Mayor Felix Roque on Cuba visit: ‘The whole trip was unfortunate’

Yesterday we discussed an unauthorized trip a handful of NJ lawmakers took to Cuba recently. Many other NJ lawmaker like Speaker Vincent Prieto, Senator Bob Menendez and Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo have been outspoken in their displeasure of the trip.

Another politician who wanted to express their displeasure with the Cuba trip, was West New York Mayor Felix Roque. Roque, who came from Cuba when he was 11 years old, says he came to the U.S. because of the oppressive regime.

"The whole trip was a very unfortunate thing," Roque says. They're like Boy Scouts going in and fighting in a battlefield. They didn't know what they were going into. And the Castro regime has a very good propaganda machine. And they were misquoted. I feel bad for them."

As far as his takeaway from the trip, Roque says "Basically what they did they empowered the Castro regime by their mere presence there. The Cuban community is in an uproar in Union City and West new York. it wasn't the right thing to do. They should've got some guidance, they have Senator Menendez for this."

I mentioned that Assemblyman Reed Gusciora joined me yesterday and a couple of the reasons Gusciora gave for the trip, were Cuba's salt mines, as well as their medical advancements in diabetes and cancer. Roque said regardless of their possibilities, the trip was not worth it. "I'm sure there's a lot of developments and I'm sure we could get a lot of things from Cuba. But the reality is, the Cuban countrymen, are living under an oppressive regime. Where there's no democracy. There's no elections. There's people in jail because they wanted to express their freedom. And what I say is, 'What are we getting in return?' Nothing."

Listen to the entire interview in the YouTube clip below.