Some Cuban-Americans in South Florida are eager for regime change in Cuba and hope the Trump administration will do just that.
Scott Ditrow, Host:
Among Cuban Americans in South Florida, expectations are high that Cuba could be next on President Trump’s list for regime change, after Venezuela and now Iran. Danny Rivero with member station WLRN reports from Hialeah, Florida, which has a population of more than 200,000, where about 75% are Cuban Americans.
DANNY RIVERO, BYLINE: Fernando Valdes speaks to Donald J. in Hialeah, Florida. Sitting in the window of a laundromat on Trump Avenue – basically the city’s main street.
Fernando Valdes: (whistling, speaking Spanish).
Rivero: He’s whistling to draw the bird closer to feed it. Valdes arrived on a rickety boat from Cuba during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when 125,000 Cubans fled to Florida. And from what he still hears from his family, things are worse than ever. That’s what everyone is talking about these days.
VALDES: (Speaking Spanish).
RIVERO: Valdes says the only way for the Cubans on the island to turn things around is for the Americans to step in. They say Cubans are too battered by years of economic and political crisis to fight the government. Since the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January during a military coup, US pressure on Cuba has increased. President Trump has promised that the days of communist rule are numbered.
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RIVERO: A few doors down from Valdes, Manuel Moya is trimming a man’s hair in his barber shop, applauding President Trump.
Manuel Moya: (Speaks Spanish).
RIVERO: He says, “Everything is going well because we finally have a president and he will keep his word and liberate Cuba.” He says, “That way, the Cubans can get their country back.” The Trump administration has blocked oil shipments to the island, worsening an already precarious humanitarian situation. Lights cannot be put on in hospitals. Water taps are running dry because the pumps are not working. The United Nations has warned of worsening conditions.
Rosario Prieto: (Speaking Spanish).
Rivero: Rosario Prieto has a daughter on the island and a son-in-law with lupus. He says US energy restrictions directly hurt people like his family. They say that the only people who experience harsh measures are ordinary people. Cuban government officials are not affected. She left the shipping store to send a package of medicine to her family.
Prieto: (Speaking Spanish, laughing).
RIVERO: She says, “I’m sorry for laughing.” But the company told her that because there was no gas, the medicine had to be sent by tricycle in Havana, a city of more than 2 million people. The company has not given a timeline for how long it might take.
Brian Calvo: I don’t think we’re as close as we are now.
Rivero: Brian Calvo is the mayor of Hialeah. He is 28, Cuban American and Republican. He is eager for regime change in Cuba and points to Venezuela as a model.
Calvo: Could we see something similar in Cuba? I think they certainly have the ability to do so. And I think it would make a lot of Cubans — a lot of Cuban Americans would be very happy if that was the action taken.
RIVERO: Calvo says Cuba’s next president is living in Hialeah right now. If the Cuban regime falls, the mayor expects many of the recently arrived Cubans to return to the country.
Calvo: There will be something. We don’t know what it will be, we don’t know when it will happen, but I hope we see something big soon. And it’s important that we as a community are prepared because, as you know, we’re seeing tens of thousands of people easily take to the streets in celebration.
RIVERO: He says his police and fire departments already have plans for massive street parties if that day comes.
For NPR News, I’m Danny Rivero in Hialeah, Florida.
(Soundbite of BLXST & Roddy Rich’s song, “Passionate”)
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