Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) tore into Black Lives Matter's recent statement expressing support for Cuba's communist government over the protesters who have been asking for freedom from the regime.
In their statement, BLM blamed the current situation on the United States:
"Black Lives Matter condemns the U.S. federal government's inhumane treatment of Cubans, and urges it to immediately lift the economic embargo. This cruel and inhumane policy, instituted with the explicit intention of destabilizing the country and undermining Cubans' right to choose their own government, is at the heart of Cuba's current crisis."
Donalds was asked what he thought about BLM's statement on Fox News' "America Reports" during an interview on Thursday.
"Ridiculous. Asinine. That statement makes no sense at all. If you lift the sanctions on Cuba, what's going to happen is that the regime is going to be more empowered. They're going to have more economic ability to continue to suppress the people of Cuba. This is what happens in all totalitarian regimes. When you allow them to flourish in the world economy, they don’t pass that down to the people. They keep it for the powerful, the 1 percent to use the left’s language. The people that use that country and run that country," Donalds said.
"So we have to keep those sanctions in place. We have to keep pressure on that regime and frankly, we need to do more. And I find it ironic that BLM, love people protesting in the streets last year, but they don’t want to put blame where blame resides and that’s with the communist dictatorship in Cuba," he added.
Donalds noted Fidel Castro's revolution "was a murderous takeover of that country" and the island's inhabitants only "had an opportunity to do is flee on a raft, if possible, or leave their all possessions behind and come to the United States."
"Groups like Black Lives Matter that say they’re supporting human rights, they should be on the right side of this and supporting the Cuban people that want freedom and liberty on their island, in their country," Donalds concluded.