Fla. senator's family story scrutinized

MIAMI -- In Florida, where Cuba and Fidel Castro can be highly combustible political issues, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is defending himself against allegations he embellished his family's story in saying his parents left the island after Castro came to power.

So far, prominent members of the Cuban American community are standing by him, including the head of one of Miami's oldest and most respected exile groups, who said Friday that he is willing to give the rising GOP star a pass.

The freshman senator, 40, has always publicly identified with the exile community and has a strong following within it. Rubio's biography on his Senate website says he was "born in Miami to Cuban-born parents who come to America following Fidel Castro's takeover." And in a campaign ad last year, he said: "As the son of exiles, I understand what it means to lose the gift of freedom."

But The Washington Post reported that Rubio's parents left Cuba in 1956, nearly three years before Castro seized power. Rubio's father was a store security guard when he and his wife left, according to Rubio's staff, and came to the United States for economic reasons.

Rubio responded to the story with a statement saying his parents tried to return to Cuba in 1961 but quickly left because they did not want to live under communism.

"In 1961, my mother and older siblings did in fact return to Cuba while my father stayed behind wrapping up the family's matters in the U.S.," he said. "After just a few weeks living there, she fully realized the true nature of the direction Castro was taking Cuba and returned to the United States one month later, never to return."

In addition, he has said publicly on previous occasions that his parents left Cuba before the revolution.

Rubio's staff said it would change his Senate website.

The issue is magnified because of the political clout of the Cuban exile community in Florida and the fierce passions in Miami that still surround Cuba, and because Rubio is often mentioned as a potential vice-presidential pick.

Democrats have assailed Rubio, with the Florida Democratic Party accusing him of "self-serving deception" and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee saying "the latest bombshell confirms that Rubio seriously struggles to tell the truth and can't be trusted."