C uban flags filled Calle Ocho in July 2021 as Miamians protested in soli- darity with those back on the island who were marching over food shortages, blackouts, and lack of access to medicine, among other issues. Amid a sea of Trump hats and conservative political messaging common at Cuban-American protests, Dan- iela Ferrera stood out. She wore a shirt bear- ing the logo of Cubanos Pa’lante, a Miami-based group she cofounded to pro- mote progressive ideals and combat political misinformation in the Hispanic community. strong responses in local communities, rang- ing from supportive to outright hostile. Cuban-American Mike Rivero was in- spired to contact Ferrera when he spotted one of Cubanos Con Biden’s caravans. Rivero, who would become a cofounder of Cubanos Pa’lante, was a seasoned canvasser who had been volunteering for campaigns since Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential run. In 2019, not long before he joined Cubanos Con Biden, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Surviving cancer left its mark on Rivero, but what has struck him deeper is the mem- VOCES DE LA RAZÓN (VOICES OF REASON) Meet the progressive Cubans behind Cubanos Pa’lante. BY REINA PEREZ Hailing from the Ciego de Ávila province in Cuba, Ferrera and her family arrived on a raft in Miami in 2001, two months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After having been raised conservative and supporting Republi- can politicians, she hit a turning point during the 2016 presidential election season. “I was seeing the patterns, even as a Re- publican,” Ferrera says of Trump’s rise to power. “This was someone who did not re- spect democracy.” Though she voted for Hillary Clinton, Fer- rera did not consider herself a Democrat until she saw Ron DeSantis win the 2018 Florida gubernatorial race. Concerned about the di- rection of the state and the nation, she sat down with about a dozen other Cubans in the midst of the 2020 presidential primaries and forged a plan to rally local support for then- candidate Joe Biden. On May 20, 2020, the day Cuban exiles celebrate Independence Day, they started a grassroots organization called Cubanos Con Biden. During the pandemic, knocking on doors 81 was out of the question, so Cubanos Con Biden turned to vehicle caravans — the same kind of street-roving political rallies popular among Trump fans. The Biden caravans prompted ory of those who were not as fortunate. “I lived firsthand what it’s like to go through a cancer battle, right? You never think you’re going to get sick at 30. I saw peo- ple next to me who were doing chemo who didn’t have insurance, and I saw the gaps in our systems,” Rivero says. Rebranding and Re-Engaging Cynthia Perez stood outside a polling location in Miami on a sunny October morning wearing her Cubanos Con Biden T-shirt. As she handed out small pam- phlets to passersby, she was approached by a mom with child in tow, both decked out in Trump gear. The mother encour- aged the child to confront Perez and he complied with a barrage of obscenities. It was just one of the many instances of ca- sual abuse lobbed at Democrats during the election, but it reminded Perez why she’d signed on. “I have this strong personality trait where I don’t like to see people getting wronged,” she tells New Times. Perez watched Trump and DeSantis rise to prominence before she decided to get po- MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 AUGUST 25-31, 2022 NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS |miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com miaminewtimes.com
