Marco Rubio blasts Obama on U.S. embassy opening in Cuba

Marco Rubio blasts Obama on U.S. embassy opening in Cuba

As the United States raises its flag over an embassy in Cuba for the
first time 54 years, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio is
slamming the Obama administration for bringing "legitimacy to a state
sponsor of terror."

"President Obama has rewarded the Castro regime for its repressive
tactics and persistent, patient opposition to American interests," Rubio
said Friday in a speech at the Foreign Policy Initiative in New York
City. "He has unilaterally given up on a half-century worth of policy
toward the Castro regime that was agreed upon by presidents of both parties.

"The deal with Cuba threatens America's moral standing in our hemisphere
and around the world, brings legitimacy to a state sponsor of terror,
and further empowers an ally of China and Russia that sits just 90 miles
from our shore," the Florida senator added.

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Havana early Friday morning for
the flag-raising ceremony at the American Embassy. While ranking U.S.
and Cuban government officials will attend the formal event, no Cuban
dissidents will be present to mark the occasion.

Rubio knocked their exclusion from the embassy opening, and added the
event will be "little more than a propaganda rally for the Castro regime."

The U.S. embassy opening is largely symbolic -- Cuba restored full
diplomatic relations with America last month -- but it has presented
anti-Castro critics a fresh opportunity to condemn President Obama's
thawing of ties between the two countries.

Rubio, who was born to Cuban American parents, promised that if he were
elected president, he would roll back nearly all of Mr. Obama's policies
on the island nation. He committed to restoring Cuba to the state
sponsors of terrorism list and pledged support for Cuba's pro-democracy
movement.

"We must guarantee that the United States stands on the side of the
Cuban people, not their oppressors," Rubio said.

Speaking in a question-and-answer session after his keynote address, the
White House hopeful added that he would attempt to allow Cubans
unfettered access to the internet, in order to reverse a news "blackout"
in the country.

And as the Senate heads to an up-or-down vote on the Iran nuclear deal
in the coming months, Rubio blasted the accord Friday, calling it a
"string of concessions to a sworn adversary of the United States." He
also dubbed it the "most significant erosion" of U.S.-Israeli relations
since the Jewish state's founding.

Rather than engaging diplomatically with Iran, the 2016 GOP contender
asserted that a Rubio presidency would reimpose sanctions on the
country. A Rubio administration, the Florida Republican promised, would
ensure American military forces are well-positioned and equipped in the
Middle East, and it would insist that a deal with Iran would never allow
it to build a nuclear weapon -- "not now, not decades from now."

Source: Election 2016: Marco Rubio blasts Obama on U.S. embassy opening
in Cuba - CBS News -
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marco-rubio-blasts-obama-on-u-s-embassy-opening-in-cuba/