Inside Marco Rubio’s Cuba – The way he sees it

By Jade Scipioni in Fox Business:

Inside Marco Rubio’s Cuba—The Way He Sees It

President Obama has made historic steps towards restoring relations with Cuba after nearly a half-century of diplomatic freeze. But Republican Presidential hopeful and Cuban-American Marco Rubio says these new policies will be short-lived once he takes office.

“When I’m President, the U.S. will not diplomatically recognize the Cuban government. I would honor the Cuban Democracy Act, which is pre-existing law that governs our relationship with Cuba and says that in order for U.S. policy to change the Cuban government must make changes too,” Rubio tells FOXBusiness.com in an interview.

As the son of Cuban immigrants, he says the changes that are happening are actually a bitter moment for many of his people who grew up in and around the Cuban exile community.

“It is as if we have now agreed that Castro and oppression get to stay. It would be one thing if this was part of a change in our policies in exchange for a change in Cuban policies, but this is a unilateral change. We are changing toward Cuba, but Cuba isn’t changing toward us or its people. For many, it feels like we are accepting that the Cuban people forever will have to live under a repressive government,” he says.

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“My grandfather loved this country and he never took it for granted, because he knew what life was like outside of it. He knew first-hand that for almost all of human history, economic prosperity belonged primarily to those born into families with power and influence. And he knew America was different because it was founded on the belief that every human being has a God given right to pursue a happy life. It put in place a free enterprise economy that rewards merit and work rather than social status and privilege.”

Rubio says the one thing that most Americans don’t understand is that there is still no such thing as a Cuban economy.

“There is a cartel that runs everything from the airport to the gas stations to the hotels, and any increased business in Cuba is increased revenue for a military dictatorship that used it to further oppress the Cuban people,” he adds.

He says while President Obama has been quick to deal with the oppressors, he has been very slow on dealing with the oppressed.

Read it all HERE.