{"id":229514,"date":"2020-10-24T13:50:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-24T17:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=229514"},"modified":"2020-10-24T13:51:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-24T17:51:30","slug":"the-emotive-cuban-vote-for-donald-trump-in-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/world\/usa\/the-emotive-cuban-vote-for-donald-trump-in-miami\/","title":{"rendered":"The emotive Cuban American vote for Donald Trump in Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the parking lot of the John F. Kennedy Library, where a voting center has been installed for the 2020 elections, all existing rules are violated in an electoral process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Electoral propaganda is biased, only in favor of President Donald Trump. It is located less than half the authorized distance, which is 150 feet. Political sergeants proselytize close to the voting line. Voters appear with caps, t-shirts or masks in favor of the president. Anyone who favors Democratic candidate Joe Biden is rejected immediately and with disdain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democrats are traitors,\u201d explains H\u00e9ctor, a Nicaraguan evangelical who proudly displays a Trump propaganda mask and begins a short conversation with reporters trying to explain his reasoning. When asked why they are traitors, he answers: \u201cThey are traitors to God.\u201d How? \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d interrupts a lady who stands next to him carrying a \u201cTrump 2000\u201d banner.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hector, the Trump supporter who accuses Democrats of being traitors to God. Photo: Alfredo Prieto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

H\u00e9ctor tries to resolve the matter with a long paragraph. \u201cThe president is the one who is going to liberate us Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans. He is our president.\u201d And the matter goes no further. When the conversation returns to the issue of the Democrats and the fact that there are not many in sight, H\u00e9ctor also has an answer: \u201cYes, they are here, they are infiltrated in the voting line.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cuban Julio Mart\u00ednez, former mayor of Hialeah a long, long time ago, agrees with the Nicaraguan. He calls the journalist aside and inquires before giving explanations. \u201cYou understand Spanish, right?\u201d I answer affirmatively. \u201cWell, the problem is that we support Trump because we have suffered from communism in Cuba and our president has said that he is going to rid us of that curse,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A car carries two pro-Trump banners less than 150 feet from the voting center. Photo: Rui Ferreira.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the discourse continues along that line. When I ask Mart\u00ednez how Americans\u2019 quality of life has improved under Donald Trump, the answer is surprising. \u201cThat is not important now. What\u2019s important is that he has promised to rid us of communism.\u201d When I remind him that the restrictions have impaired contact between Cuban families, we enter the other avatar of anti-Castroism in Miami. \u201cHe\u2019s stopped monetary support for the Castros.\u201d One is dead, he is reminded. \u201cHey, it\u2019s impossible to talk to you. It\u2019s always like that with foreigners, they don\u2019t understand a thing about Cuba.\u201d And he turns his back on me.<\/span><\/p>\n

H\u00e9ctor and Julio are not alone. They are surrounded by friends, but they don\u2019t want to talk. They lower their heads or turn away so as not to appear in the photos.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The former mayor of Hialeah, Julio Mart\u00ednez, who thinks that foreigners don\u2019t understand Cuban affairs. Photo: Rui Ferreira.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hialeah poll workers and police don\u2019t seem interested in correcting the violation of regulations. The most important thing in this constituency is that the people vote. And they do it even in the rain because, at least in Hialeah, support for Trump is an almost religious devotion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pure passion, emotional. Nothing reasonable.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Two Trump voters characterize Biden. Photo: Alfredo Prieto.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A Trump campaign election sticker. Photo: Alfredo Prieto.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n