President Joe Biden has faced widespread scrutiny from across the political spectrum based on a range of domestic and foreign policies throughout his term in office.
Now, even some Democrats are calling out the administration’s decision to no longer refer to a violent guerilla group in Colombia as a terrorist organization. According to reports, the move is especially unpopular in Florida.
“I was forced to flee Colombia”
As the Wall Street Journal explained, the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is rooted in a violent history dating back to its founding in 1964.
Among its widely condemned acts were executions and kidnappings — including three U.S. contractors who were held captive for five years in the early 2000s.
Florida state Sen. Annette Taddeo is a Democrat and a Colombian-American who lashed out at the “outrageous” decision to change the official status given to FARC.
“When I was 17 years old I was forced to flee Colombia, the only country I ever knew because of the Marxist terrorist organization, FARC, a group of militias who kidnapped my father who was a WWII American fighter pilot,” she tweeted.
Taddeo went on to describe the issue as “painful” and “very personal,” linking the extremist organization to drug traffickers and Venezuela’s dictatorship.
“Biden’s policy is an insult”
Other Florida Democrats, including Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, have also spoken out against the Biden administration’s decision.
She called on the White House to “reject the extremist communist agenda that destroyed nations like Venezuela.”
For his part, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) voiced his objections in a tweet asserting that FARC “caused decades of war and death,” thus earning its designation as a terrorist group.
Of course, Biden also received plenty of pushback from Republicans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, issued a statement asserting: “Biden’s policy is an insult to members of the Colombian American community, many of whom fled that terrorist group’s barbaric attacks on civilians.”
The Biden administration attempted to justify the move by suggesting that most of the active FARC rebels have been in compliance with U.S. agreements. Based on the widespread criticism from individuals on both sides of the political aisle, however, it seems that those talking points are ringing hollow.
The post Florida Dems join GOP in blasting Biden for removing Colombian group from terror list first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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