Things got absolutely crazy in the House of Representatives on Friday, November 21, when Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), a daughter of Cuban exiles who fled Cuba because of the communist Castro regime, went absolutely scorched earth on Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), whom she accused of supporting Castro and socialism.
As could be expected, Rep. Salazar’s no-holds-barred attack on Rep. Waters left the House in chaos and exploded on social media, with Republicans and Democrats bickering and arguing about Rep. Waters’ ties to the communist regime. The fight came in the context of the symbolic GOP vote denouncing socialism, which was intended as a rebuke of Mamdani.
In any case, Salazar began her takedown of Waters by saying, “If there is someone who has seen the horrors of socialism up close within the Democratic Party is in the House and is the honorable Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and I would love for you to support this resolution specifically because madam waters, for decades, you traveled to Cuba dozens of times to visit Fidel Castro, personally, whom you consider your friend.”
Continuing, she said, “Congresswoman Waters was in Havana, and she saw the destruction of biblical proportions that Castro cost on that island, [which], at the time in 1960, had the highest per capita income in the Western Hemisphere. At that time, Madam Waters knew that 1000s and 1000s of Cubans were escaping on a raft, exposing their lives and their children to be eaten by the sharks.”
Building on that with much the same point, she said, “She knew that Afro Cubans were being beaten on the streets of Havana, address the chair discriminated against by Fidel Castro, Mr. Speaker, and for that reason, I am bringing up all these facts because madam waters knew that the Cuban jails were full of political prisoners, and the Cubans did not have the same privileges that we are having right now speak freely at that time, Madam Waters never raised her voice to denounce the horrors of socialism, Mr. Speaker. For that reason, I am asking Madam Waters…”
Then, as she demanded that Rep. Waters change tacks in life and attack socialism, Rep. Waters interrupted and angrily insisted, “I move to take her words down.” That then led to a spat in the House as the chairman tried to get her to settle does, saying, “Order. House will be in order. The lady from California. For what purpose do you rise?”
That led to a further spat as Waters insisted, “I rise to take down her words.” Shutting it down, the chairman said, “Lady from Florida, please be seated.” He added, “I’d ask the clerk to please report the words.” Watch the entertaining spectacle here:
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Sounding off on Waters after the incident, Salazar posted on X, saying, “How ironic that Maxine Waters is the loudest opponent to my bill condemning socialism today. I know why: even after visiting Cuba several times and seeing Afro-Cubans tortured in the streets, she never condemned it. And now, following the playbook of the very regime she defends, she’s trying to censor me instead of exposing the truth. She should know better than anyone about the horrors of socialism, and that’s why I called her out directly to vote for my bill.”
Defending Rep. Salazar was Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who said, “My dear friend, colleague, & legislative sister @RepMariaSalazar is right to denounce the horrors of socialism. We won’t be silenced by Castro regime apologists like Maxine Waters, who for decades has justified repression against our people.”
Featured image credit: By Chad Davis from Minneapolis, United States – Maxine Waters – Daunte Wright Protest – Brooklyn Center April 18 2021, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103867244