Joe Biden Blasted For Odd Statement About Cuba: “Their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic”
President Joe Biden on Monday finally made a statement about the protests sweeping Cuba and was immediately blasted for the odd choice of words. Biden expressed solidarity with protesters in Cuba before seeming to blame the pandemic and the communist regime.
“We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime,” Biden said in a statement.
John Cardillo said, “My Cuban friends in Miami who still have family in Havana are both laughing at, and infuriated with, the Biden administration for lying about the Cuba uprising being about COVID. It’s about freedom from tyrannical oppression.”
From Politico:
Before the president’s statement on Monday, among the highest ranking administration officials to offer a comment in support of the Cuban protesters was Julie Chung, the acting assistant secretary for state for Western Hemisphere affairs.
“Peaceful protests are growing in #Cuba as the Cuban people exercise their right to peaceful assembly to express concern about rising Covid cases/deaths & medicine shortages,” Chung tweeted on Sunday. “We commend the numerous efforts of the Cuban people mobilizing donations to help neighbors in need.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan also tweeted late Sunday that the U.S. “supports freedom of expression and assembly across Cuba, and would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protesters who are exercising their universal rights.”
Many congressional Republicans have expressed support for the protests, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who posted more than a dozen tweets in English and Spanish targeting socialist leaders and criticizing the White House’s failure to respond more quickly to the situation.
“The people of #Cuba bravely take to the streets against 62 years of socialist tyranny,” Rubio, who is Cuban American, tweeted on Sunday evening. “12 hours later President @JoeBiden @POTUS has yet to say a word about it.”
Inbox: Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on Protests in Cuba pic.twitter.com/4ZiVFX7ryS
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 12, 2021
Protests in #Cuba aren’t simply about “shortages”
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 12, 2021
Socialism promises guaranteed food,medicine & income if you give up your freedom
When, as always, it fails to deliver you don’t get your freedom back
That’s why the protestors are chanting “Libertad” #SoSCuba #PatriaYVida
The Communist Cuban regime will be consigned to the dustbin of history. It has brutalized & denied freedom to generations of Cubans, and forced my family & so many others to flee.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 11, 2021
The American people stand squarely with the men & women of Cuba and their noble fight for liberty. https://t.co/09hdGQVJLh
My Cuban friends in Miami who still have family in Havana are both laughing at, and infuriated with, the Biden administration for lying about the Cuba uprising being about COVID.
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 12, 2021
It’s about freedom from tyrannical oppression.