HIALEAH, Fla. — Miriam Campos wore her “Make Cuba Great Again” baseball cap and her shimmery “Trump” pin to the “Free Cuba” rally on Tuesday in Hialeah.
Another woman wore a traditional Cuban rumba dress and held up an “Intervene Now. No Dialog” sign. Other demonstrators wore their “Patria Y Vida” T-shirts and their “Cuba Libre” hats, scarves, and temporary tattoos.
“We are hoping that President Trump takes care of us and decides to help us out,” Campos said.
Rose Rodriguez, a Cuban American, was among the demonstrators who said they want Cubans on the island to be free to protest peacefully against the government without facing arrest or prison time.
“We are raising their voices here, where over there they can’t be heard,” Rodriguez said.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel have both acknowledged there were U.S.-Cuba talks after Trump cut off Venezuelan and Mexican oil to the communist island.
Trump tasked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban migrants, with the talks, and he recently said Cubans aren’t doing enough.
Without a deal, fuel shortages have prompted transportation problems, power outages, water service disruptions, delays at hospitals, unemployment, and limited access to food and other basics.
There has been speculation about 94-year-old Raúl Castro considering replacing Díaz-Canel with his great-nephew Oscar Pérez-Oliva and promoting his grandson Raúl “Raulito” Rodríguez. Díaz-Canel has continued to blame the “U.S. blockade” for the island’s troubles.
In Hialeah, Cuban American and Cuban demonstrators said they are hoping for political change first, so there can be long-lasting economic reform. That means a Castro is out of the question.
“Cuba is only 90 miles away from the United States, and we want to be friends,” said Campos, who wants Cubans on the island to have the same freedoms and opportunities that she enjoys in South Florida.
More on Cuba
- As US pressure grows for leadership change in Cuba, a Castro could be the next president
- Cuba refuses to let US Embassy in Havana import diesel for its generators
- Cuba readies for first Russian oil shipment of the year as energy crisis deepens
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