Mario DÃaz-Balart
Mario Rafael Diaz- Balart ( born September 25, 1961 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is an American politician. Since 2003 he is a member of the House of Representatives. First, as the representative of the 25th Congressional District of Florida, since 2011 the neighboring 21st district, which had previously represented his brother Lincoln Diaz- Balart.
He enrolled in the University of South Florida, to study political science before 1985 his public career as an advisor to the then Mayor of Miami, Xavier Suarez began. In 1988 he was elected to the House of Representatives from Florida. In 1992 he then moved to the State Senate and in 2000 back to the House of Representatives. During his second term, he presided over the Commission redefining the constituencies. It is an open secret that he cut the newly created 25th District on itself. The newly created 24th District has been tailored by the same Commission to the speaker of Florida's House of Representatives Tom Feeney. Even the 5th District has been designed so that it would fit on Senate President Ginny Brown -Waite.
Mario Diaz- Balart is the younger brother of U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz- Balart and son of the exiled Cuban politician Rafael Diaz- Balart and nephew of Mirta Díaz Balart -, the first wife of Fidel Castro. He lives with his wife and son in Miami.
In contrast to the two other Cuban Americans who represented Miami in the U.S. Congress, Ileana Ros -Lehtinen and his older brother, Mario Diaz- Balart is a strictly conservative voting record.
Like his two Cuban-American supporters Diaz- Balart is strict advocates of the trade embargo against Cuba. Be it to cut through travel and trade restrictions, the communist government of Cuba from access to hard currency His goal. In the congressional elections in 2008, he won just under 52% against the Democrats also Cuban- Joe Garcia, former director of the Cuban exile organization CANF.