Cuban-American Congressman Carlos Giménez asked the Trump administration this Thursday to eliminate remittances to Cuba and flights connecting the United States and the island, with the goal of further stifling the country’s economy.
In a letter published today, Giménez said that the economic, commercial and financial embargo that Washington has maintained against the island for more than 60 years is not enough.
The Florida Republican called for the elimination of all travel from the United States to Cuba, as well as the elimination of remittances from Americans to family or friends.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Giménez stated that the current Cuban government would come to an end if remittances are cut and any measures are taken to further tighten the economic siege that the United States has historically maintained against Cuba.
At the beginning of the letter, addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the congressman said that Cuba presents “a clear threat to the safety of the United States and our citizens.”
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Praise for Trump’s measures
He also praised the Trump administration for the decline in relations between the two countries and for reversing the Obama administration’s thaw policies, which he described as “disastrous appeasement.”
“We applaud and welcome the administration’s most recent policies to ban vessels arriving from Communist Cuba at U.S. ports, but more must be done,” he wrote in the document.
From his Twitter account, he stated that “President Trump has been the best ally the Cuban people have ever had, and now is the time to cut off all sources of income for [Cuba].”
Giménez urged Bessent to take “swift and decisive action in halting all travel to and from Communist Cuba and eliminate the flow of remittances to the island.”
The congressman used a phrase that has been repeated frequently in the White House regarding Cuba: “The time is now,” to refer to the United States’ interest in overthrowing the Cuban government.
“I have never sent one penny to Cuba”
“Many relatives in Miami and the United States try to help their relatives and friends [residing in Cuba] as much as possible, and want to visit them from time to time,” he told Fox News Digital, referring to Cuba as a threat to the United States. “But I’ve never gone – [until] a month ago in Guantánamo. I’ve never gone back to visit any family. I’ve never sent one penny to Cuba for anything during my time in the United States; over 60 years,” he added.
Giménez’s request follows one made last February by Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, who also advocated for restricting flights between the two countries.
“When people travel to Cuba, those close to the government, primarily the military, benefit,” he noted at the time.
At the time, CBS News Miami interviewed several Cuban-Americans traveling on a flight from Miami to Havana, who stated that these measures make life more difficult for their loved ones.
Carlos Giménez’s obsession with Cuba
Since arriving in Congress, Carlos Giménez’s policy has focused on preventing any rapprochement between Washington and Havana, and he has expressed his interest in overthrowing the Cuban government.
Last March, he sent another letter, this time to the Secretary of Homeland Security, in which he asserted the presence of “agents of the regime” in the United States and requested their deportation.
For the first time in 64 years, Giménez traveled to Cuba in early March to visit the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base.
On social media, he stated at the time that the territory illegally occupied by the United States in the eastern part of the country is “the only free part of Cuba.”
