouldn't they vote those supporting it out of office?

a reply to: Potlatch

Oh look !

Another "Castro is not that bad" thread, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. As bad as Batista was, Castro is worse in every way.

Communism - 100 million dead over the past century, and still you want to go for more ?

originally posted by: M5xaz
a reply to: Potlatch

Oh look !

Another "Castro is not that bad" thread, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. As bad as Batista was, Castro is worse in every way.

Communism - 100 million dead over the past century, and still you want to go for more ?

The point of the thread is to dive into the debate whether GOP candidates should treat Cuba policy and the habit of calling Fidel Castro evil as solely out of respect of US values, because: (1) Dwight D. Eisenhower initially welcomed Fidel Castro's rise to power and believed that he would keep his promise to bring democracy back to Cuba after years of dictatorship under Fulgencio Batista, but eventually turned against Castro after the new Cuban leader aligned his country with the USSR and nationalized US-owned properties.

originally posted by: M5xaz
a reply to: Potlatch

Oh look !

Another "Castro is not that bad" thread, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. As bad as Batista was, Castro is worse in every way.

Communism - 100 million dead over the past century, and still you want to go for more ?

bummer

they were doing it wrong,

this time it will work.

a reply to: Potlatch

Wow.

So you support Fidel Castro's policies? You agree with locking up political enemies? You support rigging elections?

That's OK. This is a free country, unlike Cuba under the Castros. In Cuba, you would be locked away and never heard from again; here you can speak freely on ATS secure in the knowledge that no one is going to arrest you for doing so. I'm just glad you made your position known. Thank you for being so honest about your hatred for Cuban-Americans.

Are you reiterating official DNC policy? Or is this your individual position?

TheRedneck

originally posted by: Potlatch

originally posted by: M5xaz
a reply to: Potlatch

Oh look !

Another "Castro is not that bad" thread, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. As bad as Batista was, Castro is worse in every way.

Communism - 100 million dead over the past century, and still you want to go for more ?

The point of the thread is to dive into the debate whether GOP candidates should treat Cuba policy and the habit of calling Fidel Castro evil as solely out of respect of US values, because: (1) Dwight D. Eisenhower initially welcomed Fidel Castro's rise to power and believed that he would keep his promise to bring democracy back to Cuba after years of dictatorship under Fulgencio Batista, but eventually turned against Castro after the new Cuban leader aligned his country with the USSR and nationalized US-owned properties.

Oh...OK then.

Republicans should not talk about how Cuba and socialism/communism are bad because so many democrats are open socialists (Bernie, AOC, etc) so it makes democrats "look bad" and then voters won't vote for Democrats and socialism !

Floridians should not look at Democrats socialist platform and where it leads (Cuba)
No, no, no no - don't look at platform or political positions

Floridians should vote for Democrats on account of "because"


Shameful, shameful of Republicans to make Democrats "look bad"

Riiiight !

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: Potlatch

Wow.

So you support Fidel Castro's policies? You agree with locking up political enemies? You support rigging elections?

That's OK. This is a free country, unlike Cuba under the Castros. In Cuba, you would be locked away and never heard from again; here you can speak freely on ATS secure in the knowledge that no one is going to arrest you for doing so. I'm just glad you made your position known. Thank you for being so honest about your hatred for Cuban-Americans.

Are you reiterating official DNC policy? Or is this your individual position?

TheRedneck

The Democratic Party platform fleshed out at the 2020 Democratic National Convention mentioned this passage about Cuba:

We will reject President Trump's failed Venezuela policy, which has only served to entrench Nicolás Maduro's dictatorial regime and exacerbate a human rights and humanitarian crisis. To rise to the occasion of the world's worst refugee crisis and worst humanitarian crisis outside a warzone in decades, the United States will mobilize its partners across the region and around the world to meet the urgent needs of the people of Venezuela, and grant Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans in the United States. Democrats believe that the best opportunity to rescue Venezuela's democracy is through smart pressure and effective diplomacy, not empty, bellicose threats untethered to realistic policy goals and motivated by domestic partisan objectives.

Democrats will also move swiftly to reverse Trump Administration policies that have undermined U.S. national interests and harmed the Cuban people and their families in the United States, including its efforts to curtail travel and remittances. Rather than strengthening the regime, we will promote human rights and people-to-people exchanges, and empower the Cuban people to write their own future.

This language bears the marks of centrist Democrats who agree with Bernie Sanders that good US-Cuba relations are beneficial for the Cuban people, but part ways from Bernie Sanders when it comes to the question of whether or not Fidel Castro's achievements in completing the social modernization of Cuba outweigh his human rights abuses.

a reply to: Potlatch

All that to say you support the Castros?

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: Potlatch

All that to say you support the Castros?

TheRedneck

Fidel Castro is gone, and even though Raul Castro no longer rules Cuba, he hasn't died yet. Standing strong against Fidel Castro during the Cold War was good geopolitics because any thought of improving relations with Cuba would have aroused howls of denunciation from arch-conservatives at Democratic and Republican administrations for looking weak towards the USSR and giving Fidel a free pass on trying to implant his bankrupt ideology on all of Latin America. We should all be blessed that the CIA, Kennedy, and Reagan thwarted Fidel Castro's evil plans for Latin America because it was clear that trying to eradicate socioeconomic inequality in the region through tight control of the economy destroyed material wealth by making the poor even poorer.

a reply to: Potlatch

You sure do use a lot of words to say "I support the policies of Fidel Castro."

TheRedneck

Any "Real" American, would've made a "National Park" or "Latrine", out of Cuba by now.

Seems like the "Grand Old Party" are more "Democrats", than "Republican", ... in all honesty.

We should take it back,... just to give it back, to Spain.
Because we "real Americans" don't do that "Empire" sh*t. We want to be left alone, mostly.

If we wanted your "empire"? You'd find out, to late anyway....
Or we already took it.
Just be thankful, we let you and your people, live.

We need Americans, running America. Not Repubs or Dems.