Republican Rep. Salazar blocks Democrat from hearing over her views on Cuba

Florida Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar refused to allow California Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat, to sit in on House subcommittee hearing because of Lee’s views on Cuba.

That led to criticism that Salazar was acting like the Cuban regime and devolved later into name-calling.

As is often done on Capitol Hill, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, asked Salazar to allow Lee and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. — neither of whom are committee members — to participate in the Thursday hearing of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The hearing's focus was to be on the Biden administration's policies on private business in Cuba.

Lee wanted to provide a statement and listen in to discuss Cuban entrepreneurship, ways to support human rights in Cuba and reinvigorating U.S. relations with Cuba, her office said. Lee has supported normalizing relations with Cuba.

Salazar responded that Wasserman Schultz was “more than welcome, Barbara Lee is not.”

When Castro, the subcommittee's ranking member, asked for her reasoning, Salazar said, “Because Barbara Lee, who is a member of the Democratic Party is friends with the oppressors and not the Cuban people. Barbara has been friends of Fidel Castro.”

That drew criticism from Castro, the congressman, saying that Salazar's refusal to allow Lee to participate was “unprecedented.”

“You’ve been critical of the government in Cuba, in part, because it suppresses free speech and suppresses different opinion,” Rep. Castro said. “That’s exactly what you are doing here right now. You are suppressing somebody from even sitting here and participating, in the same way the Cuban government has done for decades.”

Castro told NBC News on Friday that he worries