U.S. Senator Marco Rubio yesterday appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.†He said that while the death of Fidel Castro is a “historical milestone”, it won’t impact the day-to-day operations of the Cuban government.
“… practically, since about 2006, Fidel Castro has not run the day to day affairs of Cuba,†said Rubio.
“So he’s kind of been around, you know, as a figure behind the scenes, writing articles and columns and perhaps influencing and acting as the conscious of the revolution, even though he himself has no conscious. But the bottom line is that, as far as the practical day to day affairs, that transition happened about a decade ago. And so is his death is an historical milestone. And I imagine a psychological one for a lot of people, but from a practical standpoint, Cuba today is governed exactly the same way as it was 48 hours ago.â€
On Raul Castro, who has governed the past decade, Rubio said, “His number one interest is to make permanent this system of government. Because they have an extended family and friends who depend on the system of government for their livelihood. They want this system of government to become a permanent and accepted way to govern an island nation. And that’s what their number one interest is right now.”
Senator Rubio reaffirmed his statement that his priority for this next year, and for President-elect Donald Trump, is to reverse “President Obama’s one-sided concessions to the Castro regime.â€
