Republican lawmaker defends Parkland student’s Cuban flag

MIAMI – A Miami Republican congresswoman is defending a well-known Florida school shooting survivor from another lawmaker who attacked her for wearing a Cuban flag patch as she advocated for gun control in Washington.

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Tuesday she spoke to activist Emma Gonzalez’s father about a comment by Iowa Congressman Steve King. King took to Facebook to question the teenager’s guns stance and her use of the communist-run island’s flag.

King says Gonzalez was claiming Cuban heritage while not speaking Spanish and advocating for gun control when her ancestors fled a dictatorship that disarmed people.

Ros-Lehtinen says Gonzalez wore the patch because she is proud of her heritage, not because she supports Castro’s dictatorship.

The Parkland student thanked the congresswoman in a tweet .