El Nuevo Herald: Miami’s anti-Cuban lawmakers, “champions of hypocrisy”

The political incoherence of Republican lawmakers in Florida got to a point where even the anti-Cuban mafia newspaper in Miami, El Nuevo Herald, could not simply ignore it.

Andrés Openhheimer, one of the experts working for the newspaper —by the way, his predictions on Cuba go from bad to worse— has just published an opinion piece entitled: ¿Democracia para Cuba y Venezuela, y autocracia para EE.UU? (Democracy for Cuba and Venezuela, and autocracy for the U.S.?) where he labels these public figures as “champions of hypocrisy.”

According to the columnist: "As legislative elections in the United States approach —to be held on November 8— Republican Cuban-American lawmakers in Florida seeking reelection are trying to present themselves as champions of democracy. However, they are not."

To substantiate his claim, Openhheimer refers to the case of María Elvira Salazar, a congresswoman who sells herself as someone "committed to acting tirelessly in defense of individual rights and freedoms" and "recognized for her defense of human rights and democracy throughout the world, especially for the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.” But, according to the columnist, "when it comes to defending democracy in the United States, her native country, Salazar is conspicuous by its absence."

According to the journalist of Argentine origin living in the US: "Just like his colleagues in the House of Representatives Carlos Giménez and Mario Díaz-Balart, Salazar changes the subject when asked what her stance is on the support of former President Donald Trump to the bloody takeover of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, or the false narrative that the 2020 election was rigged."

According to Openhheimer, for those who apparently "act as if there were good autocrats and bad autocrats:" "Miami's Republican lawmakers have supported Trump's lies. Díaz-Balart and Giménez voted against certifying the results of the 2020 elections in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Salazar did not vote that day because she had COVID-19, but shortly after she repeated Trump's lies about the Pennsylvania state results in an interview with Radio Mambi."

The hypocrisy of these people, the columnist continues, is also manifested "in their absurd claims that President Joe Biden would be a "socialist," and in their stances on immigration and Social Security, which are key issues for their Hispanic voters."

Similarly, he adds that: “Historically, Republican legislators have supported those fleeing from communist regimes. But I have not heard these Republican legislators complain much when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently used taxpayer money to transport Venezuelan immigrants under false pretenses from Texas to Massachusetts to seek the easy applause of their anti-immigrant base.”

It is worth noting that the "prophet" of El Nuevo Herald is right this time to unmask the double standards of these distinguished members of the United States Congress who base their electoral campaigns, and subsequent political actions, on meddling third countries’ affairs and not in the pressing problems of the "wonderland" they feel so honored to belong to.

By the way, the columnist forgot to include Republican Senator Marco Rubio in his complaint, probably the best example of this annexationist schizophrenia.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff