GOP lawmakers announce resolution condemning Cuban regime, ambassador visit to Tampa

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Florida Republicans announced a resolution Monday condemning the Cuban regime and the recent visit of a Cuban ambassador to Tampa. 

Earlier this month in Tampa, a group of Cuban dissidents protested inside the upscale Mise en Place restaurant, preventing Cuban Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera from meeting with a group of business officials and local politicians.

Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, was joined by several Florida Republican lawmakers including Rep. Danny Alvarez, R-Tampa, who called the ambassador’s Tampa visit “disgusting.”

“I don’t know anybody that believes that meeting with someone who represents one of the five sponsors of terror, one of the people that we are watching as a United States and say it’s okay to meet with them as an elected official,” said Alvarez.

Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, spoke at the press conference and called the Cuban government a “tyrannical regime 90 miles away from our shore.”

“We want to make something very crystal clear, that here in the free state of Florida, we are no friend of the communists in Cuba. Nor will we accept those who role out the red carpet for their henchmen,” Jacques said.

Also in attendance was Roberto Pizano, a former Cuban political prisoner of 18 years and one of those among the protestors that disrupted the Cuban ambassador’s Tampa dinner.

Pizano delivered impassioned remarks urging a tougher stance on Cuba.

“I am not asking for anything new. Simply that the measures and laws that we have on the books be implemented,” said Pizano. “Do not help a tyranny and oppressive dictatorship. That is the only request.”

Others lawmakers in support of the resolution include Republicans Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral, Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami, Sen. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah Gardens, and Rep. Karen Gonzalez-Pittman of Tampa.