Cuban exile-turned-congressman unloads on Dem Senate hopeful over Cuba remarks
EXCLUSIVE: A Cuban-American congressman whose family fled Cuba's communist regime slammed Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon, accusing her of not going far enough in condemning the island nation's dictatorship.
Nixon, the Florida state representative running to unseat Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., pushed back after CBS News initially characterized her remarks during an interview aired Monday as a refusal to call Cuba a dictatorship.
"Do you consider that Cuba is a dictatorship?" the interviewer asked Nixon.
"That is what people have told me. I have never been to Cuba, and so I will have to take their word for it," Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), responded.
FLORIDA SENATE CANDIDATE ANGIE NIXON CALLS FOR JAILING GOP OPPONENT ASHLEY MOODY
In a now deleted tweet, CBS accused Nixon of refusing to answer the question, which Nixon responded to as "a serious failure of editorial reporting."
"To claim I declined to answer the question is categorically false. That is not journalism. It is misinformation," Nixon added in her online response. CBS has since re-uploaded the footage on X and apologized for the misleading language.
However, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., whose family fled Cuba when he was young, told Fox News Digital that he still believes Nixon refused to acknowledge the island nation's regime.
"There is no ambiguity: Cuba is a communist dictatorship that has imprisoned, tortured, and murdered innocent people for decades," the congressman said. "Floridians deserve leaders who stand unequivocally for freedom, not politicians who whitewash the horrors of communism."
Cuba has been under communist rule since 1959.
RUBIO WARNS CUBA HAS INFILTRATED US WITH SPIES, CALLS COMMUNIST REGIME AN 'ESPIONAGE SUPERPOWER'
Ian Vallecillo, a South Florida lawmaker whose family escaped the totalitarian regime in Nicaragua, echoed Gimenez's claim in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"This is a perfect example of ideological cognitive dissonance. Acknowledging Cuba’s dictatorship means confronting the failure of a Marxist system she appears sympathetic to," the lawmaker stated. "Cuba is a nearly 70-year experiment in Marxism that has produced economic devastation, repression, and a brutal dictatorship. Yet these are the same people who constantly accuse Trump and Republicans of being dictators, while hesitating to acknowledge actual dictatorships that align with their ideology."
Vallecillo accused Nixon of "showing her true colors," who has a biased view of communist regimes since she and her fellow DSA members have spent "their lives defending a failed ideology and therefore cannot recognize that they are on the wrong side of history."
Nixon did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
During her interview, Nixon criticized the decades-long U.S. embargo on Cuba and expressed support for returning to policies implemented under former President Barack Obama, arguing that such an approach could help address the island's widespread blackouts and shortages of medical care.
In 2014, Obama began a diplomatic thaw with Cuba, restoring diplomatic relations and easing certain economic and travel restrictions imposed during the Cold War.
RUBIO URGES CUBANS TO WORK WITH CIA TO BRING POLITICAL CHANGE TO COMMUNIST-RUN ISLAND
The Obama administration also removed Cuba from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2015 and eased restrictions on certain forms of trade with the island nation.
Nixon and other DSA members have long argued that the U.S. embargo contributes to the deteriorating living conditions faced by the Cuban people.
CUBA’S DICTATORSHIP HAS LONG BEEN A THREAT TO AMERICA. NOW, IT’S FINALLY TEETERING
President Donald Trump’s administration has maintained that certain U.S. sanctions target businesses tied to Cuba's military, including Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), a conglomerate controlled by the Cuban armed forces.
According to reports, GAESA is worth over $14.5 billion and oversees 37% of the country's gross domestic product.
"That's not sanctions on the Cuban people. The Cuban people don't benefit from GAESA," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.