Sen. Marco Rubio is promising that he’ll work against assigning a U.S. ambassador to Cuba, a year after the Obama administration restored diplomatic ties with the communist country.
The Florida Republican told Politico in an interview published Wednesday that he will continue to fight against any hypothetical ambassador nominee that President Obama or the next president may try to appoint.
“A U.S. ambassador is not going to influence the Cuban government, which is a dictatorial, closed regime,” said Rubio, who decided to run for re-election after his failed presidential bid.
President Obama has not yet nominated an ambassador after the U.S. and Cuba officially restored diplomatic ties on July 20, 2015 after more than half a century.
When ties were restored, the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba once again became an embassy, but it’s led by Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who serves as chief of mission.
Rubio, a Cuban-American, has been vocal in his opposition to the normalizing of relations between the two countries. Trade and travel restrictions still exist, but both have been eased as much as Obama could without changing federal law.
The Cuban government, Rubio insists, is the only benefactor of the better relations with the U.S.
Ordinary Cubans have “been living in this trap for close to 60 years, and they’re hoping some new dynamic will change things,” Rubio said.
