When Carlos Pérez and Ramona García left Asturias heading to Cubaat the end of the 19th century, they could not imagine that a descendant of theirs could become one of the most powerful men on the planet. Marco Antonio Rubio, (Miami, 1971), Republican senator for the state of Florida since 2010has skipped almost all the rungs of the social ladder and will be appointed by Donald Trump Secretary of State, the equivalent of Minister of Foreign Affairs in Spain, as officially announced yesterday. That is to say, one of the most succulent positions of the new government will be in the hands of the great-grandson of two emigrants coming from Western Asturias, as he himself told La Nueva España when he first won a seat in the Senate.
At that time, the politician, now 53 years old and who has been in the pool of candidates for the White House for some time (in fact in 2016 he competed with Trump for the presidential nomination and was even considered a running mate in these elections), recognized that He did not know exactly which Asturian town his family came from.. The first Latino who will pilot the international relations of USA He will thus become the Cuban-American who has reached the highest in the political ranks of the American giant. Furthermore, he will be appointed by the president who is accused of having little empathy with immigrants. Trump, closely linked to Florida, where he has lived these years, will in this way give the Cuban exile the prize for that loyalty of vote that professes towards the elephant party.
Cubans are one of the few minorities that support the Republicans. Powerful exile families, such as the Díaz-Balart, are active in their ranks. Nothing to do with Mario Rubio (father of the senator from Florida), who was orphaned very early, grew up on the streets as a street vendor and made an effort to learn to read and write. He supported his family by working as a waiter in a Las Vegas casino. Oria García, the mother, daughter of Asturians, came from a more wealthy family, but the grandfather fell from grace in Batista’s Cuba. That grandfather admired José Martí, apostle of the country, and hated Fidel Castro, who supposedly came to power to correct Batista’s mistakes. The family ended up fleeing to the United States in 1956, where everything was not rosy either.
The senator is already part of the Senate Foreign Commission, speaks Spanish perfectly and can be of great help in building bridges with Latin America. Rubio is a textbook “Trumpist.” He defends toughening pressure on Cuba and Venezuela; He is against providing more military support to Ukraine, would welcome negotiations with Russia, and fervently supports Israel. He also thinks that Europe should assume greater defense spending to lighten the burden on federal coffers.
In his personal life, He is married to the Colombian Jeanette Dousdebesformer Miami Dolphins cheerleader and with whom they have two daughters. The senator studied Law at the University of Florida and graduated from the University of Miami, one of the most elite in his state. The first son of Cubans in the US Senate is on his way to breaking another glass ceiling. Among his campaign donors, the Rifle Association stands out.
Rubio grew up in a northern suburb of Las Vegas and always emphasizes that he is “a normal boy“. “We never had much, but I am aware every day of the enormous privilege of having grown up in a home in which I never had the slightest doubt about my parents’ affection. I never saw them buy anything that was beyond what was strictly necessary.“Everything they had was for us,” he has come to say. The Republican belonged for some years to the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Mormons, in which he was baptized. Later, he embraced Catholicism. That young man who aspired to succeed in American football will begin, barring an unexpected turn, the most important game of his life in January. His opponents will be in his country, but also in the rest of the world.
