Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) opposes President Barack Obama’s plans to establish a U.S. embassy in Cuba.
In a statement on Wednesday, Bush, who recently took steps toward running for president in 2016, called the move a “foreign policy misstep” that “undermines America’s credibility.”
Read the full statement below:
The Obama administration’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba is the latest foreign policy misstep by this President, and another dramatic overreach of his executive authority. It undermines America’s credibility and undermines the quest for a free and Democratic Cuba.
The benefactors of President Obama’s ill-advised move will be the heinous Castro brothers who have oppressed the Cuban people for decades.
I am delighted that Alan Gross has been released. It will be a joy and relief for his wife and family to have him home this Hanukkah season. He is innocent and should never have been in prison in the first place, nor spent five long years there as he suffere din poor health. It is, however, unfortunate that the United States chose to release three convicted spies.
Cuba is a dictatorship with a disastrous human rights record, and now President Obama has rewarded those dictators. We should instead be fostering efforts that will truly lead to the fair, legitimate democracy that will ultimately prevail in Cuba.
(H/t: Alex Leary)
