MIAMI, United States. – Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio (Republican of Florida) asked this Tuesday to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI, for its acronym in English) to review the activities in the United States of the pro-Castro group Puentes de Amor.
Rubio requested the investigation in a letter sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray following the demonstration carried out this Sunday by Puentes de Amor in the city of Coral Gables.
In his letter, Rubio said that members of Puentes de Amor “act as unregistered foreign agents of the Cuban dictatorship in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).”
“Puentes de Amor held a demonstration in Coral Gables, Florida, as part of a coordinated effort by the Cuban regime to sow division, incite conflict, and influence US foreign policy. The group also raised flags of Castro’s July 26 movement, openly in support of the Cuban Revolution that led to the communist dictatorship that is still in force on the island today,” Rubio asserted.
“Consistent with the oft-cited efforts of the US Department of Justice, FARA increases transparency in our democratic system by revealing individuals and entities involved in foreign influence activities. As such, I respectfully request an immediate investigation into Puentes de Amor, its members and activities”, also reads the letter sent to the director of the FBI.
This Sunday, Cuban exiles opposed the demonstration orchestrated by Puentes de Amor and its leader, the Cuban-American professor Carlos Lazo.
The mobilizations of both groups coincided in Coral Gables, generating a verbal confrontation between sides. During the protest, representatives of the Cuban exile community burned a flag of the July 26 Movement, a banner carried by the defenders of Castroism.
The purpose of the Puentes de Amor demonstration was to demand that the United States government end the embargo against the Cuban regime, while anti-Castro exiles accused those led by Carlos Lazo of defending the interests of the dictatorship and demanded the release of the prisoners. politicians on the island.
The propaganda of the Cuban regime echoed the event, assuring that the exiles, whom they described as “haters”, “incited violence against the caravan”.
The confrontation between the two sides forced the intervention of police officers, who removed representatives of exile in Miami from the scene.
“The fat one was armed in Miami! Haters attack Miami police! Haters arrested for inciting violence against peaceful Puentes de Amor protesters,” Carlos Lazo wrote on his Facebook profile.
Likewise, the pro-Castro activist denounced being harassed for defending the interests of the Cuban family.
“They call us terrorists for bringing medicine and powdered milk to Cuba for children and the elderly, they call us terrorists for being in favor of family reunification and trips to Cuba, and we are in favor of bridges of love,” said Carlos Lasso during the making of the caravan.
The demonstration by the group Puentes de Amor was part of an international day promoted from Havana to demand the lifting of the embargo imposed by the United States.
According to the Cuban state press, the day included a tweet with the hashtags #EliminaElBloqueo #UnblockCuba and #PuentesDeAmor to demand the end of the unilateral coercive policy and request that both parties advance along the path of understanding.
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