Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., during the first Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday August 6, 2015. Credit Eric Thayer for The New York Times
Sen. Marco Rubio will pledge to invite political dissidents as would-be guests of honor at his inauguration in January 2017 if he is elected president. The Cuban-American from Florida plans to make the pledge during a speech Friday morning in New York City.
“I will make this pledge here and now: As president, as a symbol of solidarity between my administration and those who strive for freedom around the world, I will invite Cuban dissidents, Iranian dissidents, Chinese dissidents, and freedom fighters from around the world to be honored guests at my inauguration,” Rubio will say, according to excerpts provided to PPD.
The New York event sponsored by the Foreign Policy Initiative will kick off as Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to visit Havana for the raising of the American flag over the embassy. Rubio, who has threatened to defund the president’s normalization of relations with Cuba, has said the embassy would be temporary if he becomes president. The freshman senator with deep passions regarding the Castro regime, has been a staunch critic of the president’s policy, which he argues will do nothing but make Raul Castro richer while doing nothing to promote the human rights of Cubans.
“First, on day one, I will give the Castros a choice: either continue repressing your people and lose the diplomatic relations and benefits provided by President Obama, or carry out meaningful political and human rights reforms and receive increased U.S. trade, investment, and support,” Rubio is expected to say. “Second, I will restore Cuba to the state sponsor of terror list until it stops supporting designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, helping North Korea evade international sanctions, or harboring fugitives from American justice.”
“Third, I will do everything in my power to provide support to Cuba’s pro-democracy movement, promote greater access to uncensored information for the Cuban people, and deprive the Castro regime of the funding for its repressive security state.”
Cuba won’t be the only nation on the top of his list to address during the foreign policy speech Friday. Rubio plans to offer a three-point proposal regarding Iran.
“These deals demonstrate with jarring clarity how this administration has failed to anticipate impending crises, ignored the realities of the globalized economy, and sought to make America liked rather than respected; the way it has placed politics before policy, adversaries before allies, and legacy before leadership; the way it has confused weakness for restraint, concession for compromise, and – most simply of all – wrong for right,” he intends to day, drawing together the recent agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear development and the thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
Gary UniPress / August 26, 2015
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