More people die on a yearly basis crossing the Florida Straits than ever died trying to cross the Berlin Wall.
I'm have one of the most, if not the most, moderate voting records in Congress in the Florida delegation.
Scandals, corruption, partisan infighting - no wonder people have lost faith in Congress. I say enough is enough.
The last time the Diaz-Balarts were removed from power, it took a revolution, and we ended up with Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro had to sit there while he was given a speech on democracy, something the Cuban people have not been able to hear for 43 years.
I've been a loud voice as a Democratic leader for years, but that's not my job now. My job is to represent fishermen and farmers - everyone.
The reason there's not a dictatorship in Chile and that there's a democracy in South Africa and Portugal today - and that Haiti has a nascent democracy - is that the world community as a whole felt outraged. This is the reason Milosevic sits in a jail in The Hague. It's because the world has said, 'Enough.'
It shows courage, and it shows commitment to move beyond the status-quo politics of rhetoric, which is all the Cuban-American community has received from any party for the last half century.
The poorest guy in Miami lives better than much of the power elite in Havana.
Bush is the Liberace of Cuban politics. He knows how to play us. He says every single thing they want to hear.
We deserve quality jobs that pay a living wage, lower college tuition, action on climate change, and comprehensive immigration reform.
To say that I could manipulate one of the men who has shown the most courage before the Cuban government, who gets beaten every day, who did a hunger strike that freed political prisoners... I think that's absurd.
In undergraduate school, I chose a career path that always leads to certain unemployment: I majored in politics and public affairs with a double-minor in philosophy and history.
Right here at home, we have seen what happens when a politician breaks that public trust, when they are dishonest and corrupt.
I want to go back to Congress and get to work on making a real difference for the families and workers of South Florida.
To help advance democracy, we need to allow for the reunification of Cuban families and the direct sending of remittances to the island's brave dissidents.
We did great things when we were in Congress, and I want to continue work on the issues that matter to South Florida, because we deserve better.
There is no question that I loved representing the people of South Florida.
I will never be done with South Florida.
