Sen. Marco Rubio diminished the suffering of Cuban prisoners with Trump comparison | Opinion

Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, son of Cuban-born parents, went too far on Fox News Thursday night in comparing Donald Trump’s conviction to the horrific, open-air stadium trials ordered up by Fidel Castro to punish Fulgencio Batista officials and supporters in a post-1959 revolutionary Cuba.

Rubio was among a long line of Republicans who, after Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, shouted the party line that the U.S. legal system was weaponized against Trump to impact the November presidential elections. We get that Rubio is a possible vice-presidential candidate.

But leave the suffering and tragedy of the Cuban people, the horrors of the aftermath of the Revolution — and the reason Ernesto “Che” Guevara is so despised by exiles — out of it, Senator.

Don’t use it to appease Trump.

Here’s what Rubio said on Hannity:

“This is a quintessential show trial. This is what you see in communist countries. This is what I grew up having people in the [Cuban exile] community tell me about. It happened in the days after the Castro revolution. Obviously, those led to executions. This, on the other hand, is an effort to interfere in an election. “

Invoking such a loaded term as “show trial” and directly comparing our legal process to Cuba’s needlessly undermines public faith in the integrity of our justice system.

And there was more. Rubio posted on X a black-and-white clip of the televised trial of Jesus Sosa Blanco, a notorious Batista military officer. In the clip, one sees Sosa Blanco standing on a stage in the middle of a Havana sporting stadium, his accusers yelling and screaming for justice from the stands. “I’m in the Roman coliseum,” he was quoted as saying. It was borderline barbaric.

Sosa Blanco was executed on Feb. 18, 1959. He was one of the best known among the 500 Cubans Guevara is credited with sentencing to death in the months after the Revolution.

And, that resembles what happened to Trump in a New York courtroom?

After the verdict, Trump called a news conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Friday in which he spoke freely about his trial, even attacking the judge in his case. He’s vowed to appeal his conviction and, if he’s successful, he could even have it overturned.

Sosa Blanco and so many others in Cuba never had such rights.

Rubio represents many of the views of the conservative branch of Miami’s Cuban exile community, especially their anti-communist stance, but he lost his way here. A request for comment from his office was not answered as of Friday afternoon.

Rubio should apologize to the community and to every political prisoner thrown in a Cuban prison for his trivializing of the injustice they suffered. To compare that to the conviction of a former president found guilty of taking part in a scheme to pay off a porn star is an insult.

Trump might not serve any jail time, even though the charges he faced carry a sentence of up to four years of prison. Those thrown into the Cuba regime’s legal system are sentenced freely. Case in point: The recent 15-year sentencing of a young mother who posted videos of 2022 anti-government demonstrations on social media.

The “show trials” that occurred in Cuba were Roman-style executions. Trump’s trial was conducted by an impartial judge and jury in a court of law, applying centuries of legal precedent.

Rubio is free to disagree with the verdict. Still, the fact is that witnesses testified, evidence was presented from both sides, and the jury deliberated privately before reaching its decision — all hallmarks of a functioning justice system.

Try any of that in Cuba.

The regime’s military “show trials” were intended to intimidate and terrorize. Verdicts were decided in advance to send a message of fear, not justice. Executions often followed with no appeal or mercy. There are no equivalencies between these kangaroo courts and Trump’s trial.

As an elected leader, Rubio has a responsibility to choose his words carefully.

Ill-considered comparisons only undermine faith in the rule of law. Just ask any Cuban exiled in Miami.

This story was originally published May 31, 2024 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Sen. Marco Rubio diminished the suffering of Cuban prisoners with Trump comparison | Opinion."