According to the latest reports, the Republican Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, will be the next U.S Secretary of State in Trump's administration. Born and raised in Miami, the epicenter of Cuban-American counterrevolutionary activity, Rubio's major political characteristics is his proven enmity towards socialist Cuba.
He was born in 1971 by Cuban immigrants who left the island before the triumph of the Revolution. While studying law, Rubio worked for the notorious Cuban-born Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Among others, Ros-Lehtinen has played a significant role in promoting and strengthening the U.S genocidal blockade against Cuba, while she lobbied for the release and pardon of counterrevolutionary terrorist Orlando Bosch who had been convicted of terrorist acts and has also been accused of involvement in the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455 which killed 73 people.
His political curriculum vitae includes friendship with the notorious Cuban-born terrorist and criminal Luis Posada Carriles, as well as close affiliation with Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), particularly known for his involvement in vicious imperialist plans against Cuba and Venezuela. Rubio's political contacts also include Juan Guaido, the U.S-supported far-right opposition leader in Venezuela who in 2019 was self-declared as... “interim President”.
Let us give two characteristic examples of the next U.S Secretary of State's rabid anti-communism and enmity against anything that can potentially challenge North American imperialism in the Western Hemisphere:
In November 2016, Rubio was among those “gusanos” in the United States who celebrated the biological death of Comandante Fidel Castro. In a disgusting statement, the Republican Senator called Fidel “a dictator” who, as he wrote, would be remembered “as an evil murderous dictator who inflicted misery and suffering on his own people”. Furthermore, he called the Congress to... “stand by the Cuban people against their brutal leaders and support their struggle for freedom and basic human rights”. Apparently, for political servants of the oppressive class like Rubio, who has dedicated his life in promoting the genocidal policies of U.S imperialism, Fidel Castro was “an evil dictator”. Marco Rubio is indeed a genuine an exemplary voice of all gusanos in the United States.
In 2018, Senator Rubio publicly suggested that an armed coup should take place in Venezuela, in order to remove social democratic President Nicolas Maduro. More specifically, Rubio has suggested that “the world would support the Armed Forces in Venezuela if they decide to protect the people & restore democracy by removing a dictator”. Regardless of someone's particular opinion on Maduro and his government, the audacity with which a U.S politician calls for a coup against a sovereign country is utterly disgusting and condemnable. A country rich in natural resources, Venezuela has been in the target of U.S imperialism for many decades and the attempts for its destabilization continue, both by Democratic and Republican administrations.
We must face the truth: The U.S foreign policy is shaped by the broader interests of American monopoly capital and isn't determined by the person who heads the State Department. Nonetheless, for the peoples of Latin America, the appointment of Marco Rubio in the position of the U.S Secretary of State consists an escalation in Washington's imperialist offensive in the region.
That is why the international solidarity movement towards socialist Cuba and the other countries of the American continent must be strengthened even more. Now, more than ever, the people of Cuba and Venezuela need our support, against the genocidal and subversive policies of the ruthless U.S imperialism.
* Nikos Mottas is the Editor-in-Chief of In Defense of Communism.
