The far-right Doray Gray: Marco Rubio, an NRA supporter

I was surprised that the National Rifle Association (NRA) did not invite Rubio to the Convention in Texas, but the truth is that his main supporter in the state of Florida was stockpiling his fourth million US dollars to secure his third consecutive term as senator in the midterm elections to be held next November, in addition to the fact that he could be participating in some other celebration party this Sunday, May 29, for the 51st anniversary of his birth in Miami.

The Republican lawmaker of Cuban origin, with an eternally young appearance, is the father of four children, but this is not an obstacle to defending those who pay him. So, after the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in an elementary school in a small town in Texas, he continued to advocate fiercely that no gun regulation can prevent school shootings.

"The problem isn't the firearm, it's the lunatic," Rubio told the Capitol press staff, after a young man in Texas easily bought two AR-15 assault rifles and just days after his 18th birthday perpetrated such a horrendous crime.

"The truth is that these people are going to commit these crimes," the arrogant Senator said, lashing out at the journalist who pressed him on his obviously inadequate answer.

And he doubled down later in the week as details of the murders emerged, providing evidence that, in fact, the "nice guy with a gun" Republican theory cannot prevent a killer from carrying "innocent" firearms, made for war.

But Rubio's tirades did not end there, as he took out his anger on the Miami Heat basketball team for displaying a poignant ad during a game calling for legislative action on gun control.

Wilfredo Lee, from AP, describes that “the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics and the fans paused for a moment of silence for those killed in the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, before Game 5 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference final playoff series in Miami. Moments later, the Heat called on fans to pressure U.S. senators from Florida to support common-sense gun laws, prompting a rebuke from the Cuban-born lawmaker.”

Son of Cuban emigrants Mario Rubio and Oriales García, both initially of humble socioeconomic status, pretended that they had fled from the "communist dictatorship" of Cuba, but The Washington Post reliably proved that his parents had left the island in 1956, when Fidel was exiled in Mexico, where he masterminded the liberating insurrection.

Given such eye-opener, Rubio's team confirmed the data to the newspaper, which has since sought hatred and attacks from the Senator, who maintained for a time in his biography that his parents "came to the United States after Fidel Castro took power," while remarking the importance of the "American dream" in his life.

Marco Rubio has a lot of ascendancy over the Floridian population and, in one way or another, that same population favors him with the vote, no matter what language he uses or how unhealthy the content of his discourse is, which reveals the weakness of what they call American democracy.

However, a strong rival has emerged in his state, Demings, who lamented the Texas massacre and criticized Rubio on the gun issue. “I am broken at what happened,” she said, adding: “When we, yet again, as the greatest nation in the world, watched 19 children and two adults shot to death, damn it, we can do better than that," because he has the ability to "stop innocent people from being shot to death."

"Your senior Senator, Marco Rubio, has only offered thoughts and prayers. There is nothing wrong with thoughts and prayers, but faith without action is dead. Get on your knees and do something about it," Demings said.

CONTROVERSIAL

Marco Antonio Rubio has met the worst of the political scum in his Miami fiefdom, such as Colombians Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque, Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, Spanish José María Aznar, Chilean José Antonio Kast, and many others, in addition to being actively involved in events of all kinds to revile Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

He attended the counterrevolutionary event disguised as a musical on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, where he called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to "move your buttocks" and denounce the alleged abuses by President Nicolás Maduro.

Years ago, he ran for the US Presidency, but his changing stance on immigration and the emergence of Donald Trump cut short his dream of owning the White House. The lawmaker does not believe in climate change, nor does he think that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. And although there are several videos where he says that the political system of the United States was not made to stay in power, he has already raised, as we mentioned before, $4 million to fund his campaign for a third six-year term as Florida representative, Fox News reported.

In 2016, for example, a lot of people got surprised when he announced that he would not seek re-election to the Senate, with his sights set on the White House.

When that plan turned impossible, he began to go back on his words on the campaign to stay in the Senate, and he did it with the support of the African-American and Latino community.

However, Rubio is not only perturbed by reality when it comes to staying in power. According to an analysis on the PolitiFact.com platform, from the Poynter Institute, the legislator tends to issue statements that are not always true.

In his profile, Rubio totals 165 studied sayings, of which only 21 (12%) were 100% real: 38 are considered "almost true," 34 "fairly true," 39 "mostly false," 28 "false" and five are outright lies.

For colleague Ana Laura Palomino García, from Resumen Latinoamericano, Marco Rubio is the result of his own ambitions, which, to his aforementioned qualities of liar, manipulator, influence peddler, can be added that of opportunist and intimidator, since he is prone to insult and threat a head of state like Nicolás Maduro.

It is no secret that US administrations appreciate comments undermining any US-Cuba rapprochement. This situation got worse under Trump’s administration and yet maintain in Biden’s, despite electoral promises of change in this regard.

Thus, it is not weird at all that an opportunist like Rubio finds the path cleared. The Senator from Florida knows that in the United States, confronting Cuba is an extremely profitable business, from which he intends to continue living and enriching his legacy.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff