Can't make it up: Biden administration gives communist Cuba access to sensitive TSA areas at Miami International Airport

MIAMI, FL - It's recently been revealed that the Biden administration gave a guided tour of Miami International Airport’s TSA facilities to designated state sponsor of terrorism, Cuba. 

Breitbart News reports that earlier this week, five officials from Cuba, a communist country, received a “secret” guided tour of Miami International Airport courtesy of Alejandro Mayorkas’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 

Breitbart wrote that the tour, which lasted five hours, is being touted as being part of “law enforcement cooperation” between the two countries. Part of the tour included TSA’s control facilities at the airport, which contains some of the agency’s sensitive computer systems. 

News of the tour drew outrage from some Cuban-Americans in Miami, as well as officials from Miami-Dade county and MIA airport personnel, who were unaware of the planned visit. 

Cuba was designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST) by the United States due to the communist nation’s ties to a number of international terrorist organizations. Those groups include the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), terrorist organization Hezbollah, Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN), and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), the latter two being Marxist terrorist groups. 

The Cuban government also is tied to Hamas, which conducted a terrorist attack on Israel last October 7 that resulted in over 1,000 deaths of Israeli citizens and which sparked the current armed conflict in Gaza. The Castro-led government has also condemned Israel for conducting self-defense operations against Hamas, which still holds an estimated 200 hostages, including US citizens. 

During the Obama regime, he removed Cuba removed from the SST list, however the country was reinstated at the end of the Trump presidency in January 2021. 

Currently, Cuba is still on the SST list, however last week the Biden administration removed the communist nation from a list of countries that “are not cooperating fully” with the United States in battling terrorism. 

Hamas-sympathizing Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that Cuba no longer belonged on the list since Cuban officials and U.S. law enforcement officials are “once again” working together on counterterrorism and other related efforts. 

The TSA-guided tour occurred on May 20, which is coincidentally Cuban Independence Day. The Castro regime has tried to erase the legacy of that date, and does not celebrate it. In fact, the government prohibits Cubans from celebrating that date and instead forces them to celebrate July 26, when former Cuban strongman Fidel Castro led a terrorist attack on a military garrison in 1953. 

An anonymous source told Marti Noticias, a US-based outlet, that Cuban officials toured the airport without the knowledge of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department and caused a great deal of angst among the airport’s security personnel. Many of the staff are Cuban exiles who fled from the Castro regime. 

The source said that Cuban officials were invited to an area deemed an “exclusive and modern” area of the airport which not all airport employees are allowed to access. 

“It is the first time in more than 20 years that I have seen something like this at the airport,” the source said. “The Cuban officers were taken to the south terminal, a new terminal where the TSA robots are. It is very modern and not everyone can go there.” 

The source said that in order to access that location, an investigation has to be conducted of each officer. 

“How are you going to bring in these people who are spies for the Cuban regime and also on May 20?” the source asked. 

The source didn’t elaborate on the technological details of the area, they claimed the visit endangered the safety of passengers. 

“They are officials from a terrorist country, an ally of our enemies, of China, of Russia, of Iran,” the source continued. “Who would think of inviting those people to see the most advanced of our technology?” 

The mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava released a statement in which she expressed shock over the visit by Cuban officials:

The decision to allow Cuban officials to tour secure areas of MIA was made without the knowledge of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, and took place on Cuban Independence Day–a day that we reaffirm our commitment to freedom and democracy in Cuba in the face of a brutal dictatorship. 

My office has directly contacted the Department of Homeland Security to understand how this decision was made, and to request that the County and MDAD be included in any future decisions regarding granting access to MIA facilities to foreign government officials. 

Miami-Dade County stands firmly with the Cuban people here in our community and on the island as they continue to fight to bring freedom to Cuba, and we are committed to ensuring the safety of our community and all those who travel through MIA. 

The Cuban officials did not have access to sensitive technology or systems. They received an overview of TSA security operations, including equipment that anyone screened at the checkpoint can see, which demonstrates best practices in civil aviation security, for Cuba to consider implementing similar measures with similar systems. 

TSA officials at Miami International Airport also welcomed dignitaries from Antigua, Barbados, Spain and Brazil on similar visits recently. 

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) slammed the visit, stating that “only tinder the Biden administration would they allow a terrorist regime into our secure facilities at one of the busiest airports in America,” then adding that he asked the DHS “why they would be so oblivious.” 

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) also slammed the Biden administration, writing on X that they were responsible for the “shameful and dangerous” decision to allow Cuban officials access to TSA’s facilities. 

Meanwhile, Kevin Marino Cabrera, Miami-Dade commissioner, sharply criticized the visit as an “incredibly reckless act,” and slammed it as “yet another example of an insensitive administration being manipulated by Cuban communists for a propaganda victory.” 

“The administration’s decision not only endangers all Americans and disrespects those who defend us, but also serves as a slap in the face to all Cubans suffering under a tyrannical and criminal communist regime. Simply unacceptable!” he wrote.