At great risk of facing repercussions from the Castro regime, Cubans with internet connectivity wished U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio a happy birthday on social media and thanked him for his efforts against the authoritarian communist regime.

Rubio, the United States’s first Cuban-American secretary of state, celebrated his 55th birthday on Thursday, May 28. The administration of President Donald Trump is currently intensifying its pressure campaign against the Castro regime, addressing the national security threat posed by the Castro regime — which turned Cuba into a state sponsor of terrorism — while holding those who support it accountable.

To celebrate Rubio’s birthday, the U.S. embassy in Havana published a Spanish-language Facebook post that read, “Did you know that today is Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s birthday? What message would you send him?” The embassy accompanied the post with a photo of Sec. Rubio next to Mike Hammer, the embassy’s charge d’affaires.

Martí Noticias observed that dozens of Cubans responded to the Facebook post with messages of gratitude towards Rubio, wishing him a happy birthday and praising him and the Trump administration’s actions against the Castro regime. Many of the users also thanked Rubio for giving Cubans the hope of finally seeing a free Cuba after 67 years of communist rule — inviting him to celebrate his next birthday in Cuba once the country is free.

“Thank you for fighting to free Cuba from the communist system,” a message from a Cuban user reportedly read.

“The people of Cuba are happy to see a new dawn!” another user responded to the embassy’s post.

The State Department celebrated Sec. Rubio’s birthday by posting a video on social media featuring some of Rubio’s recent viral moments.

Sec. Rubio recently imposed new sanctions on the Cuban regime’s GAESA conglomerate, which restricts the ruling communists’ ability to fund their authoritarian regime and repression of the Cuban people. He also announced sanctions on Cuban ministries and officials directly involved in the regime’s repressive structure and announced the arrest and impending deportation of Adys Lastres Morera, the sister of GAESA’s chief, Ania Guillermina Lastres.

Sec. Rubio’s actions against members of the Cuban regime come right as the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of nonagenarian dictator Raúl Castro over his role in the murder of four Cuban-American men in the 1990s.

Cubans who express support and gratitude to Sec. Rubio and the United States — either publicly or through social media — do so at a high risk to their personal safety. For years, the communist Castro regime has excessively and unjustly punished Cubans with physical violence and lengthy prison sentences for publishing anti-regime content on social media that the regime deems “counter-revolutionary” and “terrorist propaganda.”

This week, the Castro regime rearrested 51-year-old Erick Alain Chang Padrón after he refused to stop posting content on social media critical of the regime as demanded by Cuban authorities. Similarly, a group of eight Cuban anti-communists has remained unjustly imprisoned, facing spurious “terrorist” charges for publishing content on social media critical of the regime. Their trial, Cuban-focused outlets noted, was scheduled to take place on Thursday. The Cuban regime suspended the trial with no new date set.

Despite the ever-present threat against dissidents and critics in Cuba, the Trump administration’s recent actions against the Cuban regime have paved the way for new public forms of peaceful protest in the island-nation.

As Breitbart News exclusively reported last week, anti-communist dissidents launched a campaign known as “God Save Cuba, SOS Trump.” The campaign saw Cubans engage in prayers for divine intervention towards the freedom of their nation while calling for President Trump’s help against the Castro regime.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.