The Vice President: Hello, Miami!
(Applause.)
What a great day.
Governor Scott, Senator Rubio, Congressman
Diaz-Balart, Congressman Curbelo, Secretary Acosta,
Secretary Perdue, Secretary Ross,
distinguished members of the Cuban-American
community, honored guests, my fellow Americans,
welcome to history!
(Applause.)
Welcome to a historic day, a day when
America will renew our commitment to the ideal of
freedom in this hemisphere, a day when the
world will witness America once again standing in
solidarity with the people of Cuba thanks to the
strong and unwavering leadership of President
Donald Trump.
(Applause.)
It is the greatest privilege of my
life to serve as Vice President to President
Donald Trump -- a man of his word, a man of action,
and a President who stands without apology as leader
of the free world.
(Applause.)
Since the hour of our nation's
birth, the United States has stood for the
proposition that all are created equal, that we are
endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable
rights -- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
(Applause.)
As Americans we believe these rights
belong to the entire human family.
But for 58 years the people of Cuba have
labored under a repressive regime that has stifled
their liberty and with it, their future.
For generations, the sons and daughters of Cuba have
come to our shores in search of the freedom that
their friends and family at home are denied.
But while you came to the land of the free, you
never forgot home.
You raised your voices through the generations to
demand that Cuba be free once more -- and once
again, you have a President who hears you
and is with you.
(Applause.)
Today, President Donald Trump
will make it clear that America is with you, that
America stands with the persecuted, the oppressed,
and the exploited in Cuba -- that this nation stands
not with tyrants, but today, President Donald
Trump will make it clear that the United States of
America stands with the courageous men and women
of Cuba who seek to reclaim their God-given
rights to life and liberty.
(Applause.)
Today, under the leadership of
President Donald Trump America, will say once
again with one voice -- Que Viva Cuba Libre --
Cuba Si, Castro No.
(Applause.)
Audience: Cuba Si, Castro No, Cuba
Si, Castro No, Cuba Si, Castro No!
The Vice President: So With gratitude for his
leadership, and with admiration for his
unwavering dedication to freedom, it is now my high
honor and distinct privilege to introduce to
you my friend, the President of the United
States of America, President Donald Trump.
(Applause.)
The President: Thank you, everybody.
Thank you very much.
Great honor.
And thank you to my truly great friend, Vice
President Mike Pence -- he's terrific.
(Applause.)
And thank you to Miami.
We love Miami.
Let me start by saying that I'm glad Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson and I, along with a very talented
team, were able to get Otto Warmbier back with
his parents.
(Applause.)
What's happened to him is a truly
terrible thing, but at least the ones who love
him so much can now take care of him and be with him.
Also, my dear friend, Steve Scalise, took a
bullet for all of us.
And because of him, and the tremendous pain and
suffering he's now enduring -- he's having a
hard time, far worse than anybody thought -- our
country will perhaps become closer, more unified.
So important.
So we all owe Steve a big, big thank you.
And let's keep the Warmbier family, and the
Scalise family, and all of the victims of the
congressional shooting, in our hearts and prayers.
And it was quite a day and our police officers were
incredible, weren't they?
They did a great job.
(Applause.)
And let us all pray for a future of
peace, unity and safety for all of our people.
(Applause.)
Thank you.
And for Cuba.
I am so thrilled to be back here with all of my
friends in Little Havana.
(Applause.)
I love it.
I love this city.
Audience Member: We love you!
The President: Thank you.
Thank you.
This is an amazing community, the
Cuban-American community -- so much love.
I saw that immediately.
Audience Member: We love you!
The President: Thank you, darling.
Oh do I love you, too.
(Applause.)
What you have built here -- a vibrant
culture, a thriving neighborhood, the spirit
of adventure -- is a testament to what a free
Cuba could be.
And with God's help, a free Cuba is what we will
soon achieve.
(Applause.)
Audience: USA! USA! USA!
The President: And I don't even mind that it is 110
degrees up here.
(Laughter.)
This room is packed.
You know, it wasn't designed for this.
I would like to thank the fire department.
(Laughter.)
We are delighted to be joined by
so many friends and leaders of our great community.
I want to express our deep gratitude to a man who has
really become a friend of mine -- and I want to tell
you, he is one tough competitor -- Senator
Marco Rubio.
(Applause.)
Great guy.
(Applause.)
He is tough, man. He
is tough and he's good, and he loves you.
He loves you.
And I listened to another friend of mine,
Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart --
(applause)
-- and I'll tell you, I loved what he said, and I
appreciate it.
Mario, I appreciated what you said so much.
In fact I was looking for Mario.
I wanted to find him -- they said he was onstage.
I almost dragged him off the stage to thank him,
but now I'm thanking you anyway.
Thank you, Mario.
That was great.
Really appreciate it.
And I also want to thank my good friend, and just a
man who was of tremendous support in the state of
Florida, for being with us -- Governor Rick Scott.
(Applause.)
Great job.
He's doing a great job.
I hope he runs for the Senate.
I know I'm not supposed to say that.
I hope he runs for the Senate.
Rick, are you running?
(Applause.)
I don't know.
Marco, let's go, come on.
We got to get him to -- I hope he runs for the Senate.
We are deeply honored to be joined by amazing
Veterans of the Bay of Pigs.
(Applause.)
These are great people, amazing people.
(Applause.)
I have wonderful memories from
our visit during the campaign.
That was some visit.
That was right before the election.
I guess it worked, right?
Boy, Florida, as a whole, and this community
supported us by tremendous margins.
We appreciate it.
But including one of the big honors, and that was
the honor of getting the Bay of Pigs award just
before the election, and it's great to be gathered
in a place named for a true hero of the Cuban people.
And you know what that means.
(Applause.)
I was also looking forward to
welcoming today two people who are not present --
José Daniel Ferrer and Berta Soler --
(applause)
-- were both prevented from leaving Cuba for this event.
So we acknowledge them.
They're great friends -- great help.
And although they could not be with us, we are
with them 100 percent.
(Applause.)
We are with them. Right?
Finally, I want to recognize everyone in the
audience who has their own painful but important
story to tell about the true and brutal nature of
the Castro regime.
Brutal.
We thank the dissidents, the exiles, and the
children of Operation Peter Pan --
you know what that means --
(applause)
-- and all who gather in the cafes, churches, and
the streets in this
incredible area and city to speak the truth and to
stand for justice.
(Applause.)
And we want to thank you all for being
a voice for the voiceless.
There are people -- it's voiceless, but you are
making up the difference, and we all want to thank you.
This group is amazing.
Just an incredible -- you are an incredible group of
talented, passionate people.
Thank you.
Incredible group of people.
Many of you witnessed terrible crimes committed
in service of a depraved ideology.
You saw the dreams of generations held by
captive, and just, literally, you look at
what happened and what communism has done.
You knew faces that disappeared, innocents
locked in prisons, and believers persecuted for
preaching the word of God.
You watched the Women in White bruised, bloodied,
and captured on their way from Mass.
You have heard the chilling cries of loved
ones, or the cracks of firing squads piercing
through the ocean breeze.
Not a good sound.
Among the courageous Cuban dissidents with us onstage
here today are Cary Roque, who was imprisoned by the
Castro regime 15 years ago.
(Applause.)
She looks awfully good.
Ms. Roque: Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
Thank you, Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart.
Thank you to all the men and the Cubans who fight
no matter what -- for the Cuban liberty.
Mr. President, on behalf of the Cuban people, the
people inside my eyes, my homeland, thank you.
Thank you, and we appreciate your love.
(Applause.)
The President: Thank you.
Wow.
That's pretty good.
She didn't know she was going to do that either, I
will tell you.
Thank you very much.
Antunez, imprisoned for 17 years.
Where is he?
(Applause.)
I love that name.
Antunez -- I love that name --and Angel De Fana,
imprisoned for over 20 years.
(Applause.)
Thank you.
Very brave people.
The exiles and dissidents here today have witnessed
communism destroy a nation, just as communism
has destroyed every single nation where it has ever
been tried.
(Applause.)
But we will not be silent in the face
of communist oppression any longer.
You have seen the truth, you have spoken the truth,
and the truth has now called us -- this group --
called us to action.
Thank you.
Last year, I promised to be a voice against
repression in our region -- remember, tremendous
oppression -- and a voice for the freedom of the
Cuban people.
You heard that pledge.
You exercised the right you have to vote.
You went out and you voted.
And here I am like I promised -- like I promised.
(Applause.)
I promised you -- I keep my promises.
Sometimes in politics, they take a little bit
longer, but we get there.
We get there.
Don't we get there?
You better believe it, Mike.
We get there.
(Laughter.)
Thank you.
No, we keep our promise.
And now that I am your President, America will
expose the crimes of the Castro regime and stand
with the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom.
Because we know it is best for America to have
freedom in our hemisphere, whether in Cuba or
Venezuela, and to have a future where the people of
each country can live out their own dreams.
(Applause.)
For nearly six decades, the Cuban people
have suffered under communist domination.
To this day, Cuba is ruled by the same people who
killed tens of thousands of their own citizens, who
sought to spread their repressive and failed
ideology throughout our hemisphere, and who once
tried to host enemy nuclear weapons 90 miles
from our shores.
The Castro regime has shipped arms to North
Korea and fueled chaos in Venezuela.
While imprisoning innocents, it has harbored
cop killers, hijackers, and terrorists.
It has supported human trafficking, forced labor,
and exploitation all around the globe.
This is the simple truth of the Castro regime.
(Applause.)
My administration will not
hide from it, excuse it, or glamorize it.
And we will never, ever be blind to it.
We know what's going on and we remember what happened.
(Applause.)
On my recent trip overseas, I said the
United States is adopting a principled realism,
rooted in our values, shared interests,
and common sense.
I also said countries should take greater
responsibility for creating stability in
their own regions.
It's hard to think of a policy that makes less
sense than the prior administration's terrible
and misguided deal with the Castro regime.
(Applause.)
Well, you have to say, the Iran deal was
pretty bad also.
Let's not forget that beauty.
They made a deal with a government that spreads
violence and instability in the region and nothing
they got -- think of it -- nothing they got -- they
fought for everything and we just didn't
fight hard enough.
But now those days are over.
Now we hold the cards.
We now hold the cards.
(Applause.)
The previous administration's easing of
restrictions on travel and trade does not help the
Cuban people -- they only enrich the Cuban regime.
(Applause.)
The profits from investment and
tourism flow directly to the military.
The regime takes the money and owns the industry.
The outcome of the last administration's executive
action has been only more repression and a move to
crush the peaceful, democratic movement.
Therefore, effective immediately, I am
canceling the last administration's
completely one-sided deal with Cuba.
(Applause.)
Audience: Trump! Trump! Trump!
The President: I am announcing today a new
policy, just as I promised during the campaign, and I
will be signing that contract right at that
table in just a moment.
(Applause.)
Our policy will seek a much better
deal for the Cuban people and for the United States
of America.
We do not want U.S.
dollars to prop up a military monopoly that
exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba.
Our new policy begins with strictly enforcing U.S. law.
(Applause.)
We will not lift sanctions on the
Cuban regime until all political prisoners are
freed, freedoms of assembly and expression
are respected, all political parties are
legalized, and free and internationally supervised
elections are scheduled.
Elections.
(Applause.)
We will very strongly restrict American
dollars flowing to the military, security and
intelligence services that are the core of Castro regime.
They will be restricted.
We will enforce the ban on tourism.
We will enforce the embargo.
We will take concrete steps to ensure that
investments flow directly to the people, so they can
open private businesses and begin to build their
country's great, great future -- a country of
great potential.
(Applause.)
My action today bypasses the
military and the government, to help the
Cuban people themselves form businesses and pursue
much better lives.
We will keep in place the safeguards to prevent
Cubans from risking their lives to unlawful travel
to the United States.
They are in such danger the way they have to come
to this country, and we are going to be
safeguarding those people.
We have to.
We have no choice.
We have to.
(Applause.)
And we will work for the day when a
new generation of leaders brings this long reign of
suffering to an end.
And I do believe that end is in the very near future.
(Applause.)
We challenge Cuba to come to the table
with a new agreement that is in the best interests
of both their people and our people and also of
Cuban Americans.
To the Cuban government, I say: Put an end to the
abuse of dissidents.
Release the political prisoners.
Stop jailing innocent people.
Open yourselves to political and economic freedoms.
Return the fugitives from American justice --
including the return of the cop-killer
Joanne Chesimard.
(Applause.)
And finally, hand over the Cuban
military criminals who shot down and killed four
brave members of Brothers to the Rescue who were in
unarmed, small, slow civilian planes.
(Applause.)
Those victims included Mario de la Pena,
Jr., and Carlos Costa.
We are honored to be joined by Mario's parents,
Miriam and Mario, and Carlos's sister, Mirta.
Where are you?
(Applause.)
Those are great, great parents who
love their children so much.
What they've done is just an incredible, incredible
thing -- what they represent -- they did not
die in vain -- what they represent to everybody,
and especially to the Cuban people.
So your children did not die in vain, believe me.
(Applause.)
So to the Castro regime, I repeat:
The harboring of criminals and fugitives will end.
You have no choice.
It will end.
(Applause.)
Any changes to the relationship
between the United States and Cuba will depend on
real progress toward these and the other goals, many
of which I've described.
When Cuba is ready to take concrete steps to these
ends, we will be ready, willing, and able to come
to the table to negotiate that much better deal for
Cubans, for Americans.
Much better deal and a deal that's fair.
A deal that's fair and a deal that makes sense.
Our embassy remains open in the hope that our
countries can forge a much stronger and better path.
America believes that free, independent, and
sovereign nations are the best vehicle for human
happiness, for health, for education, for safety,
for everything.
We all accept that all nations have the right to
chart their own paths -- and I'm certainly a very
big believer in that -- so we will respect
Cuban sovereignty.
But we will never turn our backs on the Cuban people.
That will not happen.
(Applause.)
Over the years, a special sympathy
has grown between this land of the free, and the
beautiful people of that island, so close to our
shores and so deeply woven into the history
of our region.
America has rejected the Cuban people's oppressors.
They are rejected.
Officially today, they are rejected.
(Applause.)
And to those people, America has become
a source of strength, and our flag a symbol of hope.
I know that is exactly what America is to you and
what it represents to you.
It represents the same to me.
It represents the same to all of us.
And that is what it was to a little boy, Luis Haza.
You ever hear of Luis?
He became very famous, great talent -- just eight
years old when Fidel Castro seized power.
At the time, Luis's father was the police chief in
Santiago de Cuba.
You know Santiago?
Yeah?
Oh, they know Santiago.
Just days after Fidel took control, his father was
one of 71 Cubans executed by firing squad near San
Juan Hill at the hands of the Castro regime.
Luis buried his grief in his great love of music.
He began playing the violin so brilliantly and
so beautifully.
Soon the regime saw his incredible gift and wanted
to use him for propaganda purposes.
When he was 12, they organized a national
television special and demanded he play a solo
for Raul Castro -- who by the way is leaving now.
I wonder why.
They sent an official to fetch Luis from his home.
But Luis refused to go.
And a few days later, Castro's soldiers barged
into his orchestra practice area,
guns blazing.
They told him to play for them.
Terrified, Luis began to play.
And the entire room was stunned by what they heard.
Ringing out from the trembling boy's violin was
a tune they all recognized.
This young Cuban boy was playing "The Star Spangled Banner."
(Applause.)
Luis played the American National
Anthem all the way through, and when he
finished, the room was dead silent.
When we say that America stands as a symbol to the
world -- a symbol of freedom, and a symbol of
hope -- that is what Luis meant, and that is what
Luis displayed that day.
It was a big day.
It was a great day.
And that is what we will all remain.
That was a very important moment, just like
this is now, for Cuba.
A very important moment.
(Applause.)
America will always stand for liberty,
and America will always pray and cheer for the
freedom of the Cuban people.
Now, that little boy, whose story I just told
you, the one who played that violin so beautifully
so many years ago, is here with us today in our very,
very packed and extremely warm auditorium.
(Laughter.)
Of course, he is no longer a little boy,
but a world-renowned violinist and conductor --
one of the greats.
And today he will once again play his violin and
fill the hearts of all who love and cherish Cuba, the
United States, and freedom.
(Applause.)
I would like to now invite Luis to the stage.
Luis.
(Applause.)
(Luis Haza plays The Star-Spangled Banner on the violin.)
Audience: USA!
USA!
(Applause.)
The President: Thank you, Luis.
I just said, so where were you more nervous?
Today or then?
He said, honestly, I think today.
That's pretty --
(laughter.)
Thank you, Luis, that was beautiful.
So I want to thank Miami.
I want to thank Little Havana.
Havana, we love.
Do we love it?
Would you move anywhere else?
You wouldn't move to Palm Beach, would you?
No.
No way.
Little Havana.
And I want to thank all of our great friends here today.
You've been amazing, loyal, beautiful people.
And thank you.
Don't remind me.
Actually, I was telling Mike, so it was two days
-- on my birthday -- until a big day, which turned
out to be tomorrow -- the 16th.
That was the day I came down with Melania on the
escalator at Trump Tower.
That's tomorrow.
(Applause.)
So it's exactly tomorrow -- two
years since we announced.
And it worked out okay.
Worked out okay.
(Applause.)
It's a great honor.
Believe me, it's a great honor.
Right?
Audience: (Sings Happy Birthday.)
The President: Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I just want to end by saying may God bless
everyone searching for freedom.
May God bless Cuba.
May God bless the United States of America.
And God bless you all.
Thank you.
Now I'm going to sign.
Thank you.
So this says, "strengthening the policy
of the United States toward Cuba." And I can
add, "strengthening a lot."
(Laughter.)
So this is very important, and you watch what's
going to happen.
Going to be a great day for Cuba.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)