Cuba demonstrations underscore Florida Dems’ split on response
TALLAHASSEE — The demonstrations in Cuba against the communist government there quickly reverberated in Florida, as hundreds of people in Miami, the heart of the Cuban diaspora, went to the streets to support the protests.
They have also brought a fault line within the Florida Democratic Party to the forefront once again on how to respond to the growing crisis in Cuba.
Many Democrats, still reeling from the poor showing in Miami-Dade County, immediately sought to show solidarity with the Cuban protestors, backing their calls for the regime to step down and calling on President Joe Biden to visit South Florida and push for democracy in Cuba.
State Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, called it a “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall moment,” referring to President Ronald Reagan’s iconic 1987 speech at the Berlin Wall, and called on Biden to address Cubans in Miami as well as in Cuba and issue a clarion call for the end of the regime.
Others, such as Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, have pointed out what he sees as a discrepancy in DeSantis’ response to the crisis in Haiti and the crisis in Cuba. Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated on July 7, touching off a political crisis in that country. DeSantis has said little about the Haitian situation in public, but held a roundtable in Miami on the Cuban crisis on Tuesday, later issuing a statement calling out Biden’s response as “weak.”
For decades, political repression and dire economic straits have pushed refugees from Cuba and Haiti to settle in Florida, making both countries a central focus of politicians here, especially in South Florida.
Haitian-Americans have tended to vote Democratic, while Cuban-Americans traditionally side with Republicans in the voting booth. Democrats have hoped to make inroads in the Cuban community, but were dealt a severe blow when President Donald Trump won 46% percent of the vote in Miami-Dade and went on to win Florida by 3%, a 12 percent increase on his total in 2016, when he won the state by 1.2%.
Boosting their margins in Miami-Dade is critical for Democrats to win statewide elections, and
Democrats have acknowledged they failed to effectively push back against Republicans labeling them as “socialist” or “communist” as a main reason for the poor showing there in 2020.
State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, cited past Republican attempts to outflank Democrats on the Venezuela crisis, where dissidents have taken on socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro amid a massive food shortage.
“It’s predictable,’ Smith said. “But the irony here is that the Biden administration, and Democrats in Congress, have delivered on the issue of Venezuela. For example, granting TPS [temporary protected status] to Venezuelans who are fleeing political persecution in their country, which is something that has been fought for for many years.”
When it comes to Cuba, Democrats are acting quickly to avoid charges of weakness.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat running for governor, issued a statement specifically criticizing Cuba’s communist government this week. “As (the protesters) ask for our solidarity in their call for liberation from Cuba’s communist regime — we must answer that call and stand with them,” Fried said. “Those of us fighting for democracy share the same goal, a democratic Cuba free from 62 years of communist oppression.”
But that message from mainstream Democrats is facing pushback from progressive groups, who have called for Biden to respond by lifting the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, which they blame for the lack of food and medical supplies on the island. The Cuban government has also blamed the embargo for its economic ills. The embargo, however, doesn’t apply to humanitarian assistance and other countries can freely trade with Cuba.
“The situation has escalated now where only a full repeal of the embargo will alleviate the suffering from the pandemic,” Michael Calderin, president of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, said in a released statement.
Smith said the embargo, which he said has been backed by both parties for decades, “has of course been totally ineffective. It’s morally wrong.”
But, he added, “placing all of the blame squarely on the foreign policy of the United States is just wrong. Yes, the embargo has hurt the Cuban people and it needs to be lifted. But the blame for how the people of Cuba have been treated by this socialist, communist dictatorship is squarely on the leaders in Cuba’s government who have totally failed them, period.”
The embargo, Smith said, can only be lifted by Congress, not the White House.
“And we all know that that ain’t happening anytime soon,” he said. “So we have to be pragmatic with what the administration can do right now, at this moment, to show support solidarity and offer real help to the people of Cuba.”
In contrast, Republicans are unified in calling for an end to the regime, as well as more sanctions, and have blasted the initial response from Biden for not singling out the communist government as the root cause of the problems.
DeSantis has called for Biden to ensure demonstrators have internet access, something the Cuban government blocks when the regime is being challenged. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez even said airstrikes against the Cuban government should not be taken off the table.
Jones admits the split within Democrats over Cuba, while Republicans issue a united message, is a problem.
“Look what happened two days ago when (Orlando Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani) and I came out in response to the Cuban community supporting a free Cuba — we got attacked by progressives,” Jones said, referring to the reaction from progressives on Twitter to his initial statements in support of protesters.
For Jones, the best response for Biden and DeSantis is to focus on restoring human rights and giving humanitarian aid to Haiti and Cuba.
“I want everyone to take politics out of this human rights issue, because what we’re dealing with right now is not a Democrat or Republican issue,” Jones said. “If we can look at this from a human rights perspective I think it clears a lot of things.”