In a now-famous viral video, members of the Cuban Exile population are seen in the middle of Palmetto Expressway in Florida. The demonstration came in response to newly reported civil unrest in the communist island nation of Cuba.
These demonstrations, which drew the support of most on social media (though commuters had some complaints), were also, not surprisingly met with jeers from those who can’t imagine why anyone would protest a country other than America, and mockingly remarked at Florida Governor DeSantis’s Riot Bill permitted motorists to run over the demonstrators – as if simply occupying a major thoroughfare is, in any way, comparable to the systematic looting and arson of BLM and Antifa.
The demonstrations, which have now appeared across the US from California to Kentucky, have been growing in size and scope. In a refreshing change of pace from the “protests” that have plagued major metros for over a year, the “Free Cuba” demonstrations have been almost entirely non-violent and property damage-free. No federal aid is needed.
However, while support for a free Cuba is strong, the situation on the ground in Cuba has been getting proportionally worse for the nation’s citizens.
The regime in Cuba, currently headed by Miguel Diaz-Canel, has escalated the state response to the protesters across the island. Reports and scraps of footage bypassing internet restrictions have shown masked individuals beating protesters, kidnappings, and senses of live ammunition being used, and door-to-door raids on homes. The total number of missing is estimated in the hundreds, and the dead in the dozens and growing.
Perhaps just as chilling, DHS Secretary Ali Mayorkas has released a statement discouraging Cubans from fleeing to the United States. Those that do, upon arrival, will be taken to “safe-third countries” in a kind of parody of foreign policy.
A stark contrast to the apparent indifference toward other Central American “refugees”.