The aborted invasion of Cuba by President Kennedy has hurt Democrats politically in Florida for a have a century….
While Democratic President’s have tried to make political connections to the island just south of Florida?
Those efforts have just cost them votes in elections by Cuban-Americans and other Latino’s who have fled from countries with South American dictator’s….
“I guess Kennedy wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do — and that brought us a consequence,” said Lopez de la Cruz, who says he doesn’t blame anyone for the loss, adding that he doesn’t know what kind of intelligence and other foreign policy considerations the administration was facing at the time.
Heros added that “many of us, at the time, blamed President Kennedy — I myself do not.”
The political aftermath
After more than a year imprisoned by Castro, sympathizers in the United States eventually negotiated their release to Miami, where Kennedy hosted a “Welcome Back” ceremony for the captured fighters.
However, six decades later, the failed invasion and Kennedy’s decision still inflames arguments in Miami’s Little Havana that reverberate beyond South Florida.
“The mention of Kennedy’s name is considered a betrayal for Cubans,” said Eduardo Celorio, a Cuban-American and avid domino player on Calle Ocho. “That’s why Cubans started moving to the Republican Party.”
President Kennedy displays the combat flag of the Cuban landing brigade, and declares to an audience of 40,000 that it “will be returned this brigade in a free Havana.” The brigade was quickly stopped by Castro’s army during the Bay of Pigs invasion.
“I think you can draw a straight line from the trauma of the Bay of Pigs, and the generational trauma of the Bay of Pigs, all the way to the election of 2020 — and probably beyond,” said Billy Corben, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has spent decades documenting culture and politics in Miami.
“A great many politicians, especially Republicans, found a way to weaponize the ‘C-word:’ Communism.”
Corben’s latest film, “537 Votes” looks at how the political leanings of Cuban-Americans in Miami has altered national elections. He says the scars of communism have primed not only Cubans, but Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and other groups that have grappled with leftist regimes for a very specific message from the GOP: Democrats can’t be trusted.
“There is a way that Democrats can speak to that constituency, but yet they fail to,” Corben said. “And in that vacuum comes constant reminders of the trauma.”
Corben points to former President Donald Trump as a perfect example of a candidate striking an emotional chord with those fleeing oppression by connecting Democrats to their oppressors.
“Those tactics and strategies are now used by Republicans all over the country,” Corben says.
Despite hosting political candidates for decades, the Bay of Pigs veterans made Trump their first presidential endorsement in 55 years. Notably, Trump first visited members of the brigade when initially contemplating a bid for the White House in 1999 and then sought and gained their endorsement during his 2016 run.
During his 1999 visit with the brigade veterans, Trump called for a continuation of the embargo with Cuba,…
No reason for Democrats to break our backs for voters still caught up in what Kennedy did 6 decades ago.
It’s pointless.
Maybe not Scott
But it IS costing the party politically in Florida…
Scott is right.
This isn’t exactly “News.”
Cubans have been essentially Republican supporters for well over 50 years.
What do you suggest be done about this James?
The news 12 or 15 years ago wasn’t that Cuban-Americans were turning Republican: it was that the solid hawkish extreme anti-Castro Republican Cuban-American front (led by the Cuban American National Council) was beginning to show a few cracks, especially in the younger generation — who didn’t share their elders’ direct grievance and dreams of Castroism cracking under American pressure, but instead hoped for a gradual softening of the barriers. with more interchange, travel and family reunions that they hope would mitigate some of the harshness of the Cuban dictatorship and of American countermeasures.
The Democrats, the faultiness of whose polling was shown in 2016, just didn’t catch onto the power of anti-Socialist Republican attack ads in the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan American communities.
On Cuba?
Tough one for Democrats….
Biden got the majority of Latino/Hispanic vote nationwide 66%….
But Florida went to the GOPer’s….
Obama went out of his way to normalise the Cuba/US relations….
And I agree with Obama even if Florida is sacrificed ….
Harris is now the chief conduct to Latin America it would seem due to immigration…
We’ll see how she deals with the dictators down there…
Conservative Group Calls Out ‘Groveling’ Marco Rubio Over Trump In Damning Ad,
Ed Mazza·Overnight Editor, HuffPost
Tue, April 20, 2021, 4:31 AM·1 min read
A conservative group is calling out Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for hypocrisy when it comes to former President Donald Trump.
Rubio warned in 2016 that Trump “would shatter the party and the conservative movement” and called him a “con artist.” But as the new video from the Republican Accountability Project points out, he’s not only turned into a Trump defender, he’s also won the former president’s endorsement for next year’s reelection effort.
“This is an extra-special endorsement because he’s a resident and voter in Florida,” Rubio crowed last week. “So, I don’t just need his endorsement, I need his vote and the votes of all his family who are also moving to Florida.”
The new video slams Rubio for the flip-flop.
“He’s known all along that Trump would be a unique danger to the GOP and our country,” the voiceover said. “But that hasn’t stopped him from supporting Trump for the past four years, and groveling for his endorsement and vote today.”
The spot will be targeted at Florida residents online and will air on Fox News during “Hannity” in the West Palm Beach market, which is also the home of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and club….
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/marco-rubio-donald-trump-083157167.html
Except that Trump HAS endorsed Rubio…..
That’s what the story says, James (read, don’t just scan and react).
And the Republican Accountability Project is calling out Rubio for his sudden closeness to Trump.
What?
You mean some GOPer’s are AGAINST people getting tight with Trump????
AFTER they knocked the Big Guy?
Suspicious….
Like i said …..
For today like Jack see’s things
Support
But underneath?
Hmmmmm?
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) top brass met in the White House with President Biden on Tuesday, in a show of force for a group often at the forefront of Democratic clashes with former President Trump.
The CHC, led by Chairman Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), discussed health care, vaccine equity, Biden’s infrastructure and jobs plan, immigration reform and racial equity.
The meeting, planned weeks ago, stood in stark contrast to the last time a CHC chair formally discussed immigration at the White House. In January 2018, then-Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) showed up uninvited to an immigration summit with Trump and congressional leaders. She was ultimately allowed in the room….
More…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_8km-4m_88&w=646&h=361%5D