Anti-Posada demonstrators rally

It was a bright and sunny day Feb. 9 in Little Havana. The weather was just right for a walk over to enjoy a cafesito or a colada at a well-known right-wing Cuban hang-out, the Versailles Restaurant. But things weren’t business as usual that morning.

For those who said it could not be done, well it has been done!

A group of Miami’s local anti-war activists along with Code Pink women against the war rallied for two-and-a-half hours out in front of the Versailles on Little Havana’s Eighth Street. They rallied to defend free speech in response to the violent attack carried out against Code Pink when they first attempted to hand out informational postcards on anti-Cuba terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, in January.

In front of the Versailles, the anti-Cuba gang could only muster up about 100 relics of their infamous past. They had announced to the press and Miami Police Department that 800 would be there. Held behind police barriers, they were frustrated in their efforts to disrupt the anti-Posada action.

The anti-Posada forces chanted pro-Cuba slogans, sang and danced in Little Havana. This was an important defeat for Miami’s anti-Cuba gang. The only thing that they could accomplish was to raise their blood pressure.

The Feb. 9 action in Little Havana created important opportunities and challenges for the progressive movement in Miami. The fact that the pro-fascist forces were only able to mobilize a little under a hundred people in the heart of Little Havana and that police were unable to openly collaborate with the rightists, reflects a shift in the relationship of forces in the Cuban exile community. It meant progressive forces were able to demonstrate on those streets.

Today there is an opportunity to end the climate of fear and intimidation that has stifled political debate in Miami for far too long. The issue will be whether the progressive forces in the Cuban community have the maturity and seriousness to take advantage of this new opportunity to help shape the national debate on the U.S.’s foreign policy towards Cuba, Venezuela and movements for social justice in Latin America and the Caribbean.