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“Gustavo Petro is a socialist and nothing that has to do with socialism is good. Neither democratic socialism, nor pragmatic socialism, nor sympathetic socialism. No socialism is good,” GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar told El American on Tuesday.
Outside the Capitol in Washington D.C., numerous congressmen held a press conference and spoke about the situation in Cuba, demanding the Biden administration to condemn the Castro dictatorship and support the Cuban people in their fight for liberty.
The congresswoman stated that she is asking the Biden administration one thing: to provide internet to Cuba. Salazar, who has become one of the most visible voices in the fight for the island’s freedom, affirms that the United States cannot send the wrong message to dictatorships such as the Castro regime and asks that Washington provide Internet to Cubans to help them free themselves from the regime.
Elvira Salazar knows Cuba and the region very well. During her long and renowned journalistic career she covered news in different parts of Latin America, and when asked about Colombia — as one of the countries suffering the threat of socialism — she was quick to talk about the danger posed by the socialist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro.
“Gustavo Petro wants Marxism and socialism, an ideological system that the only thing it brings is misery, oppression and in the end exile. There are many Colombian exiles in my district, no one wants to leave their country, everyone wants to live in Colombia, enjoy their farm, be with their people, that no one comes to take anything from you, nor that there is a guerrilla that threatens you,” said Salazar.
As the daughter of Cuban exiles, who knows very well the consequences of socialism, she took advantage of the conversation with El American to warn Colombians about the danger Petro represents.
“Latin America wants the same as the whole world: freedom, democracy, a market economy, that nobody comes to impose anything on you and much less a repressive bureaucrat who what he wants is to stay there for life, that is what happens in Cuba and that is what Petro wants to bring to Colombia.”
According to Salazar, one of Biden’s advisors claimed that the president “has no idea” who the socialist is. The presidential candidacy of Colombia’s Petro is a matter that the Republican considers dangerous, so she affirms that if the current U.S. president does not know who the former M-19 guerrilla militant is, she will give them the information.
Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editor-in-chief of El American. Economist. Podcaster. Political and economic analysis of America. Colombian exile in the United States // Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editora en jefe de El American. Economista. Podcaster. Análisis político y económico de América. Colombiana exiliada en EE. UU.