Governor Ron DeSantis signs legislation to protect Florida against foreign influence and hostile foreign actors
Press release from the Office of Governor Ron DeSantis
MIAMI, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 905, the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act, strengthening Florida’s protections against hostile foreign influence, foreign terrorist organizations, and foreign adversaries seeking to infiltrate government, critical infrastructure, public institutions, and the state’s economy.
“Today, I signed the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act to strengthen Florida’s defenses against foreign adversaries,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “This legislation combats hostile foreign influence in Florida by establishing new restrictions on agreements and partnerships involving countries of concern such as Iran and Cuba, as well as penalties for violations. The bill also strengthens ethics and disclosure requirements for elected officials and government employees, because public officials should be serving Floridians—not foreign adversaries.”
Since taking office, the Governor has signed a series of measures to combat foreign influence and protect Florida’s institutions, economy, and critical infrastructure.
In 2021, he signed HB 7017 to increase transparency surrounding foreign donations to Florida universities and the Combating Corporate Espionage in Florida Act to strengthen penalties for trade secret theft tied to hostile foreign actors.
In 2023, Florida enacted SB 264 to prevent hostile foreign governments and entities affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing farmland or land near military bases and critical infrastructure. Florida also restricted certain government contracts involving foreign countries of concern, blocked foreign-controlled companies from accessing sensitive personal information, and banned TikTok and other foreign-controlled applications from state devices and networks.
Additionally, Florida launched the SecureFlorida Portal and established the Office of SecureFlorida within the Florida Department of Commerce to strengthen oversight of foreign influence and property ownership. Florida has also continued strengthening protections for higher education and charitable organizations through SB 846 and SB 700.
HB 905 further strengthens Florida law by:
- Prohibiting public officials, public employees, local government attorneys, and candidates from accepting gifts or benefits from foreign countries of concern or designated foreign terrorist organizations.
- Expanding ethics training to help identify and report foreign influence campaigns, including tactics associated with the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front strategy.
- Ending sister city agreements and linkage institute partnerships involving foreign countries of concern and repealing the Florida-China Linkage Institute.
- Requiring the Florida Department of State to maintain and publish a list of foreign consulate offices and sister city and sister state affiliations in Florida.
- Prohibiting charitable organizations from accepting contributions or support from designated foreign terrorist organizations.
- Authorizing local governments and tax collectors to revoke business tax receipts for businesses operating in Cuba in violation of federal law.
- Creating criminal penalties for knowingly submitting false declarations related to unlawful business activity involving Cuba.
- Prohibiting pre-planned adoption agreements and surrogacy contracts involving citizens or residents of foreign countries of concern.
- Enhancing criminal penalties for crimes committed to benefit foreign governments or foreign terrorist organizations.
How absurd and completely performative.
What about domestic law skool grads, like local judges and public attorneys? Those are actually harming the community 24/7 🤡💩👹👿👺
The 2026 Florida Gunboat Incident (Tampa Connection)
Cuba’s government said it killed four of ten passengers on a Florida-registered speedboat who had opened fire on its soldiers and were allegedly attempting to infiltrate the island with terrorist intent. The deadly confrontation occurred in Cuban waters in late February 2026. Six others on the speedboat were wounded and detained, identified as armed Cubans living in the U.S. 
One of those killed, Michel Ortega Casanova, was a member of Casa Cuba in Tampa and had visited the organization just before the incident. His brother described him as having fallen into an “obsessive and diabolical” quest to overthrow the Cuban government — a U.S. citizen who had lived in the country for over 20 years. 
Cuba’s Interior Ministry said the group came dressed in camouflage and armed with assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosives, ballistic vests, and telescopic sights. Two of the six detained were previously wanted in Cuba on suspicion of planning terrorist acts. 
A security analyst noted that “Tampa is deeply penetrated with Cuban intelligence” and that the Cuban government appeared to know when and where to expect the boat — raising questions about how a gunboat was waiting in an area Cuba reportedly didn’t normally patrol due to fuel and manpower constraints. 
The Wasp Network & Hotel Bombings
This is a separate, historical story from the 1990s:
The 1997 Cuba hotel bombings were a series of terrorist attacks on Cuban hotels organized by anti-Communist militants, aimed at destroying Cuba’s resurgent tourism economy. The worst explosion hit the Hotel Copacabana on September 4, killing a 32-year-old Italian tourist. Other targets included the Hotel Capri, Hotel Nacional de Cuba, and the Meliá Cohiba Hotel. Cuban-exile and former CIA asset Luis Posada Carriles admitted organizing the bombings, saying “it is sad that someone is dead, but we can’t stop.” 
The Wasp Network (La Red Avispa) was actually Cuba’s counter-intelligence operation — a network of Cuban spies sent to infiltrate the exile groups planning those attacks. On September 12, 1998, the FBI dismantled the network, charging ten people with being Cuban spies. The spymaster was Gerardo Hernández (alias Manuel Viramontes). 
One of the exile groups the Wasp Network infiltrated was Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile organization. In 1996, two of their planes were shot down by Cuban MiGs, killing four pilots who were U.S. citizens. The Cuban spies were arrested in 1998 and charged with espionage and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with that shoot-down. 
The 2019 Netflix film Wasp Network dramatizes this story, though it’s controversial — Netflix settled a lawsuit out of court in January 2024 that accused the streaming service of distorting key facts about Brothers to the Rescue leader José Basulto at the direction of the Cuban government. 
In short: the Tampa-area gunboat incident is a 2026 event involving Cuban-American exiles attempting to infiltrate Cuba, while the Wasp Network and hotel bombings are a 1990s story involving exile groups attacking Cuban tourist infrastructure and Cuba’s covert counter-spy operation to stop them.
Now…..could you please pass a bill to protect us from the dumbass racist Democrats?
And don’t forget the United Nations and their climate change and great reset..