South Florida congressmen asks U.S. to suspend flights, remittances to Cuba

South Florida Congressman Carlos Gimenez announced Thursday that he plans to request that the Trump administration suspend all flights to Cuba and remittances to the island as part of a series of measures against the Cuban regime, which he described in Spanish as “a cancer in our hemisphere.”

Among other steps, Gimenez stated he would urge the government of Mexico, led by President Claudia Sheinbaum, to stop supplying oil to Cuba.

The announcement was made alongside Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, who expressed his support for Gimenez’s statements.

“The Cuban regime has never been as weak as it is now,” Díaz-Balart said in Spanish.

He mentioned that there are additional measures that the U.S. could take to apply pressure to the regime and affirmed that “those measures will be taken.”

“The solution is not to prolong the regime; it is to eliminate these dictatorships,” he added.

He also dedicated words to the Cuban exile community “for keeping this cause alive” and to the Cuban people “who suffer so much and have endured so much.”

He acknowledged that difficult times lie ahead, but explained that these actions are taken “for one reason: so that [the Cuban people] can live with dignity and freedom, and dignity and freedom mean prosperity.”

“We have never been this close to freedom for Cuba,” added Díaz-Balart.

Present at the press conference were members of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, organizations representing the Cuban exile community, local elected officials, and community activists, all supporting the actions announced against the Cuban regime.

This story was translated from Spanish with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool. An NBC6 digital editor reviewed the translation.