Miami car caravan protest: ‘Yes to travel to Cuba!’

Carlos Rafael Diéguez

MIAMI — More than 50 cars joined a caravan July 8 protesting the announcement by Washington of steps to reverse some measures taken by then President Barack Obama after Washington re-established diplomatic relations with Havana in 2015.

The caravan drove through Miami’s Cuban neighborhoods for some 15 miles, carrying signs demanding an end to the embargo against Cuba, complete freedom of travel to the island and the immediate return of Guantánamo to Cuba. Inset, signs say, “Down with the blockade” and “Yes to travel to Cuba.”

The caravan was organized after President Donald Trump visited Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood June 16 to announce his new executive order. Flanked by veterans of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, Trump saluted some of the most notorious henchmen of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, overthrown by Fidel Castro and the July 26 Movement in 1959.

Speaking to participants before the protest, Alianza Martiana leader Andrés Gómez noted that the caravan reflects what polls have shown — the majority of Cuban-Americans oppose the U.S. embargo.

— STEVE WARSHELL