MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Members of Congress stood alongside dignitaries from across the globe Saturday, calling it a pivotal moment in Cuba’s economic crisis as conditions on the island continue to deteriorate.
A packed room at the Big Five Club in west Miami-Dade hosted the Cuban Democratic Directorate’s “Save Cuba” conference, a call to action to address the country’s growing turmoil.
“The cancer is communism, the cancer is that illegitimate regime,” one speaker said.
Rep. Carlos Giménez, R-Florida, told the crowd he is taking a hard-line approach in pushing for freedom in Cuba.
“I want all travel to Cuba to stop today,” Giménez said.
He called for the release of prisoners jailed for speaking out and urged the U.S. to cut off the flow of money he says is sustaining the regime.
“We’re really serious about damaging the regime,” Giménez said. “The money that’s coming from this country needs to stop. It’s also helping that regime, and that’s a very hard thing to do.
Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Florida, also spoke at the conference, warning that the regime is both struggling and a threat to U.S. national security.
“The regime in Cuba, which is a threat to national security in the United States, is struggling,” Díaz-Balart said.
He pointed to the country’s repeated power grid failures, which have left millions of Cubans without electricity.
“It has no proper support within the island. It can’t provide any basic necessities to people in the island, which is why you’re seeing these blackouts, these electrical blackouts,” Díaz-Balart said.
Dignitaries from Sweden, Taiwan and Ukraine also attended, uniting around the goal of putting international pressure on Cuba’s government.
“We have to do everything in our power to make sure it gets even weaker and weaker and weaker so that the people of Cuba can rise up and have the freedom that they deserve,” Giménez said.
Finding a solution to Cuba’s economic crisis was the focal point of the conference, but questions remain about what that resolution will look like as answers remain uncertain.
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