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The Republican National Committee warned Wednesday that the Democratic Socialists of America’s online tribute to Fidel Castro would damage Democrats in November after the group praised the late Cuban dictator and demanded U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s prosecution over the Trump administration’s Cuba pressure campaign.
“Democrats are openly embracing the same policies that left the people of Venezuela, Cuba, and China with empty shelves, no electricity, and their freedoms stripped away,” national press secretary Natalie Baldassarre told Fox News Digital. “Their embrace of this poisonous ideology is political suicide and it will be their downfall in November.”
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, condemned Castro’s legacy in a post on X last Thursday, the centenary of Castro’s death. He did not mention the DSA by name.
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“Fidel Castro was a complete failure at everything except destroying Cuba and impoverishing, jailing and murdering his own people,” Rubio said.
“I strongly suggest that anyone tempted to try and follow his example should carefully reconsider, because if they do they would be dooming themselves to failure as well,” he added.
The DSA statement described Castro, who ruled Cuba for nearly half a century after the 1959 revolution, as a model of anti-imperialist resistance.
“Fidel was an organizer, a fighter, and endures as a stalwart symbol of anti-imperialist struggle and self-determination for the Global South,” the organization said.
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The DSA said U.S. restrictions had blocked critical resources from reaching Cuban civilians and constituted genocide under Rubio’s leadership.
“By intentionally imposing conditions calculated to kill a civilian population, Marco Rubio is leading a genocide,” the organization said.
The group demanded an end to what it called a U.S. blockade and threats of military action, normalized relations, reparations for what it claimed were trillions of dollars in damage and Rubio’s prosecution for crimes against humanity.
The White House rejected DSA’s characterization of Rubio’s Cuba policy and blamed Cuba’s communist government for the island’s economic hardships and human rights abuses. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital Wednesday that the administration was prepared to pursue a new relationship with Havana.
“The Cuban regime exemplifies everything that’s wrong with Communism as its population suffers from food shortages, blackouts, poor standards of living, and egregious human rights abuses,” Kelly said. “Secretary Rubio wants a better future for the Cuban people, and the United States is ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our two countries. The only thing standing in the way are those who control Cuba for their own gain.”
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The administration’s pressure campaign expanded in June when Rubio designated five entities that he said generated revenue for Havana, including three associated with the military-controlled conglomerate GAESA, as well as a member of Castro’s extended family. The action followed a May executive order authorizing sanctions against those deemed responsible for repression in Cuba or threats to U.S. security.
A State Department report released last month called Cuba the “capital of 21st century communism” and named DSA among organizations it alleged helped sustain pro-Cuba activism in the United States. DSA rejected the report three days before its tribute, saying it organized independently of the Cuban government and accusing the administration of trying to silence its movement.
Castro died in 2016 at age 90, 10 years after illness led him to hand power to his brother Raúl.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DSA for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
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