MIAMI — Socialist Workers Party members here are campaigning to discuss with working people why they should oppose Washington’s escalating aggression against Cuba. The discussions are welcomed by many of those they’re meeting.
“This government’s policies are hurting the Cuban people,” Kenia, who asked that her last name not be used, told this Militant worker-correspondent at her doorstep in Homestead, a predominantly agricultural area in South Florida, May 23. She moved here from Cuba in 2014. “The U.S. has tried for over 60 years, but the leadership in Cuba is still in power. The blockade should be lifted.”
“Millions of Cubans refuse to give up,” I said, showing her the picture of the May Day march in Havana on the front page of the Militant. We discussed the indictment of Cuban revolutionary leader Raúl Castro.
“I definitely don’t agree with trying to prosecute Cuba for the shoot down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes,” Kenia said. “I was in Cuba. What country would stand for their intrusion? Same thing with the speedboat that took off from Florida some months ago, loaded with arms, trying to get to Cuba’s shores. Cuba had every right to stop them.”
She also described what she faces on the job from the deep cuts in programs for the autistic children she works with.
“The capitalists and their political parties aim to make the working class shoulder the effects of the crisis,” I replied. “What’s the answer? Cuba shows that socialist revolution is possible. Workers right here in the U.S. need to take political power and organize society in our own interests.”
Kenia subscribed to the Militant and said she’d think about coming to a May 31 rally at the Miami airport demanding an end to the U.S. war threats against Cuba.
Not all her neighbors shared her opinions. One man originally from Cuba told me he thought the Cuban military “pockets all of the money and leaves nothing to the people.”
“The U.S. government is the source of the problem,” I said. “It’s trying to starve the Cuban people into submission.” He thanked me for the discussion but said he thought I was mistaken.
Rachele Fruit, the SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from Florida, and party member David Rosenfeld talked with Angélica López. She told them she and her husband work seven days a week picking 10-15 boxes of okra per day, earning only $3.50 a box. “We have four children and pay $1,200 for rent, plus utilities. So many people want to come here. They see the beautiful city of Miami. But once they arrive, they find out it’s all work, work, work.”
She said that she didn’t know much about Cuba, but bought a Militant.
Fruit and Rosenfeld also met retired nurse Liz Burger who now works as a crossing guard. She told them she grew up in Cordele, Georgia, picking cotton and other produce. She listened with interest when Fruit described the decadeslong fight by Black farmers to keep their land in the face of the government’s efforts to deny them credit.
“A number of them visited Cuba and were amazed to find that farmers there cannot lose the use of the land, even if they have a bad year,” Fruit said. “Those Black farmers became strong supporters of the Cuban Revolution.” Burger bought the Militant to learn more.
At a parking lot in North Miami, Dorys Delgado stopped by a SWP campaign car to talk with party members May 24. She said she agreed with a sign taped to the car, “US Hands off Cuba! Lift the Economic Blockade!”
Originally from Nicaragua, Delgado said, “I love everything about the Cuban struggle, how they have fought all of these years to stay independent. I learned about Cuba in my country, and also from my co-workers here. The Cuban doctors are the best in the world.” She bought the Spanish edition of Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire in Africa by Cuban combatant Víctor Dreke and was glad to learn of the upcoming rally in defense of Cuba at the airport.
One man originally from Cuba said, “I’m not political, but I just want to get rid of the dictators,” referring to the Cuban government. Nonetheless, he bought the Militant to read its point of view.
Karla Jarquín told SWP members her co-worker is trying to bring her pregnant daughter to the U.S. from Cuba because of the worsening provision of healthcare there as a result of U.S. sanctions. Originally from El Salvador, Jarquín works in a factory making military pants, where production is increasing.
“The increase in military spending is tied to the U.S. rulers’ cutthroat competition with governments around the world for markets and resources,” I said. “They’re dragging humanity toward a third world war. The working class is the only force with the capacity to stop them. We have no interest in their system of exploitation.”
“I only make $14 an hour. Look at the billions they spend on destruction,” Jarquín said.
“As capitalism spirals into deeper crisis, we’re also seeing the rise of Jew-hatred,” I added. “Workers should support Israel’s defensive war against Iran and its proxies to prevent another Holocaust.”
“I am a friend of Israel. But I need to know more about their struggle and history,” Jarquín said. She bought The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch: Stakes for the International Working Class.
SWP members campaigned at the Hialeah rail yard in Miami May 26. The six rail workers Rachele Fruit spoke to told her they opposed the U.S. rulers’ assaults on Cuba. Two got the Militant.