Florida Rep. David Rivera has upped the ante again on pandering politics. The Miami Republican who nearly succeeded in imposing exorbitant fees on travel agents booking flights to Cuba two years ago is back at it.
This time the man who hopes to replace Cuban hard-line U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart in Congress has proposed an export gambit. He wants Florida to ban the distribution of its “certificate of free sale” on goods headed to Cuba. It’s not that much, but it’s symbolic. While “No certified ham croquettes for Cuba!” won’t become a memorable rallying cry, it will doubtless be politically helpful in a congressional district with lots of Cuban-Americans.
By way of an explanation other than political self-interest, Rivera cites the federal government’s incongruous list of those countries it accuses of sponsoring terrorism. Cuba is still implausibly lumped in with the likes of Iran and Sudan.
Or maybe Rivera knows more than he can let on. Indeed, if Cuba does have ties to Hamas and Hezbollah, it sure in hell shouldn’t get certified croquettes from Florida.