Salazar called Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., a “communist sympathizer” on social media. Democrats say Salazar was suppressing free speech, like the Cuba regime.

Florida Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar refused to allow California Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat, to sit in on House subcommittee hearing because of Lee’s views on Cuba.

That led to criticism that Salazar was acting like the Cuban regime and devolved later into name-calling.

As is often done on Capitol Hill, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, asked Salazar to allow Lee and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. — neither of whom are committee members — to participate in the Thursday hearing of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The hearing’s focus was to be on the Biden administration’s policies on private business in Cuba.

Lee wanted to provide a statement and listen in to discuss Cuban entrepreneurship, ways to support human rights in Cuba and reinvigorating U.S. relations with Cuba, her office said. Lee has supported normalizing relations with Cuba.

Salazar responded that Wasserman Schultz was “more than welcome, Barbara Lee is not.”