new reaction from president-elect donald trump to the death of the long-time cuban leader fidel castro. trump released this statement that reads, in part, fidel castro s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental hiuman rights. it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long and toward a future where the wonderful cuban people live in the freedom they deserve. let s bring in former adviser and an msnbc contributor and a writer and huffington post contributor who s worked on every democratic presidential campaign since 1972. good afternoon to both of you, gentlemen. let s start with this. castro s death is really trump s first diplomatic test. robert, how s he doing?
miami s little havana neighborhood has been scene of celebration since news broke late last night about fidel castro s death. the paper chronicling reaction in miami and providing perspective on what his death means. joining me now is molly hooper, congressional reporter for the hill and politics reporteder for the los angeles times. molly, let s start with you. several cuban-americans lawmakers today backing trump s vow to roll back obama s kpoef orders. what would that process even look like? apparently it s fairly easy. essentially, he just had to check the box and undo what president obama has done. right now, there s commercial flights that are taking place going from the united states to cuba for, you know, not necessarily for tourism but for official family visits and things like that. president-elect trump can come in and say, we re no longer doing that. he can rescind a lot of the
comments that are rather different than the opening of relations that current president barack obama has had. well, i m not going to talk about preferential candidates, but i think trump has a very good position. i think that cuba needs to get rid of raul castro, which actually is even worse than fidel castro. he carried out all of the horrible crimes f him. so, i feel that with persistence and being tough with the country, with cuba, who promises all these things and does nothing, we will get there and it will be a cuba libre. reporter: thank you very much, lydia. i know this is a very important day for her and so many that are part of the cuban diaspora and folks that have fled the country. in south florida, oneover every three people that you bump into in miami is a cuban-american, either from the island or born here but of that cuban-american lineage. sheinelle. one in three. i didn t realize that. that was a very interesting
some of her colleagues had to say. he was a sadistic murderer who brought great suffering to the 11 million people of cuba. he should not be revered. he should be reviled. i m also here in representation of people like my grandfather who was in political prison for 12 years and who was tortured, people like his brother, who was executed without trial. ultimately, there will be that final day when the dictatorship of the castro brothers is no longer reality. when it will be put in the dust heap of history. and when the cuban people will enjoy the ultimate freedom, freedom and democracy. reporter: as a candidate, president-elect trump vowed to undo the executive actions that president obama took to try to normalize relations with cuba. the reality is, he can undo those. those are executive actions. they are not bound by an act of congress. however, it gets a little bit trickier when you look at the details of it. the fact that you do have some
you know, presents trump with some real opportunities to either slow down the process or speed it up, but whatever, to really have some negotiations to achieve what he tweeted about earlier. i told you we were talking about this on the today show earlier this morning. there s so much concern that trump will undo president obama s work on cuba. what are you hearing? i m hearing that with the death of fidel castro, things can slow down now. because again, the symbol of fidel castro now being cremated, he s out of the picture entirely, although his brother remains in power, suggests now that that looming symbol of communism, one of the last in the world, is now gone. robert i want very quickly. i think the real question is whether or not the obama policy through executive order over the last year and a half have made a difference with respect to normalizing relations with cuba.