House GOP members were holding a press conference denouncing Cuba and a recent trip to the communist nation by a few House Democratic “Squad” members when protesters interrupted, demanding that the United States take Cuba off the terrorist list.
Three protesters from Code Pink, a left-wing feminist antiwar organization, held up signs that said “Take Cuba off Terrorist List” and “No Mas Bloqueo,” which refers to ending the U.S. embargo against Cuba. The House Cuban Republicans allowed the women to stay, with Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) saying, “I love this.”
“This is exactly what we want for Cuba,” Salazar said. “This type of freedom that anyone can bring with a poster, stand right in front of the Capitol, and be able to talk to elected officials like we are and express their thoughts.”
“Unfortunately, these two ladies do not know what really happens on that island, that the Castro regime is a snake that bites and injects venom into people’s veins whenever they can,” Salazar continued.
At one point, it looked like police were going to remove the protesters. However, a GOP aide confirmed to reporters that U.S. Capitol Police arrived to protect the members because one woman was holding a sign “on top of them.” However, the members told police that the protester could stay but had to move to the side.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), the daughter of a Cuban refugee, also slammed the protesters for “supporting a communist regime” when they would receive brutal treatment for demonstrating in Cuba.
“You’re using a privilege that we only have here in the United States that the Cuban people do not have,” Malliotakis said. “And as my colleague said, you will be jailed. You will be beaten, you will be killed if you do what you’re doing right here, protesting in freedom, if you do it in Cuba.”
“So it’s ironic that we stand here with signs supporting a communist regime that does all those things. It’s a shame, really,” Malliotakis added.
The event centered on urging the Biden administration to keep Cuba on the U.S. state-sponsored terrorist list in the wake of Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) under-the-radar visit to Cuba in February. Jayapal and Omar are vocal critics of the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus previously told the Washington Examiner that the trip was focused on discussing human rights and the “U.S.-Cuba bilateral relationship.”
However, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) blasted Jayapal and Omar for not demanding freedom and fair elections for Cuba but asking “for things that the regime wants in order to help itself stay in power.” He also condemned the members, with 38 other Democrats, who voted against a 2021 resolution expressing solidarity with Cubans’ right to protest peacefully.
“So respectfully, but vigorously, we ask our colleagues to not be blinded, to follow the facts, and to not be a useful idiot of a regime that is a state sponsor of terrorism 90 miles away and that has not had free and democratic elections in over 60 years,” Diaz-Balart added.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), the only Cuban-born member of Congress, said all he wants members like Omar and Jayapal to do is “take a look around.”
“When you’re there, why don’t you just take a look around and see if that’s what you want to bring back to the United States,” Gimenez said, adding that Cuba is “frozen in time,” with deteriorating buildings and “modern-day slavery.”
Malliotakis went a step further and condemned the “socialist Squad” for making a trip to Cuba “not to meet with the people but to actually meet with the communist regime that destroyed our families.”
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“We will continue to fight the communist sympathizers who are walking in the halls of Congress,” the New York congresswoman said.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Democrats who traveled to Cuba for comment.