JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As Cubans take to the streets in their island nation, Cuban Americans are raising their voices with them in Jacksonville.
“It’s been 62 years that Cuba has ever seen a production like this," Juan Carlos Del Valle, a Cuban pastor living in Jacksonville said. "I believe that this is the first time the fear has been lifted.”
About a hundred people gathered downtown at the former Landing Monday night to sing, dance and demand for Cuban people's freedom.
Local Cuban Americans say their concern is about the country’s food shortage and their lack of medical resources during the pandemic.
“The COVID cases, that is raising every day," protestor Eduardo Ramos said. "We have 7,000 cases a day, raising over there with no access to a thing at all."
Ramos fled the communist country when he was 16 and moved to Jacksonville. He’s been keeping up with the recent headlines coming out of Cuba.
“Right now, I just start crying. It’s so sad, it doesn't matter where you’re from, to see somebody dying," Ramos explained. "It’s sad not being able to help someone. We are over here dancing and praying, they’re over there just fighting for their life. They just want freedom, they don’t want violence.”
Del Valle also grew up in Cuba.
Like Ramos, he says he’s read about and seen videos of the country using violence to break up protests.
Del Valle hopes rallies like the one in Jacksonville – and all over the world – get Cubans the help they need.
“What people will need now is support from the United States of America," Del Valle said. "Because they don't have weapons, they don't have guns, they cannot fight back. And it's not about a vaccine, it's not about COIVD, it's about freedom.“