Rubio’s record challenging repressive regimes questioned after academics’ immigration crackdown
Marco Rubio has always been a fierce critic of dictatorial leaders who strangled the words in their countries and opposed their crushing. As a member of the Senate, he led legislation and condemnation “Continuous oppression of the opposition” In the original Cuba of his parents frequently He called for “expression, not repression” In countries like Venezuela.
But now as a state minister, he is at the center of the recent government procedures to deny The visa holders enter the United States or Arrest and try to deport peopleIncluding a green card holder married to an American citizen. Critics of management measures and those involved in the cases said that they were targeted because of their speech, their support for the Palestinians or their criticism of the Trump administration policies.
Rubio rejected a violent reaction last week due to the arrest and an attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent legal resident who helped lead in the pro -Palestinian protests at Columbia University. “This is not related to freedom of expression,” Rubio told reporters on March 12.
As minister of the state, Rubio He has the right to cancel a green card or a visa under the Immigration Law in 1952, White House spokesman Caroline Levitte told reporters recently, although legal scientists say the government must prove the reason for its guarantee.
Some experts who followed the profession of Rubio see a repulsion between his actions as minister of state and what he has been fell as a member of the Senate, especially for him Political repression intoleranceReducing his authority Request to restore democratic freedoms elsewhere.
“It is hypocrisy,” said Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Faculty of Law and Diplomacy at the University of Tafs. Drezner, who has Books about the political development of RubioThe Foreign Minister said that “180”-a microscope turns away from what he represented in his political life.
Drezner said that Rubio’s sincerity towards Latin America, especially Cuba, is fixed in his political life. “Perhaps the thought is that he says things that contradict the essence of his criticism of Cuba, but by doing this, he still criticizes Cuba and approved by Donald Trump, perhaps in itself, in the minds of Rubio, he might deserve it,” Drezner said.
There is no deficiency in the video, texts, and legislative measures in which Rubio defends democratic principles such as freedom of assembly and expulsion of countries that suppress these freedoms.
After Senator Tim Kane discussed in the Senate Hall his journey to Cuba in 2014-the year that President Barack Obama nature has ties with the country-Rubio responded With a burning speech Cuba’s saying was “good in repression” and exporting it to places like Venezuela. He cited an example of Leopoldo Lopez, the former mayor of Karacas. He said at that time: “He is sitting in prison now because he is protesting the government.”
In 2022, Rubio protested the participation of Cuba at the ninth summit of the Americas because its president, Miguel Diaz-Konel, was a “criminal criticism” From the government.
In response to questions from NBC News, a Foreign Ministry spokesman Rubio reiterated that the case does not relate to freedom of expression, adding that although the government does not discuss individual visa cases, all visa applicants “are continuously examined” by the government.
“He sends a clear message.”
Although she is not criticized directly to Rubio, the founder of a US -based group that monitors human rights in Cuba is cautious about what it deems to happen in the United States
the Immigrant demonstrators and academics arrests “It is a step back in human rights but also in democracy,” said Laritza Voice, founder of Cubalex.
The diversification arose in Cuba under the leadership of Fidel Castro and fled in 2017 when it was Copelix, then a legal group based in Havana, It has become a target for governmental intimidation.
She said that dictatorships use a strategy of deprivation of dissidents to their countries. If you try to travel to Cuba for an emergency, the government may deny its entry, as happened in the history of the Communist government, including what happened to the famous singer Celia Cruz. She was He refused to enter Cuba Several times, including when her mother was dying.
Regarding the recent actions of the Trump administration, “This is the first step for society to silence before violations, as people do not dare to say what they think about to avoid some consequences,” said Formant.
Fears about visa denial and arrests are not limited to Cuban exiles. Juan Carlos Aveta, 19, who is an airline engineering student in El Arizona, said that he had made his first presidential vote in Trump in November, hoping to enter a new economy.
But the Mexican American student said he was annoyed by confirming freedom of expression and the right to protest. He accepts the need to take steps against those who commit violence, but he said that immigrants “bring unique views from all over the world” that may have enriched Americans, “as long as they follow other laws. They do not harm anyone physically. They do not harm private property.”
Rubio “should not be two sides when it comes to America, especially [on] Aveta said, “Palestine,” Aveta, who said, “I think I made a mistake,” said when he voted for Trump.
Daniel Pedrera, an assistant professor in teaching policy and international relations at the International University of Florida, said the steps taken by the role of the United States and Rubio in them are different from what happened in countries with repressive governments, because the United States is still enjoying the separation of powers.
Khalil case In the courts The judge prevented the deportation Badar Khan is a SyrianTalibi studies in Georgetown from India, which was captured by immigration agents and accused of publishing Hamas propaganda. A Syrian lawyer, Hassan Ahmed, denied on Thursday that a Syrian has never issued pro -enthusiasm or anti -Semitism. In Cuba or Venezuela, I noticed Pedrera, there will be no response or chance to appeal.
The Immigration Law allowed the deportation of the legal population, visas or foreign tourists A number of crimes, including crimes that involve “moral disorder”. Internal security, law enforcement, and border officials have long been forced to balance public safety with international migration and border trade.
Inconsistency
John Suarez, CEO of the Cuba Free Center, said that the Cuban community in Florida had seen Terrorists and spies infiltrate the United States, torture and prison guards from Cuba get legal residency. He referred to the latter The arrest of Thomas Emilio Hernandez Cruz, 71, a former senior official in Cuban Intelligence Service.
Suarez, also a human rights activist, said his organization supports freedom of expression, “even the speech we find is hateful.” But he also said that he did not see a contradiction in the actions of Rubio and his record that challenges the repressive regimes because the Foreign Minister said that he is targeting people who “occupy, ruin and tear university buildings, and they are going to the sanctuary.”
Suarez said that Rubio still has strong support in the Cuban American community in Florida. Society, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was warmly received by the community at the funeral of Lincoln Diaz Palart, a former member of Congress, who was also attended by Suarez.
Once again in Arizona, Eric Bush of 64 -year -old Phenix, a supporter of Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, said he respected American laws since she came to the country from Chile. “You are here in a tourist visa, visa, or a student’s work, you have to respect the law,” said Bush, a semi -extremist seller.
He said that he agreed with Rubio on the Khalil case. Bush said on the authority of Khalil: “The law must respect and be in peace. This man is not peaceful.”
But the history of the Cuba segment to tyranny, who Volcenisio Batista dictatorship To receive the Communist Castro, the party’s continuous control should be familiar to Rubio – and should be taken seriously, according to the world of Cuban history.
When Castro took power in 1959, he relied on the mentality of mobs and depicted circumstances as “black and white” to ensure that “he and his strength and those loyal to him will market.”
“Marco Rubio as Minister of State must be completely aware of the date of the rise of tyranny in Cuba and how this has dismantled more than 100 years of struggle for democracy on the island, as well as the lessons that managed to Fidel Castro from the centrality of power and create tyranny – strategies, means, and component.”
“All of these things are very close to its history,” he said. “I don’t know how it seems that it seems to be on all levels of the Trump administration.”
