WASHINGTON—Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R), who sits on the House Committee on Appropriations and as chairman of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) Subcommittee. will vote to block funding to the National Museum of the American Latino in the Smithsonian Institute as a result of its “erroneous and imbalanced portrayal of Latinos.”
Mario Diaz-Balart is a U.S. representative for Florida’s 26th Congressional District and serves as a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations and as chairman of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) Subcommittee.
Funded by legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2020 museum appears to be directed by a progressive-minded Board of Trustees, which includes actress Eva Longoria.
Rep. Diaz-Balart contends that the museum has depicted the Latino community as only “victims of oppression” and not as a community composed of people with a “diversity of political viewpoints.
One of the exhibits on display highlights the 1994 Cuban migration to the United States, but instead of mentioning the humanitarian and economic crisis created by then-Dictator Fidel Castro, the exhibit only states that migrants were escaping "Cuba's economic crisis."
There is no mention of the decades-long oppression by the Castro regime .
In a statement furnished to The Floridian, Diaz-Balart outlines that he has been calling on the museum’s leadership to make the corrections to the current exhibits, but it appears as if his concerns have fallen of deaf ears.
“I am a long-time supporter, going back over a decade, of the National Museum of the American Latino because I felt it was important to accurately chronicle the story of Latinos in America. The act that created the museum in 2020 required that the ‘board of trustees shall ensure that the exhibits and programs of the museum reflect the diversity of political viewpoints held by Latinos on the events and issues related to Latino History in the United States.’
The Museum’s first exhibit miserably fails to meet the letter and spirt of the law by providing a one-dimensional depiction of American Latinos as only victims of oppression. It is also historically inaccurate and an insult to all the accomplishments of Latinos in the United States. Many Hispanics, including myself, are astonished that such a revered institution as the Smithsonian would allow this to happen.
I have repeatedly called out the inaccuracies and flagrant violations of the act to the leadership of the Smithsonian. However, the Smithsonian leadership has done little to correct their errors and at times brushed off the concerns of many Hispanics in Congress.
Diaz-Balart also asserts his intention to continue to block any and all appropriations to the museum.
I look forward to the day I can visit the museum and its exhibits where the multifaceted experiences of our communities are accurately portrayed. However, until the Smithsonian provides a plan to comply with the law and correct the erroneous and imbalanced portrayal of Latinos, I will continue to block funds for the museum. Americans deserve and expect more from the Smithsonian.,” said Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart
