Rep. Maria Salazar: Biden 'surrounded' by 'Marxists,' Cuba policy follows their 'instructions'

Amid a high-level Cuban diplomatic visit to the U.S. Thursday, Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) blasted the Biden administration for a naive approach to relations with the island nation's communist regime, a policy she said is shaped by neo-Marxists in the Democratic Party.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio met with U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday, in the highest-level talks between the two countries since Biden took office.

"[T]he Democratic administrations have this idea, or this illusion, that dealing with the Cubans and incorporating them or welcoming them into the international community and sitting them at the table is something that's going to make the Cubans behave better with the Cuban people," Salazar told the John Solomon Reports podcast on Thursday. "And that is not going to happen, and that has not happened."

Tthe Obama administration's restoration of diplomatic ties with Fidel Castro's Cuban communist regime illustrated the futily of this approach, she believes. "Obama was the one who proved that my mother and my ancestors were right when they said, 'You cannot negotiate with that devil,'" said Salazar, who is the daughter of Cuban refugees.

One of the concessions Cuba wants is for the U.S. to return to giving 20,000 visas a year to Cubans escaping the island because the regime does "not want to feed their people," she said. "They want Miami and New York to feed the Cubans, meaning that since they are such a failed state, they don't want that social pressure in Havana. They would rather export it to the United States."

State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday that the U.S.-Cuba talks were focused on the increase in migration from Cuba, AFP reported.

"Our broader policy is predicated on support for the Cuban people, support for their democratic aspirations," said Price. "There are migration elements of that, there's a family reunification element of that, but these talks are migration talks."

Salazar said that the Biden administration's stance on Cuba is shaped by Marxists in the Democratic Party.

"The problem is that the Democratic Party has been infiltrated by the neo-Marxists," the congresswoman remarked. "And the Marxists are atheists and are anti-Semitic. And they are not American, they're Marxist. And that's my fear. And those are the people that, unfortunately, are surrounding President Biden."

While Biden himself isn't a Marxist, "he is following their instructions," Salazar said. "We saw it today on Cuba, and we saw it in Venezuela."

"[T]he Democrats have used the Latino community, which is the largest minority in the country," Salazar said. "We're almost 23% of the population."

Republicans should be welcoming the Latino community into their party, as they're fleeing to the U.S. from countries led by corrupt politicians, she argued.

"[This] is the moment," she said, "to send that message to the browns and tell them: 'Hey, guys, welcome into the tent! Welcome into the party! Welcome home! You guys, you may not speak the language, you may not sound or look or smell like me. But you know, you are American, and you want to contribute, and, you know, you browns, you are not Marxist, you are not socialist, you want to enjoy the Promised Land.'"