One member of the United States Senate is today the most influential member of the United States Congress with respect to Republic of Cuba-related issues: The Honorable Marco Rubio (R) of Florida.

He is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues of the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate. He is also a member of the Committee on Appropriations, Select Committee on Intelligence, and Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

As he prepares for an expected second opportunity to seek the nomination of the Republican Party to be its candidate for the presidency, and continues to seek to be an influential national voice within the Republican Party, he needs to view any impact to changes in United States policies and regulations relating to the Republic of Cuba upon the State of Florida in macro-terms rather than the micro-terms of a member of the House of Representatives who focuses upon one district within a state.

As a result, there is pragmatic distance between his public desire for substantial changes to United States policies and regulations relating to the Republic of Cuba and measured acceptance of changes to United States policies and regulations; with the measured acceptance being partially influenced by the interests of United States-based companies, specifically those operating (and employing) within the State of Florida, State of New York and State of Texas among others from which financial contributions will be sought. Link: List of United States Companies with A Presence in The Republic of Cuba

The Honorable Marco Rubio (R- Florida)
Washington Conference on the Americas
United States Department of State
Washington, DC

9 May 2017

Excerpts from Remarks:

“I hope that we will, in a strategic way, recalculate the concessions that have been made with the dictatorship in Cuba."

“I fear that too much time has been used to placate hostile governments.”

Video of Remarks

https://www.c-span.org/video/?428237-1/senator-marco-rubio-calls-renewed-focus-western-hemisphere

Blog Post Mentioning Senator Marco Rubio & Comments About The Republic Of Cuba

23 April 2017

http://www.cubatrade.org/blog/2017/4/23/senator-rubio-on-meet-the-press-shares-about-conversation-with-nsc-staff-was-cuba-on-the-agenda?rq=Marco%20Rubio

5 April 2017

http://www.cubatrade.org/blog/2017/4/5/from-politico-usda-secretary-nominee-confirmation-delayed-due-to-cuba?rq=Marco%20Rubio