By Pastor Herrera Macuran | Horizonte Cubano News
Dear Representative Angie Nixon,
Some time ago, I sent a letter to your U.S. Senate campaign introducing myself and sharing my perspective on Florida, Cuba, and the political conversation taking place in our state.
I did not receive a response. I understand that a statewide campaign receives an enormous amount of correspondence, and I do not know whether that first letter ever reached you personally.
For that reason, I am writing again — this time publicly.
I recently listened to you during a Miami television program. I came away convinced that there is a much larger conversation your campaign could be having with South Florida.
That conversation is not primarily about Cuba.
It is about the people who live here.
South Florida Is Struggling
South Florida is home to Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, Colombians, Nicaraguans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans and immigrants from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
It is also home to Black Americans, white working-class families and people who may have very different political histories but increasingly confront many of the same economic realities.
Housing has become extraordinarily expensive.
Rent consumes an increasing portion of workers’ incomes.
Food, transportation, insurance and other necessities place enormous pressure on families.
Agriculture, construction, hospitality, restaurants and numerous other industries depend heavily on immigrant workers.
At the same time, immigration enforcement, detention and deportation have created fear and uncertainty for immigrant families.
Behind every immigration statistic there can be a worker, a child, a spouse, an employer and a community.
Cubans are affected.
Haitians are affected.
Venezuelans are affected.
Other Latino and Caribbean communities are affected.
And the consequences extend beyond immigrants themselves because these communities are deeply woven into Florida’s economy.
These are issues worthy of a candidate for the United States Senate.
There Is a Political Opportunity Here
Representative Nixon, you have an opportunity to speak for people who often appear in political speeches but do not always believe politicians understand their daily lives.
Talk to the construction worker struggling to pay rent.
Talk to agricultural workers wondering what immigration policy means for their families.
Talk to the Haitian family worried about whether the life they have built in Florida can suddenly disappear.
Talk to Venezuelans, Cubans and other immigrants who came here seeking stability and opportunity.
Talk to Black families, Latino families and white working-class families confronting the same grocery bills, insurance premiums and housing costs.
There may be far more common ground among these Floridians than our political system acknowledges.
That could be a powerful conversation.
But there is another issue where I respectfully believe caution is necessary.
Cuba Requires More Than a Slogan
I am Cuban-American.
I oppose policies that unnecessarily punish Cuban families. I believe the suffering of ordinary people should never become an instrument of political strategy.
But I also do not believe that the United States embargo, by itself, is the cause of poverty in Cuba.
Cuba’s economic condition cannot responsibly be explained without examining the decisions and failures of the Cuban government, the structure of its economy, decades of U.S. sanctions, its international relationships and more than sixty years of confrontation between Havana and Washington.
All of those realities can be discussed simultaneously.
Recognizing the failures of the Cuban system does not require supporting policies that hurt Cuban families.
Questioning American sanctions does not require absolving the Cuban government of responsibility.
That distinction is particularly important in South Florida.
Listen Before Defining Cuba
The Cuban question is politically and emotionally complicated.
People in South Florida carry different histories: exile, imprisonment, separation, migration, lost property, family members remaining on the island and generations born in the United States.
Entering that discussion requires listening.
If Cuban poverty is presented primarily as the consequence of a U.S. «blockade,» many Cuban-American voters may stop listening before they ever hear what you have to say about housing, wages, healthcare, immigration or the cost of living.
And that would be a lost opportunity.
You do not have to agree with the traditional politics of Miami.
You do not have to abandon your own principles.
But understanding a community is different from simply adopting one side of a decades-old political argument.
Make This Election About Florida
My suggestion is simple:
Do not allow Cuba to define your campaign in South Florida.
Make this election about Florida.
Make it about whether a family can afford a home.
Make it about whether someone working forty hours a week can afford rent, groceries, transportation and insurance.
Make it about agriculture and construction.
Make it about workers.
Make it about immigration policies and their human and economic consequences.
Make it about the Haitian, Venezuelan, Cuban and other immigrant families who are part of Florida.
Make it about Black, Latino and white families who may vote differently but frequently struggle with the same economic problems.
Cuba deserves a serious discussion.
But Florida’s voters deserve a campaign about their lives.
I am not asking you to abandon your principles or adopt mine.
I am asking you to listen.
Listen to South Florida before allowing the politics of Cuba to speak louder than the people who actually live here.
That conversation might surprise you.
And it might also reveal that Floridians who appear politically divided have considerably more in common than Washington assumes.
Respectfully,
Pastor Herrera Macuran
Horizonte Cubano News
The facts first. Opinion second. Evidence always.