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KEY WEST WEEKLY / JULY 15, 2021
#SOSCUBA Cubans in the Keys tell of the struggle 90 miles away
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By Sara Matthis, Jim McCarthy and Mandy Miles n July 11, thousands of protestors in Cuba took to the streets in at least five cities, and were joined by thousands more in South Florida on July 12. This is the largest protest in memory since 1956. The hashtag “#SOSCuba” is trending on Twitter and everyone from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to entertainers Gloria Estefan and Pitbull is voicing support for Cuban people. “Up with liberty. This is the closest we’ve come to liberty in 62 years of dictatorship,” said Robert La Fe, from his cigar shop in Marathon. He said he urges the United States to intercede. On July 13, peaceful supporters of their brothers and sisters in Cuba gathered in Marathon in front of Juice Paradise Cafe. In Key West, they rallied the night of July 11 at the Southernmost Point, only 90 miles from Havana, then again on Tuesday, July 13 at the historic San Carlos Institute on Duval Street. The institute was founded in 1871 “as the cradle of Cuban independence,” said its board president Rafael Penalver, a South Florida attorney whose family fled the Castro regime just before Penalver’s 10th birthday. “The San Carlos stands as a symbol of the Cuban people’s perseverance in their struggle for independence. In 1892, Jose Marti gave a speech at the San Carlos, calling it La Casa Cuba, where he united the Cuban exile community.” As of presstime July 14, there were plans in the Upper Keys to gather at Denny’s Latin Cafe and drive south in a car parade. (See keysweekly.com for more from the Upper Keys event.) In televised speeches, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has blamed the recent unrest on the United States. He took office three years ago, hand-picked by former President Raul Castro, brother of Fidel. Diaz-Canel said many of the Cuban protests have been manipulated by social media from the U.S. and called for Communist Party supporters to confront “provocations.” Locals, many with immediate family members in Cuba, say the situation in the island nation has deteriorated. The pressures of COVID — as an illness rampant in Cuba, as well as the decline it prompted in the Cuban economy that relies on international tourism blocked by the pandemic — have resulted in very reduced medical care and food shortages in Cuba. And, while Cuba used to depend heavily on cheap gas from Venezuela to run utilities, that support has also ended, as that South American country is facing its own economic challenges. That has resulted in regular outages of electricity and water supply that predated the protests.
“Florida supports the people of Cuba as they take to the streets against the tyrannical regime in Havana. The Cuban dictatorship has repressed the people of Cuba for decades & is now trying to silence those who have the courage to speak out against its disastrous policies.” — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
A Marathon man holds a sign that reads ‘Down with Diaz-Canel’ and ‘Homeland and Life.’ The second slogan is a revision of Fidel Castro’s slogan of ‘Homeland or Death.’ The saying ‘Patria Y Vida’ took off in February, based on a U.S. rap song decrying the conditions in Cuba. GINA REYES/Contributed
“There’s no milk for the kids,” said La Fe, who has three grandchildren and one sister living in Cuba, whom he left behind 30 years ago to come to the U.S. Alexa Gonzalez, of Key Largo, received a phone call from her second cousin in Havana on the evening of July 12. Gonzalez’s family, which includes her mom, dad, little sister, grandparents, cousins and uncles, said her second cousin is the only family member in Cuba at the moment. Gonzalez said the phone call lasted two minutes with her second cousin before it was cut off. “She was freaking out,” Gonzalez said. “She said that they (the police) were throwing everyone onto the streets. They were walking around and they’ll come and attack you. If they find out you’re talking about the U.S., or anything, they’ll come and take your phone and take you to jail.” Gonzalez also said that kids ages 16 to 19 are being forced to be part of the Cuban military. If they object, “they’re threatening to kill them for being a traitor to the motherland.” With the call cut off, Gonzalez said she’s hoping to hear from her cousin again, and soon.
“I really hope that she doesn’t die because that’s how things are looking now,” she said. Cuban American and Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez said the despotic Castro regime in Cuba has deprived its people of economic liberty and life for the past six decades. Nuñez, who’s a frequent visitor to the Keys with a home in Islamorada’s Executive Bay, said the message seen from across the island is an outcry of shortages of basic necessities. “I stand in solidarity with the freedomseeking people of Cuba calling for the end of communist dictatorship,” she said in a statement. “The Castros’ continued repression won’t keep the Cuban people from peacefully demanding their God-given rights.” In Key West, Cuban-American business owner George Fernandez, whose family also fled the Castro regime, said, “It’s difficult to think that Cuba, our sister island, is only 90 miles away, but a world apart in ideology. The recent developments in Cuba are unfortunate in that peaceful demonstrations by the citizens have prompted the government to brutally suppress their voices. My thoughts and prayers are with all my Cuban brothers continued on the next page
