Incoming President Donald Trump should send no ambassador to Cuba until the Castro dictatorship is out of power.
That’s what former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., a sworn enemy of the Castro regime and one of the most influential Cuban-American Republicans in the U.S., told Newsmax on Sunday.
Barely 24 hours after news of Castro’s death became public, Diaz-Balart (whose aunt was the late Cuban leader’s first wife) recalled his own 1996 legislation which banned any U.S. aid or dealings with Cuba unless three conditions were met: Political prisons emptied, political parties and the press freed, and multiparty elections scheduled.
“Those conditions will not be met so long as Raul Castro is in power,” the former congressman added.
Diaz-Balart recalled Joaquin Balaguer, the Dominican Republic’s puppet president under strongman Rafael Trujillo. Following Trujillo’s assassination in 1961, Balaguer assumed power, convinced the Trujillo family to leave the Dominican Republic, and gradually moved his country toward the democratic system it has to this day.
“There are Joaquin Balaguers throughout the faceless Cuban bureaucracy,” Diaz-Balart said. “But the dictatorship needs to be pressured so one of them can be in a position to act at some point. Remember: the OAS [Organization of American States] embargo pressured Balaguer into allowing democracy.” Diaz-Balart added, “Raul wants to keep the Cuban government a family farm, like North Korea and Syria. His closest adviser is his son Alejandro [an Interior Ministry colonel and personal assistant to the president] and Gen. Luis Alberto Rodriguez, [Raul’s former son-in-law, who heads the holding company that controls the military’s business interests].
Diaz-Balart said there are pro-democracy heroes in Cuba, however. “Danilo Maldonado, a 33-yearold graffiti artist in Havana, is someone to keep an eye on when Cuba finally has free elections. [The exhibit of Maldonado, who recently had a showing at a Miami gallery, includes two pigs labeled ‘Fidel’ and ‘Raul,’ on the day of Castro’s death, he was arrested and jailed by the regime].”
Trump’s election, he said: “gave a lot of hope to the Cuban community in the U.S. For one thing, he was not Obama’s third term. And we were heartened by his statement Saturday that his administration would 'do all it can' once he takes office to help increase freedom and prosperity for Cuban people after the death of Fidel Castro."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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