The brutal regime in Cuba is collapsing in real time. Its economy is in free fall, its people are starving and its communist dictatorship is running out of money, fuel and legitimacy. After more than six decades of repression, the regime is weaker today than at any point in my lifetime — and I know that personally. I lived under it. I fled it. And today, I am the only Cuban-born member of the United States Congress.

This moment demands clarity and resolve from the United States. We are closer than ever to ending the tyranny in Havana, but only if we act decisively and refuse to repeat the failed policies of the past.

The situation on the island is dire by every measure. Cuba faces severe shortages of food, medicine, electricity and fuel. Hospitals lack basic supplies. Power outages last for days. Families ration meals and struggle simply to survive.

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Make no mistake: this crisis is solely the responsibility of the regime. It is the inevitable result of socialism, corruption and decades of catastrophic mismanagement by a cynical dictatorship that prioritizes regime survival over human dignity.

For years, the regime survived by exporting repression and importing lifelines — Venezuelan oil, remittances, tourism dollars and shoddy business deals that funneled hard currency directly into the hands of the military and intelligence services. Those lifelines are finally being cut off.

Thanks to President Donald Trump’s decisive leadership and the aggressive enforcement of U.S. law — championed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — the regime is being hit where it hurts most: its ability to finance repression. Oil shipments are drying up. International partners are pulling back. Havana is running out of options.

That is exactly why this time is different.

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History teaches us that dictatorships do not reform when they are weak. They crack down harder. When faced with collapse, the Cuban regime does what it has always done: silence dissent, jail protesters, and search for new patrons abroad.

Increasingly, the Cuban regime’s new patron is Communist China.

Beijing has disturbingly expanded its intelligence and strategic footprint on the island, just 90 miles away from Florida, turning Cuba into a base of operations aimed directly at the United States. A collapsing dictatorship aligned with America’s greatest geopolitical adversary is not just a humanitarian tragedy — it is a serious national security threat.

The United States must not provide any lifeline to the Castro regime.

First, we must enforce existing law — fully and without exception. No licenses. No loopholes. No fake “humanitarian” carve-outs that enrich regime-controlled entities while ordinary Cubans see none of the benefit. President Obama pursued engagement. It failed — spectacularly.

Second, we must cut off any remaining financial flows that prop up the dictatorship, including remittances and travel mechanisms captured by the military’s business conglomerates. These funds do not empower the Cuban people; they empower their oppressors.

Sanctions do not hurt the Cuban people more than the regime already does. As history showed with South Africa, sustained pressure weakens dictatorships and accelerates FREEDOM.

Ronald Reagan once said that communism “is not a permanent condition. It will end because it is against human nature.” We saw that truth when the Berlin Wall fell — not because dictators suddenly reformed, but because FREEDOM proved much stronger than fear.

Cuba is approaching its Berlin Wall moment.

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I lost my homeland as a child. I was raised in Miami’s Cuban exile community — exceptional men and women who had everything stolen from them, yet built new lives in the greatest nation on Earth. We are deeply grateful to America, and unwavering in our belief that FREEDOM is worth fighting for. My community overwhelmingly backed President Trump because we know strength, not appeasement, is exactly what puts America First.

Finally, we must speak directly to the Cuban people: America stands with you — not with your jailers. Our goal is not chaos or suffering. It is FREEDOM.

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The communist regime is on its knees. This is not the time to blink. It’s time to finish the job — by enforcing the law, applying maximum pressure, and standing proudly on the side of FREEDOM.

President Trump, the time for a free Cuba is now.