Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sunday criticized President Obama and Pope Francis for their responses to the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro. He first went after Obama with a tweet on Saturday, calling Obama's statement "pathetic" because the president focused on improved U.S.-Cuba relations and said history will judge Castro's record rather than providing a critique of his own.
The Cuban-American senator doubled down on that point in a CNN interview Sunday morning, castigating Obama for failing to mention "the reality that there are thousands upon thousands of people who suffered brutally under the Castro regime. He executed people, he jailed people for 20 to 30 years, the Florida straits — there are thousands of people who lost their lives fleeing his dictatorship."
Rubio also registered his disagreement with Pope Francis' expression of sorrow over Castro's death, noting that as a practicing Catholic, he accepts Vatican authority on matters of theology, not politics. Watch his comments below. Bonnie Kristian
The Week
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