GOP presidential hopeful, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that the nation’s paper of record relied on the Castro government in reporting on his hardline Cuba policy—in a story written by a reporter with whom he cooperated.
The accusations were leveled on Monday after the New York Times published a story on Sunday featuring the opinions of regular Cubans with a negative view of Rubio.
“NYT follows up traffic tix & ‘luxury speedboat’ stories with expose of Castro regime’s propaganda on me. #nicetry” he tweeted on Monday, referring to prior Times reporting on his personal life.
Cubans interviewed by the NYT in Sunday’s story were critical of Rubio.
“If Marco Rubio becomes president, we’re done for,” Hector Montiel, a 66-year old interviewed by the Times on the streets Havana said. “He’s against Cuba in every possible way. Hillary Clinton understands much more the case of Cuba. Rubio and these Republicans, they are still stuck in 1959.”
The report also quoted a state-controlled Cuban newspaper describing Rubio as a “representative in the Senate of the Cuban-American terrorist mafia.”
“I’m glad they see us as a threat,” Rubio told the paper in response. “They should.”
Since last December’s pivot, President Obama has moved steadily toward improving diplomatic relations with the communist island nation 90 miles off the coast of Florida, announcing last week the mutual re-opening of embassies. Rubio has threatened to block the nomination of any ambassador to Cuba.
“I anticipate we’re going to have a very interesting couple of years discussing how you’re going to get an ambassador nominated and how you’re going to get an embassy funded,” Rubio said last December, adding that a Republican Congress has no intention of lifting the 53-year-old embargo that prevents trade between the two nations.
Rubio’s claim that the Castro regime is behind Cuban opposition to his presidency ignores polling that shows overwhelming support on the island for the current path toward détente and closer relations—an indication that ordinary Cubans just don’t like Rubio’s policies.
Asked if “normalization with the US is good for Cuba,” 97 percent of Cubans answered in the affirmative, according to an April survey conducted by a number of organizations including the Washington Post and Fusion.
Nearly as many Cuban citizens, 96 percent, supported ending the US embargo, putting them in direct opposition to Rubio.
