Potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush sharply criticized President Obama’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba, calling it another example of a “foreign policy misstep by this President, and another dramatic overreach of his executive authority.”
“It undermines America’s credibility and undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba,” Bush said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Added Bush, the former governor of Florida: “Cuba is a dictatorship with a disastrous human rights record, and now President Obama has rewarded those dictators. We should instead be fostering efforts that will truly lead to the fair, legitimate democracy that will ultimately prevail in Cuba.”
Obama announced the change in policy towards Cuba on Wednesday, as the country released American prisoner Alan Gross in return for the United States releasing three Cuban spies convicted in 2001.
“I am delighted that Alan Gross has been released,” Bush said. “It will be a joy and relief for his wife and family to have him home this Hanukkah season. He is innocent and should never have been in prison in the first place, nor spent five long years there as he suffered in poor health. It is, however, unfortunate that the United States chose to release three convicted spies.”
Bush on Tuesday said he has decided to “actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States.”