More than 2,000 people gathered in front of a stage at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami Saturday night to protest the communist governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and to support the ongoing civil unrest in Cuba.
The event, which doubled as a concert boasting artists like Willy Chirino y Lissette, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, actor Andy Garcia, Gente de Zona, Arturo Sandoval and Pitbull, was hosted by Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo.
It was titled, “Down with the Chains! Patria y Vida! A Call for the Freedom of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, All United in One Voice.“
In between speakers and performances, the crowd — waving Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and American flags — chanted “Libertad” and “Patria y Vida.”
The latter phrase, which means “homeland and life,” has become the rallying cry and anthem for the pro-democracy movement in Cuba, following a song of the same name that is a collaboration of multiple artists, including those on the island and others in exile.
When the stage was silent, Johnny Navarro, 24, of Clewiston, led the crowd singing into his blue bullhorn, “Joe Biden, Cuba needs your help.”
The recent University of Miami grad said he came out to the event to tell the rest of the U.S. that the situation in Cuba is dire.
“We’re in the heart of Miami where the tourists come, hoping we can raise awareness and get people on our side,” Navarro said. “We need the Senate. We need Congress. We need the president to actually see that there’s actually a problem.”
Lorena Cersosimo was with friends at the rally. Her 10-year-old son, Dylan, was holding a Cuban flag with his friend, Liam Valdes, 8. The flag was bordered with the words “SOS Cuba” and “Patria y Vida.”
Cersosimo, 42, came to the United States from Cuba 14 years ago. Her husband came from Cuba 20 years ago.
“We want freedom. That’s what we teach our children,” Cersosimo said.
Eddie Heriberto Carcases, 35, left Cuba when he was 10 years old. The middle school civics teacher still has family and friends there with whom, up until the July 11 protests and the subsequent crackdowns began, he was in regular contact.
“I’m here because we’ve had enough of the suffering, the lack of humanity. The humiliation. People have been stripped of their dignity. Actually, they’ve been stripped of their soul,” Heriberto Carcases said. “I’m here to support Cuba’s freedom, and freedom only. We don’t want vaccines. No food. We want what the people have been crying for for 62 years.”
Gloria and Tommy Reguira came to the rally from Miami Gardens. Gloria, 51, who was born in Colombia, said she was there to support her Cuban-American husband, whose father came to the United States in 1959 at the age of 19.
He died two years ago at 78.
“He passed away hoping one day to go back to his Cuba,” Gloria Reguira said. But he never did.
She also said she attended the rally because she fears Cuban and Venezuelan-style communist ideas are spreading throughout Latin America.
“Look at Venezuela. Look at Nicaragua. Look at Peru,” she said.
Suarez said in an interview that he told the crowd South Florida is the “epicenter for liberty in this hemisphere.”
“What is happening in Cuba, in Nicaragua, in Venezuela is not just affecting Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Communism is like a virus. And, people who propagate communism don’t want to stop in those countries,” Suarez said. “They’re now trying to take over Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and the United States as well in terms of urban cities.”
Suarez blamed Washington for not sending a strong enough statement to the Cuban government that their oppression won’t be tolerated.
“For me, we have to be very clear in our message. If it wasn’t for these demonstrations, nobody would be talking about this issue,” he said.
His message for President Biden: “This is a big issue. He needs to treat it like a big issue.”
And, that means at least threatening military intervention, Suarez said.
“I think taking it off the table, not even mentioning it, not even sort of rattling the saber and taking action and at least putting it down on the minds of the generals that are oppressing and that are beating the people, I think that’s a lack of leadership on the behalf of the United States.” .
Similarly, Miami City Commissioner Manolo Reyes said the Biden administration should act tougher against the Cuban government. Biden has announced a series of sanctions against Cuban military leaders and entities on the island like the Policia Nacional Revolucianaria.
But Reyes accused Biden of taking too long to “study” what is happening there.
“The time for studying what is going on in Cuba is over. If now, after 62 years, you don’t know what is going on in Cuba, you don’t where the hell you’re studying,” Reyes said. “Enough is enough. People are being beaten on the street. People are being killed. People are being tortured. What are you going to study? Which side of the head is being beaten by the club?”
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