Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) kicked Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) out of a House committee hearing about relations between the United States and Cuba, accusing the California Democrat of spreading “communist propaganda.”

On Thursday, Lee attended a hearing of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which she is not a member of, and tried to speak on restoring ties between the two countries. Salazar, a former journalist, has pushed for Cuba to stay on America’s list of countries sponsoring terrorism, citing the regime being repeatedly flagged for human rights violations. 

“I was just kicked out of a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on Cuba policy because the Republican Chair didn’t like my views,” Lee posted on X. “I’d share the livestream, but Republicans cut out the sound when I stood up to defend myself & call them out.”

Salazar wrote on X that she was within her rights to throw out Lee, accusing the House Democrat of spreading “communist propaganda.”

“Today, I exercised my authority as Subcommittee Chairwoman to not allow an off-Committee Member to spread communist propaganda during my Cuba hearing,” Salazar wrote. “Members are not entitled to join any Committee proceedings without full consent of the Committee Members.”

Salazar was born in Miami to Cuban parents who fled the country after Fidel Castro came to power, whom she said Lee “was a personal friend” of before he died in 2016. 

“Barbara Lee tried to disrupt an important discussion about the Biden Administration’s lenient policies toward the Cuban regime,” Salazar said. “Barbara Lee is a communist sympathizer who was a personal friend to Fidel Castro, has visited Cuba 21 times, and has been a mouthpiece for the Cuban Regime since 1977.”

Speaking on journalist and political commentator Roland Martin’s digital show, Roland Martin Unfiltered, on Friday morning, Lee clarified that the process of speaking during a committee hearing in which a lawmaker isn’t a member is to request a waiver — regardless of political affiliation. Lee said she asked for a waiver to speak, but Salazar did not grant the Democrat’s request. 

“She’s trying to silence me,” Lee said. “And what her move was today demonstrated that she really doesn’t believe in democracy. She believes in only her point of view; she does not believe in the inclusion of different points of views when we talk about Cuban policy.”

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For decades, Lee has been working to normalize relations with Cuba, fixed in her belief that the U.S. should lift the embargo on the Caribbean island. Lee, who launched a bid for California’s open Senate seat last year, is working on legislation to address Cuba’s emerging private sector.

In November, the United Nations General Assembly called for the 31st time to end the Cuba embargo — the U.S. and Israel were the only two opposed votes.