6 January 23-29, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | SHAKEUP Mayor Suarez’s newest spokesperson is a fitness model. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN T here is a new woman in Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s professional life. Meet his new communications director: Ana Isabel Hume, a bodybuilding competitor, fitness model, and former host of lifestyle program Inside South Florida on WSFL-TV (Channel 39). She officially joined the office on November 18. Hume made the move from broadcast jour- nalism after she claims the TV station fired her for congratulating president-elect Donald Trump on his win in the 2024 presidential election on her personal Instagram. She previ- ously worked at the Miami Dade State Attor- ney’s Office as a public information officer and community outreach representative. “Hume, a 20-year journalism veteran, says her firing was more about silencing political views than upholding neutrality,” an article featured on Minute by Minute (MxM) News, the news aggregation platform launched by former Trump staffers including Donald Trump Jr., reads. She is replacing Stephanie Severino, who is now working within the division of public affairs and community engagement at the City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue. Severino became Suarez’s spokesperson in June 2023. Prior to her role at the mayor’s office, Sev- erino was the communicators director for the City of Miami. In March 2023, City Manager Art Noriega handed her an official repri- mand, which New Times obtained through a public record request, for violating civil ser- vice rules by yelling at employees. “Specifically it was found that you fre- quently yelled at your subordinates, disre- spected them at meetings in front of each other, and that you regularly belittled your employees,” the reprimand states. “It was further revealed that, at times, you made in- appropriate and unprofessional comments towards your staff.” She was transferred to the City of Miami Police Department on March 13, 2023, as a re- sult of her behavior, before becoming the mayor’s spokesperson. Suarez, who seems to have mixed luck with his communications professionals, is now onto his fourth spokesperson since 2019. Former TV journalist Rene Pedrosa, who joined the mayor’s office as Suarez’s commu- nications director in 2019, was arrested in 2020 for luring a 16-year-old boy to city hall under the pretense of a job interview, groping him, and later receiving images of the teen. Court records revealed that Pedrosa invited the teen to city hall to discuss him designing a website for the mayor. At that meeting, Pedrosa “touched the minor victim’s penis over his clothing multiple times, grabbed his buttocks, kissed the minor victim, and placed [the minor’s] hand over [Pedrosa’s] clothed erect penis,” the factual proffer statement reads. Following the meeting, Pedrosa messaged with teen on WhatsApp and received sexu- ally-explicit photos of the 16-year-old. In Au- gust 2023, the former spokesman was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of re- ceiving child- porn images. The more seri- ous charges were dropped as a result. Soledad Cedro — a self- described Emmy Award- winning jour- nalist — was next in line and took over as communications director. She was ridiculed in May 2023 after she claimed on Twitter, the platform now known as X, that then-Miami Herald reporter Joey Flechas was harassing a city employee by simply doing his job. “Check out what the @MiamiHerald He/ His/Him reporter is out doing: harassing city employees at their homes during a holiday weekend to feed the newspaper’s sick obses- sion with @Francis Suarez,” Cedro wrote. She included a photo of Flechas’ business card and a note asking an unidentified person to speak with him. “Ms. [redacted] I hope you’re doing well,” the note reads. “I was hoping we could have a private conversation. Perhaps we could meet?” Cedro was back in the spotlight less than a month later. The Daily Beast obtained emails revealing that she was writing “100 percent positive” articles about billionaire and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who donated $1 million to Su- arez’s political action committee and formed a close relationship with mayor as he moved his headquarters to Miami. In her articles for Spanish-language outlet Infobae where she celebrated Griffin’s move to Miami and his “significant donations for education” locally, Cedro did not mention her role at the City of Miami despite emailing with Zia Ahmed, a Citadel spokesperson, us- ing her City of Miami government email. The emails showed that Ahmed thanked Cedro for her articles promoting Griffin. Suarez’s relationship with Griffin was at the center of a state ethics complaint, which was later dismissed, after the billionaire provided the mayor and his wife VIP tickets to Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix in 2023. The Florida Commission on Ethics found that the mayor reimbursed the ticket costs and there was “no probable cause to believe” that he accepted the gifts in exchange for political favors. Cedro resigned from the mayor’s office in September 2023 and now works as an a polit- ical analyst and advisor, according to her LinkedIn. [email protected] Ana Isabel Hume became Francis Suarez’s new communications director in November 2024. Screenshot via YouTube/WSFL | METRO | HUME MADE THE MOVE FROM BROADCAST JOURNALISM AFTER SHE CLAIMS THE TV STATION FIRED HER FOR CONGRATULATING PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP ON HIS WIN.
