litically active on a local level. The final straw came when she saw her family members and fellow churchgoers parroting anti-Semitic talking points linked to the QAnon conspir- acy theory. From there, it only took a short message to her friend, Cubanos Con Biden member Amore Rodriguez, to join the group. The end of the 2020 presidential election brought great news for Cubanos Con Biden: According to Rivero, political strategists in- formed the group that it had forced Trump’s campaign to spend more money and re- sources in South Florida. An early incarnation of Cubans Pa’lante; active members identified by name: MIKE RIVERO feel open, and it was a no-judgment zone. They could share their progressive ideals,” Perez explains. Their activities, mostly online, ranged from spotlighting interesting members of the community to organizing small-scale re- treats. Then July 11, 2021, came along and shook all of Miami. Protesters in Cuba engaged with police and marched in demonstrations across the island, demanding improved access to food and COVID-19 vaccines. The protests in- spired Miamians to assemble as well and U.S. in 2014. After management at the small restaurant where he worked exploited work- ers’ lack of documentation by instituting mas- sive pay cuts, Pulido says, he witnessed the power of political organization. After three days of striking, they got the manager fired and their salaries doubled. “That was the first time I felt like, ‘Oh, ” Daniela Ferrera AMORE RODRIGUEZ CYNTHIA PEREZ Betty Fuentes Photo by Cubanos Pa’lante “That means that it opened up opportuni- ties in other places in the country where Democrats can push and states can be won. I never like to quantify results like that, but our work did have an impact,” Rivero says. The end of the campaign also brought con- versations about the future. How would Cu- banos Con Biden stay afloat after the election? The most immediate problem was the name. “How can we approach our community and have a conversation about issues, but the moment you say ‘Cubanos Con Biden’ — the moment you say Biden — we’re talking about a Democrat? They think all Democrats are communists,” Rivero says. The new name was an easy pick: “Cubanos Pa’lante,” which translates to “Cubans Mov- ing Forward” in English. For each member, this meant something different, but the idea of moving forward from the Cuban commu- nity’s generational political trauma was shared by all. As Joe Biden returned to the White House, the members of Cubanos Pa’lante had to figure out how they were going to let the world know the group existed. “We just wanted to get the community involved so we could give them a space to sparked a renewed international conversa- tion about human rights in Cuba. Cubanos Pa’lante decided to fundraise for Cubans, and its newly acquired 6,000 Instagram follow- ers came through with more than the group had expected. “All of a sudden we raised $40,000 very quickly that we were responsible for distrib- uting in the island — it was a very intense time,” Cubanos Pa’lante cofounder Betty Fuentes says. Donations were used to supply food and medicine to Cuba, yet the tangible items the group sent did little to persuade right-wing Cubans in Miami. “There was a lot of [Instagram] messages that were like, ‘You guys are lying. You guys are stealing. You’re a bunch of pendejos.’ And just calling us all sorts of things,” says Fuentes. While the group in Miami grappled with its newfound responsibilities, Washington, D.C. resident and Cubanos Pa’lante co- founder Marley Pulido was invited to attend a meeting with the White House Office of Pub- lic Engagement. Two weeks later, he met with President Biden. An Afro-Cuban native of Havana, Pulido settled in Hollywood when he arrived in the yeah, another world is possible if you really, really fight for it,’” Pulido says. Attending the meeting with the White House Office of Public Engagement, Pulido noticed a stark contrast between the represen- Press Reports reached out to Cubanos Pa’lante. The topic of the episode has become a primary focus of the group in recent months: politically driven misinformation. During the segment, the group highlighted how bogus information propagates through the South Florida Hispanic community on so- cial media posts, with conspiracy theories spreading like wildfire about everything from COVID-19 to Hillary Clinton. “We are literally living in two different realities,” Ferrera summed up on Chuck Todd’s show. Ferrera and Perez say GOP strategists use JUST THE FACT THAT YOU EXIST REALLY BOTHERS THEM. tation of the Cuban community in the room and the footage coming out of the streets on the island. The July 2021 protests in Cuba, Pu- lido says, brought out scores of Afro-Cuban residents and people “from the poorest and smallest towns.” But at the White House, he was the only Afro-Cuban in the room. “Why are they not represented in this ” space?” Pulido wondered. The fight for representation as an Afro- Cuban immigrant was one of the inspira- tions for Cubanos Pa’lante member Lebert Grinan to ramp up his political activism and join the group. Just two years after his arrival to the U.S. from Cuba, then-14-year-old Grinan’s family moved to Texas. The new environment ex- posed Grinan to racism and discrimination on a level he’d never experienced. He quickly learned that there were people in his commu- nity and school who disliked him simply be- cause of who he was. “Just the fact that you exist really bothers them,” Grinan says of the experience. Cubanos Pa’l Mundo In February, the NBC program Meet the South Florida as a testing ground for their messaging. This lets Republicans know what social issues can be pushed in other areas of the country, and it contributes to a volatile political environment on a local level. Cubanos Pa’lante claims the strategy has exploited Cuban trauma. “I think we were all very angry to see the previous administration and politicians take advantage of the community like that, be- cause the trauma of the people on the island is real,” Perez says. But outreach can’t be limited to the Cuban community, according to the group. Cubanos Pa’lante also sees a disconnect with American left-leaning voters. Members have shared sto- ries of being called “gusanos” by American leftists; the term, which literally translates to “worm,” is used by the Castro regime to refer to its political enemies. The lack of dialogue is especially clear in New York City, says Cubanos Pa’lante mem- ber Clarisa Alayeto, a local judicial delegate and community organizer. Like other Cuba- nos Pa’lante members, Alayeto says her po- litical activism is not a conscious decision but was instead embedded in her identity from a young age. While attending college, she wrote for her school’s newspaper, where she soon realized all her articles fo- cused on politics. During the July 2021 protests, Alayeto called her contacts and scheduled a protest in New York City. To her shock, only Cubans with right-wing political leanings showed up. “I felt bad because I wanted to do this work, but I just could not align with what they stood for,” Alayeto says. Today, Cubanos Pa’lante is focused on the 2022 midterm elections and fostering a politi- cally informed community. The group has re- sources on its website for cultural education, advocacy, and ways to get involved with Cuba- nos Pa’lante activities. Group members say they get hate messages, but they also hear from Cubans who are horrified at the direc- tion in which their community has been head- ing and who want to do something about it. “We’re a couple of regular citizens, coming together with different issues that motivate us. When I look at the impact we’ve had and the people we have inspired and helped, it goes to show that community organizing, at the end of the day, is one of the most powerful things to bring about change,” Rivero says. [email protected] 29 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 AUGUST 25-31, 2022
