Port Everglades and the Port of Palm Beach backed off plans to sign what’s known as a memorandum of understanding with the National Port Administration of Cuba last week after Scott tweeted that he would ask state legislators to cut off funding for any Florida ports that “enter into any agreement with [the] Cuban dictatorship.”
In a Twitter post, the governor said he had “Serious security/human rights concerns” about Cuba.
The two ports received visits from a high-level maritime and business delegation from Cuba last week, but both port directors put plans to sign any MOU with Cuba on hold.
However, that didn’t prevent Scott from putting wording in his new budget, released Tuesday, that says no money can be “allocated to infrastructure projects that result in the expansion of trade with the Cuban dictatorship because of their continued human rights abuses.” The reference can be found on page 221 of Scott’s 362-page 2017-2018 budget recommendations.
