"What the Obama administration has done has strengthened Raul Castro," Ted Cruz said. | Getty Cruz, Rubio want Trump to dial back U.S.-Cuba relations

Following the death of Fidel Castro, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio said Sunday that President Barack Obama's recent ties with Cuba should be reevaluated.

Cruz told correspondent Martha Raddatz on ABC News' “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that he hopes to see increased liberty in Cuba but that with Obama's' restoration of diplomatic ties, it's hard for that to happen.


"What the Obama administration has done has strengthened Raul Castro," the Texas Republican said. "Raul is the dictator now. You know, I asked my dad at dinner last night, well, what do you think happens now that Fidel is dead? And he shrugged and said Raul’s been in charge for years, that this is — the system has gotten stronger."

Fidel Castro, the author of the Cuban revolution in 1959, died Friday at the age of 90.

The comments by the Republican senators were in line with that of Reince Priebus, President-elect Donald Trump's incoming chief of staff, who said Sunday that Trump is willing to reconsider U.S. relations with Cuba. "There's going to have to be some movement from Cuba in order to have a relationship with the United States," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Rubio, who, like Cruz, is of Cuban descent, said he believes Trump will demand more of Cuba to bring concessions on human rights issues.

"He has made very clear that he felt that the moves President Obama has made toward Cuba were wrong and that he would examine them and change the ones that needed to be changed," Rubio told correspondent Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union." "And I think that's very promising."

Rubio said he believes that if Hillary Clinton were to have been elected, she would have kept Obama's policies in place.

"I know they've had good people advising them on this issue, as well," Rubio said of Trump. "So I certainly have confidence that he's going to do the right thing when it comes to Cuba."

Cruz said Obama has "funneled billions of dollars to Raul Castro" but that he hopes to one day visit and see a "free Cuba."

"This ought to be a moment where Cubans are dancing in the street because they’re being liberated, but instead — listen, if you dance in the street, you’re going to be thrown in jail," Cruz said. "Cuba is not a free society."

During his presidency, Obama has worked to restore some U.S. ties with Cuba, which had been an adversary throughout the Cold War and beyond. Fidel Castro allied himself with the Soviet Union early in his regime.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking on "State of the Union," took a different tack from his Republican colleagues.

"We have had relations with brutal dictatorships all over the world," the Vermont independent said. "The goal right now is to see that we can improve our relationship with the people of Cuba to do what we can to improve their economy and to make sure that the younger generation does better than their older generation."