Most South Florida lawmakers cringed when they saw President Obama shake hands with Raul Castro at the Summit of the Americas. But the momentary cringe turned into revulsion when the president shared to Congress his intent to remove the island nation from the state sponsor of terrorism list.
South Florida Republican Congresswoman IleanaRos-Lehtinen speaks for many in the delegation.
“I think it's obscene to remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list because Cuba has been responsible for the murder of the American citizens and the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down over international airspace,” Ros-Lehtinen says.
Ros-Lehtinen says this administration’s foreign policy amounts to capitulation to dangerous world leaders.
“I think that we're dangerous in the negotiations with Iran, dangerously naive and we're dangerously naive with Cuba," says Ros-Lehtinen. "Raul Castro demanded that Cuba be removed from the state sponsors of terrorism, and the Obama administration's motto is 'ask and you shall receive' to every dictator in the world.”
Ros-Lehtinen says the push to normalize relations isn’t going to change the relationship between the two nations.
“And they continue to have a huge intelligence operation against the United States. And just wishing and hoping that they are going to change is not going to make them a better a country. It's not going to make them a friend of the United States,” Ros-Lehtinen says.
Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson says the administration should have used the terrorism listing as leverage to get the Castro regime to end human rights abuses.
“I agree with the president that we ought to move forward to normalize relations, but they can't help themselves," Nelson says. "The Castro brothers continue to throw dissidents in jail, they don't give freedom of speech, freedom of the press. And if we're going to have a normal relation with Cuba, they've got to open up, stop human rights abuses and give the rule of law."
But allies of the White House on Cuba argue this delisting was long overdue. Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake says the terrorism list isn’t meant for nations that commit human rights abuses. He says its name pretty much speaks for itself, and only state sponsors of terrorism should remain on it.
"Well, the list ought to mean something. You look at the countries on the list…Syria, Sudan and Iran, I mean, add Cuba to that. It just doesn't make sense. It hasn't for a long time,” Flake says.
Lawmakers have 45 days from the time they received the president’s message to respond. South Florida Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo says they’re already talking about crafting a resolution to disapprove of the new White House action.
“Well, some of us here are discussing that and there's certainly a role for Congress and I think we plan on exercising our ability to oppose whatever it is the administration wants do on this specific issue of state sponsor of terrorism,” Curbelo says.
Ros-Lehtinen says she's confident they'll have enough votes to pass it through the House.
"I'm very optimistic that a member of our Foreign Affairs Committee will file a bill to disapprove of the president's decision will get to the floor. I think we'll have a good bipartisan coalition and we'll be able to disapprove it,” Ros-Lehtinen says.
The Senate is a different story though. Senator Flake says he and other supporters of delisting Cuba are also eager to see a resolution hit the Senate floor where he thinks the South Florida delegation would lose.
"I'd say, 'go ahead and move it forward.' I don't think that there will be any support for that. I think that for the most part people accept that this is long overdue,” Flake says.
Still, Ros-Lehtinen is undeterred.
“I don't know what the Senate will do, and I don't know about anything after that. We'll take it one day at a time. But we're going to file the bill, and we're going to get the votes,” Ros-Lehtinen says.
Congress has a busy schedule over the next month and a half, and U.S./Cuba policy doesn't seem to be on the top of the agenda of congressional leaders. South Florida lawmakers will be flexing their policy muscles as they demand a vote to check the administration and the Castro regime.
