Wednesday was a "bad day for the good guys" when President Barack Obama announced the U.S. would resume diplomatic relations with Cuba, said Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
"Yesterday was a good day for the bad guys in North Korea and Cuba, and a bad day for the good guys, the United States, and the 11 million people in Cuba who are still suffering," Cardenas told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday.
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Cuban-Americans felt "anger, surprise, a sense of betrayal" by Obama's actions, Cardenas said, adding the shift in policy "didn't make sense for America, and didn't make sense for the enslaved 11 million people living in Cuba."
"The very first and foremost goal has always been to have basic human rights that any person born unto this Earth ought have," he said. "All the good things that you guys are hoping for are pure pipe dreams."
With current President Raul Castro and former President Fidel Castro, both in their 80s, Cardenas said the time to renew a diplomatic dialog with Cuba would be when a new regime came into power.
"There's going to be a regime change in Cuba. It's going to happen next year, three years, or five years from now. But, these guys are leaving the Earth. The sooner the better, and that's the appropriate time to negotiate with the next group of folks," he said.
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