On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) said that Cuba “is a national security issue” because “we’re talking about 11 million slaves on the island of Cuba, at any time, they can go and jump into the sea and try to get to Miami” and also stated that Cuba’s military isn’t ready to fight the U.S.
Salazar said, “[T]his is a national security issue…that population, we’re talking about 11 million slaves on the island of Cuba, at any time, they can go and jump into the sea and try to get to Miami, the district that I represent in Congress. And this is exactly what the President is trying to prevent, another humanitarian crisis. So, Cuba, right now, is a national security threat. That is why Marco Rubio is giving them $100 million in humanitarian aid. The problem — and this is also very important for the audience that is watching — is that before, times before, many years before, we have offered — we, the United States — we have offered humanitarian aid to the Cubans when there has been a hurricane or any natural disasters. And they have always said no, because in those cans or in that humanitarian aid, we have the American flag, or it says this is coming from the United States of America, and the Cuban regime doesn’t want that. They want [to take] those products, like the Secretary of State just said, and put them in their own stores, sell them to the population that’s starving. And — but all that is coming to an end, thanks to President Trump.”
Later, Salazar responded to the prospect of collateral damage from an American military action in Cuba by saying that “the only way for that scenario to play out would have to be if the Cuban military is ready to fight, and they’re not. Those people are also starving, and their families and their neighbors and their cousins. … So, what type of military — the only thing that we could definitely — and I’m sure the Pentagon is thinking about this — is that they announced, a few weeks ago, that they had bought 300 drones. How could these people be buying drones if they don’t even have food to give to their population? But I don’t think the Castros are that stupid that they will use those resources in order to provoke the United States, and then they will know that their end is very close and it will have a very bad result and a very bad ending.”
Salazar also said that the Cuban regime has lost its previous supporters and Russia won’t help Cuba due to a fear of angering the U.S.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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