In homes across Miami-Dade, generations have carried the weight of exile, a quiet but unshakable longing for a homeland taken by tyranny. I grew up surrounded by it.
Exile’s timeline and why it feels different now
That kind of longing doesn’t fade with time. It gets passed down. It becomes part of who you are, right alongside a deep gratitude for the nation that gave our families what Cuba could not: opportunity, dignity, and the ability to build a life.
But even as we built our lives here, part of our hearts never left that island. And today, something feels different. For the first time in decades, that long-held hope no longer feels distant. It feels within reach.
Across the island, the Cuban people are rising, speaking out despite repression, despite fear, and despite the consequences that come with defying a dictatorship. They are demanding the same freedoms our families came here to find. And they are not alone.
There’s a small real-world moment I keep replaying in my head—heat rising off the sidewalk near Little Havana as someone passes out flyers, the whole air thick with traffic noise and, honestly, that restless energy you only feel when people think change might actually land.
U.S.
For too long, failed policies gave cover to a regime that has never earned legitimacy. That chapter is closing.
This is not the time for concessions. It is not the time for normalization. It is not the time to ease pressure on a regime that continues to jail dissidents, silence its people, and deny basic human rights. It is time for resolve.
We must stand against the dictatorship that has oppressed the Cuban people for generations and stand unequivocally with the people themselves.
That means sustained pressure, real accountability, and a refusal to legitimize tyranny in any form.
And yes, it’s easy to talk about pressure in the abstract, like it’s some lever Washington can pull once—actually, no.
It’s lived by families, week after week, year after year.
Because this is not just a policy debate. It is about families who were torn apart, people who were murdered for simply asking for basic human rights, generations who grew up with a piece of their identity missing, and a whole country that has waited far too long to live in freedom.
In Miami-Dade, we understand this in a way few others can. We carry the memories. We carry the pain. And we carry the responsibility to speak clearly and act with conviction.
The Cuban people are closer than ever to the freedom they deserve.
Now is the moment to keep the promise, because too many of our parents and grandparents, including my own father, are no longer here to see the free Cuba they spent their lives dreaming of.
We owe it to them to finish what they never stopped believing in.
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René García serves as Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 13.
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