Florida delegation demands Cuban Communist officials, 'evil dictators' be denied entry

Members of Florida’s Republican congressional delegation are demanding answers from the Biden-Harris administration as to why a Cuban Communist Party official was allowed into the U.S. in violation of federal law.

Another delegation led by Florida’s U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, is demanding the administration deny visas and entry into the U.S. to “evil dictators” who present a national security threat.

Writing to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the mostly Cuban-American delegation expressed their “profound disgust” after learning that a “high-level, longtime Cuban Communist Party operative” was allowed into the U.S.

According to news reports, a high-level Cuban Communist Party operative, Manuel Menendez Castellanos, entered the U.S. at the Miami International Airport. U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott and U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carolos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar said doing so violated federal law. They pointed to federal immigration law, which states “any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party … domestic or foreign, is inadmissible.”

“We are outraged that an individual with a role in oppressing the Cuban people for decades was permitted the extraordinary privilege of U.S. entry so that he could spend his retirement in freedom and comfort,” they said. They also demanded to know “what actions will be taken to ensure that high-level Cuban Communist Party operatives are found to be inadmissible according to law.”

They did so after Gimenez last month demanded answers from the Biden administration as to why Cuban Communist officials and foreign agents from a state sponsor of terrorism were allowed into the U.S. The U.S. State Department has designated Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism.

Gimenez and other lawmakers have consistently criticized President Joe Biden’s Cuba policies, including inviting Cuba’s Communist Party members to visit the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S. port facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the Miami International Airport.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has also called on U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to stop the agency’s “continued support of Cuba’s communist interests.”

Scott led another delegation calling on the administration to deny visas “to evil dictators from Iran, Cuba and Venezuela” who are scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly next month.

“The United States must prevent the UN General Assembly from becoming a stage for the most evil leaders on Earth to … promote their dangerous views that pose significant threats to the national security of the United States and our allies,” Sens. Scott, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Joni Ernst, and Markwayne Mullin said in a letter to Biden.

They are referring to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

“As Iran wages a proxy war and seeks to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, newly installed Iranian President Pezeshkian has publicly vowed to continue his predecessor, the ‘Butcher of Tehran’s’ policies of targeting Israel and the United States,” they said. “Iran is directly responsible for the horrific October 7th attack on Israel and the recent rocket strikes that killed a dozen innocent Israelis, including children, at a soccer field in the Golan Heights.”

They also pointed to security concerns after Iran-backed militants recently attacked U.S. service members stationed at Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, severely injuring five. Iran-backed militants in the Middle East “have killed three American servicemembers and injured nearly 200 since October 7,” they said.

Díaz-Canel “has a decades-long history of threatening America and hosting her worst enemies,” they said, “including allowing China to build a spy base 90-miles” from Florida. Cuba also recently hosted military exercises with Russia that brought nuclear-power Russian submarines just miles off Florida’s coast, they note.

Maduro rigged the country’s July presidential election to win, imprisoned political opponents, and “opened his country to America’s enemies like Iran, Russia and Communist China,” they said. Maduro’s “extensive background of human rights abuses” has contributed to the U.S. border crisis, they added, saying his policies have pushed “scores of dangerous criminals into our country” who’ve been charged with committing “heinous crimes, including murder and rape, against innocent American civilians.”

After the election, the Biden administration and other world leaders condemned Venezuela’s election outcome, pointing to “electoral manipulation.” One month later, protests are ongoing; over 2,200 people have been arrested and 23 killed, according to news reports. Russian President Vladamir Putin has also reportedly sent a Baltic fleet to a port near Caracas in support of Maduro, Fox News reported.

The delegation said the presence of Pezeshkian, Diaz-Canel and Maduro “raises serious security issues for the United States and our allies.”

Denying their entry would “reaffirm our commitment to upholding the principles of freedom and democracy while sending a clear message that we stand firmly against oppressive regimes that threaten our national security.”