Cuba engagement ally Joe Garcia appearing at Annette Taddeo fundraiser raises troubling questions

Cuba engagement ally and former Rep. Joe García attended an October fundraiser for Florida congressional candidate Annette Taddeo despite her recent statements denouncing the communist regime, ADN has learned from sources who captured images of the event. 

Garcia's appearance comes in the wake of Taddeo's recent attempts to depict herself as a tough critic of the regime in her campaign to unseat Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar. The incident raises troubling questions about Taddeo's actual views on Cuba and why García, who recently met with communist regime officials in Havana, was participating at her Miami fundraiser.

"He was at Donna Shalala's apartment in Coral Gables just a month ago at a fundraiser for Taddeo," a source told ADN America.

The information and images of Garcia were sent to ADN after Cuban regime officials held a so-called "business conference" in Havana to engage with potential U.S. investors. During that event, García was reportedly received by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at the Palace of the Revolution.

García, who previously served as President of the Cuban American Foundation (CANF) in the early 2000s and as Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party has tirelessly spoken out against the U.S. embargo that sanctions the Cuban dictatorship.

To be sure, Cuban historian and activist Salome García Bacallao has framed the former Democratic congressman as a proponent of U.S.-Cuba engagement who "has spent decades advocating for business engagement inside Cuba from the comfort of Miami with a six-figure salary [despite the regime's failure to] guarantee basic human rights." 

Joe García y Carlos Saladrigas llevan décadas empujando por negocios dentro de Cuba sin garantías para el ejercicio de derechos humanos básicos desde su comodidad en Miami con salarios de 6 cifras.

🔊 Many Cuban-Americans Are Anti-Embargo: NPR (2006) https://t.co/YLtrx6y4mE

— Salomé #MirenLasPrisionesDeCuba (@onceagainsalome) June 12, 2022

Congressional candidate Annette Taddeo, on the other hand, has transformed her views on U.S. policy toward Cuba in recent years. According to a 2016 Tampa Bay media report, when the Democrat first ran for Congress in 2008, she supported maintaining the embargo.

Then, during the 2016 Cuba Thaw, Taddeo reversed her position by advocating for the lifting of the embargo. She also asked voters then to sign a petition backing President Barack Obama's visit to the island.

Now, six years later, in her return to win a congressional seat in the 2022 midterm elections, Taddeo is trying to portray herself as a regime critic. She even lashed out against the same Havana business conference that Garcia participated in.

On Oct. 27 Taddeo said on her Twitter profile that "the news of U.S. businessmen in Cuba in meetings with the Cuban regime as it continues to repress its own people and imprison people for demanding freedom is unacceptable and unforgivable."

Las noticias de empresarios de EEUU en Cuba en reuniones con el régimen cubano a medida que sigue reprimiendo a su propio pueblo y encarcelando a la gente por pedir libertad es inaceptable e imperdonable. https://t.co/88o83suzoH pic.twitter.com/9L5CgrvNvE

— Annette Taddeo (She/Her/Ella) (@Annette_Taddeo) October 27, 2022

ADN America reached out to Taddeo's congressional campaign for comment several days ago, but did not received a response.