Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday outlined plans to protest President Barack Obama's move to thaw diplomatic relations with Cuba by blocking funding for an embassy there and preventing a vote on any potential Cuban ambassador. The Florida Republican has emerged as one of the fiercest critics of Obama's policy shift toward Cuba, which the President announced Wednesday as the two nations released political prisoners as an act of goodwill. Rubio told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that, contrary to Obama's assertion expanding relations and easing sanctions will help improve conditions for Cuba's citizens, the move will simply make Cuba's communist government "a permanent fixture forever."
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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio vowed to block any U.S. ambassador to Cuba from getting a vote
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Rubio also pledged to prevent the Obama administration from receiving any money for building an embassy in the island nation
Castro said Obama deserves "respect and recognition" for the move, and said that Cuba "[reaffirms] our willingness to dialogue" on various issues of dispute with the @placeholder