Biden's Cuba bombshell shocks Florida Democrats

• In Florida — where Hispanics make up 19% of the voters — the issue of "socialism" turns off many people with roots in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Colombia, countries many of them escaped to avoid leftist violence or regimes.

What they're saying: "This is Joe Biden literally sinking the Democratic Party in the state of Florida. Big time," said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a moderate Florida Democrat, adding that South Florida congressional delegation members share his view.

• "Just as we try to patch the hole in the boat, Biden punches another hole in it," he said. "Florida is a red state, and Biden just waved the white flag of surrender."
• Conservative Hispanics have help propel Republicans to power in Florida, which Trump won in November with about 55% of the vote.
• Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried said in a statement she was "disappointed" in Biden's decision. A source who spoke with her said she was "blindsided" by it and was "enraged."

Zoom in: Biden's order came on the eve of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's first confirmation hearing Wednesday to be U.S. secretary of State.

• A Cuban-American and anti-Marxist hardliner, Rubio helped write Trump's Cuba sanctions in 2017. They're designed to keep U.S. dollars from financing Cuba's military apparatus, GAESA, which controls the country's major hotels and tourism industry.

A Biden spokesperson said the timing of the order and Rubio's confirmation hearing was "a coincidence."

• Biden's team said his order was part of a deal brokered by the Catholic Church in return for Cuba agreeing to release 553 political prisoners.

The other side: Trump's team doesn't believe the White House's explanation and said the departing president's decision has made Cuba a front-burner issue for the new Trump administration.

• "The Biden administration might see this as an 'F You' to Rubio, but we'll get the last laugh," said Mauricio Claver-Carone, a Rubio ally and Trump's incoming envoy to Latin America.
• Claver-Carone said Trump's administration probably won't just re-issue the sanctions, but instead will make them "bigger and harder, with broader effects than last time."

Between the lines: Rubio, Claver-Carone and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), Trump's incoming national security adviser, all believe Cuba acts as the Marxist human resources department for anti-U.S. governments in Latin America.

• In Venezuela, for example, Cuba's intelligence services have helped advise dictator Nicolas Maduro and keep him in power.

Florida broke significantly toward Republicans during Trump's unsuccessful reelection campaign in 2020, when he emphasized an anti-socialist message.

• That was particularly effective in Miami-Dade County, the state's largest county that once was a Democratic bastion and has the state's highest concentration of Hispanic voters.
• Trump won Miami-Dade by 11 percentage points in 2024. In his first campaign eight years earlier, he lost it by nearly 30 points.

• After Biden lost Florida to Trump in 2020, the Democrat's political operation began considering it a red state and began directing donor money to political activity elsewhere.

The fallout: Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, said in a statement after Biden's order that the U.S. needs to "hold the Cuban regime accountable." Other Florida Democrats were more harsh.

• Former state Sen. Annette Taddeo called Biden's decision a "slap in the face ... to the broader diaspora community in Miami-Dade and across our nation that have sadly been forced to flee dictatorship and violence."
• Political consultant Christian Ulvert said Biden's team "delivered a master class of what not to do," and should have emphasized "securing the release of 500 political prisoners in the final week of his presidency."
• "The timing of this is a Harvard textbook case of political malpractice by Biden," agreed John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a nonpartisan business group.
• "When you know the incoming administration has Marco Rubio, Mauricio Claver-Carone and Florida Cuban-American nominees for ambassadorships for Spain, Argentina and Panama, you don't rile them up. You keep things quiet."

On the other hand: Critics of U.S. policy in Cuba say six decades of sanctions haven't worked because the island's government is still run by Marxists.

• Fernand Amandi, a Democrat and Miami-based pollster, credited former President Obama for trying to normalize relations, and say Biden should get credit for trying to free "political prisoners of conscience."
• "If the Trump administration reimposes sanctions and Cuba doesn't release prisoners, that's on Trump," Amandi said. "Republicans have no problem weaponizing the trauma of the Cuban community for political gain."

This story has been updated with additional details on Biden's efforts on behalf of political prisoners.