Miami leaders strongly criticize airport security tour provided to Cuban officials

Miami-Dade County issued a rebuke and demanded an apology from the Biden administration after the State Department permitted Cuban government officials to tour Transportation Security Administration (TSA) facilities at Miami International Airport (MIA), Axios reported on Tuesday.

“As a Cuban American and native Miamian, I’m appalled that this took place,” MIA director Ralph Cutié said at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

Cutié mentioned that the federal agencies did not inform him or Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava about the State Department tour, which provided Cuban officials access to secure areas at MIA for five hours.

Levine Cava, a Democrat, mentioned that her office contacted the Department of Homeland Security to demand answers and request county involvement in “any future decisions regarding granting access to MIA facilities to foreign government officials,” Axios reported.

Cutié mentioned at the meeting that five Cuban officials from the transportation department were granted access to inspect a TSA checkpoint and baggage-screening area at the airport.

The County Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to condemn the TSA for the tour, as well as President Joe Biden for removing Cuba from a list of countries the U.S. says are “not cooperating fully” in anti-terrorism efforts.

The federal government considers Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, but Biden’s move was seen as an attempt to bolster relations with the Communist nation.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, both Republicans, harshly criticized the Biden administration for permitting the tour.

“Only under the Biden administration would they allow a terrorist regime into our secure facilities at one of the busiest airports in America,” Rubio wrote in a statement.

Gimenez, who was previously mayor of Miami-Dade County, called it a “slap in the face” to the Cuban exile community, with Miami making up the largest Cuban diaspora in the United States.

Cuban-American members of the County Commission said it was no coincidence that the tour was planned for Cuba’s Independence Day, with Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera saying Havana “played” both the TSA administration and the State Department.

Commissioner Raquel Regalado added that “the fact that they did it on the day that they did it, just proves that it was done to be hurtful and to make a point and to try to hurt the Cuban community.”