A group of GOP House representatives have sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding to know why he gave an immigrant visa to a former leader in the Cuban Communist Party.
The letter was signed by Jim Jordan (R-Oh.), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fl.), Carlos Gimenez (R-Fl.), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fl.) and Tom McClintock (R-Ca.). The group is concerned with the status of Menendez Castellanos, and it demands a copy of his entire immigration record along with answers about why the “vetting” process in the Department of State did not seem to grasp that Castellanos was involved with the Cuban Castro regime.
The letter insists that Blinken respond by the end of the day on September 23.
Fidel Castro was the “revolutionary” Communist leader of the impoverished island until his death in 2008.
Castellanos previously worked directly under Fidel Castro and occupied several highly placed positions in offices of the Cuban Community Party. He came to the U.S. in August of this year after he secured a migrant visa from a program called the Cuban Family Reunification Parole,” which is run by the Department of Homeland Security. He was previously the First Secretary of the Communist Party in his city of Cienfuegos. The state-controlled press in Cuba has frequently called him an “honored guest” at Communist Party functions in reports over several decades.
Castellanos is believed to be living in Florida.
The letter from the GOP group also takes issue with what it calls the “lax” attitude toward border security by the Biden-Harris administration. The representatives wrote that all the state department needed to do was spend five minutes on the internet to confirm that Castellanos is a longtime Communist functionary. They called his admission to the United States “inexcusable.”
The authors made no bones about their view of the competency of the administration, saying the White House has a “continued desire to placate” Communist governments around the world at the expense of “American values.”
Cuban media is reporting that Castellanos first lied on his visa application, claiming he had never been affiliated with the Communist party.
