USA: warn that the crisis in Cuba could generate a new “Mariel Exodus” in Florida

Senator Marco Rubio is convinced that dictator Miguel Díaz Canel can begin to encourage a mass exodus of Cubans to the United States if you perceive that the government in Washington supports those who protest against the Communist dictatorship.

“The Cuban regime will now threaten that a Mariel-style crisis will be inevitable if the United States does not stop supporting the protesters and revert to the politics of the Obama era.», Affirmed the Cuban-American senator and the most senior member of the Republican Party at the Latin American Affairs Committee, Marco Rubio, on his Twitter account. “We must not succumb to this blackmail and President Biden must warn them that encouraging a mass exodus will be considered hostile action.”

It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened. In 1994, during the so-called special period, about 35,000 Cubans jumped into the sea in precarious boats.. Many died en route and most of them were intercepted by the United States Coast Guard and taken as refugees to the Guantanamo base, only to be admitted as residents in the United States. The crisis has progressed to such an extent that the Bill Clinton administration has put the policy of dry feet, wet feet, which indicated that residence in the United States would be granted to those who touch land. A policy that culminated in Barack Obama’s last week at the White House.

But maybe the antecedent everyone has in mind is that of Mariel, in 1980. Fidel Castro allowed whoever he wanted to leave the island (including common criminals on the island). 125,000 Cubans arrived in Miami, almost all at the same time.

Not only does Rubio believe something like this can happen. Today in a meeting with the governor Ron DeSantis at the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami, the Cuban-American activist Marcel Felipe warned that this could happen again.

“The regime has always used the permit to leave the island as an escape valve in times of crisis. This community (in reference to Cuban Americans) is united in supporting the American authorities and telling them that we are not going to allow the Cuban regime to use this exhaust valve ”.

During the meeting with DeSantis, activists from various Cuban organizations in the United States united to ask for the support of the United States government at different levels. The first statement is that this country is doing everything possible to ensure that there is internet on the island. The regime cut off access to the network and thus silenced the population. But the demands went further and there was strong support to explore military intervention.

“Decisive military action is needed. The Russians and the Chinese will do in Cuba what they did in Syria and Venezuela. We need direct military intervention, ”said activist and community leader Orlando Gutiérrez, supported by community figures such as Silvia Iriondo and Miriam de la Peña.

For his part, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez also called on the federal government to at least consider the possibility of military action in Cuba, alleging that the crisis in this country puts the United States in danger. Suarez is the only elected to date to join the almost unanimous demand of the Cuban-American community publicly asking that this possibility be explored.

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