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RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE BOARD�S INTENT TO ACKNOWLEDGE MAY 20TH AS CUBAN INDEPENDENCE DAY AND TO CONDEMN THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT�S MANY HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES; AND URGING AND CALLING ON PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CONTINUE TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY STEPS TO STAND AGAINST THESE ABUSES

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WHEREAS, following the Cuban War of Independence against Spain, the island was largely under the control and protection of the United States until May 20, 1902, when the Republic of Cuba was officially formed; and
WHEREAS, this first Republic of Cuba lasted until Fidel Castro took power after the violent communist revolution, which culminated in 1959; and
WHEREAS, for over half a century, the Cuban people have suffered under an authoritarian communist regime that has systematically denied the Cuban people basic human rights and fundamental freedoms; and
WHEREAS, among other abuses, the Cuban communist regime has never held free and fair elections of its leaders; and
WHEREAS, the Cuban government has also undertaken abusive foreign labor programs, which United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has correctly described as �forced labor�; and
WHEREAS, under the programs, laborers are sent overseas, stripped of their passport, and forced to relinquish to the Cuban government the payments that were supposed to go to the laborers; and
WHEREAS, this forced labor program is particularly egregious in the context of doctors and medical workers, who are sent overseas for profit despite a severe lack of medical services and supplies in Cuba; and
WHEREAS, the Cuban government�s actions repeatedly reflect a policy of employing resources for military and clandestine operations at the expense of its citizens� quality of life; and
WHEREAS, for example, the recent United States government operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro revealed that the Cuban government secretly employed intelligence agents to serve as Maduro�s personal guard; and
WHEREAS, additionally, the Cuban government has regularly employed spies and informants to jail and punish citizens who express any criticisms of the government; and
WHEREAS, former political prisoners have reported abusive conditions in Cuban prisons, including physical abuse, solitary confinement, unsanitary conditions, and lack of access to food and clean water; and
WHEREAS, as evidence of these abuses, photos of a Cuban national, Alexander Diaz Rodriguez�who recently completed a four-year jail sentence for peacefully protesting living conditions in 2021�show he was deeply emaciated and was described as looking like a concentration camp survivor; and
WHEREAS, following substantial economic and political pressure from the United States, the Cuban government announced in April that it would begin releasing just over 2,000 prisoners but has rebuffed calls to release political prisoners; and
WHEREAS, various human rights groups have noted that swaths of political prisoners remain unjustly incarcerated, with estimates ranging from many hundreds to over one thousand people; and
WHEREAS, despite international condemnation, the Cuban government has continued to arrest political dissidents, including people of faith and teenagers, like Jonathan Muir Burgos, a sixteen-year-old with significant medical ailments who was placed in a maximum-security prison and faces a seven-year minimum sentence for charges stemming from his alleged participation in an anti-government protest; and
WHEREAS, Miami-Dade County is home to hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles who were political prisoners or otherwise had to flee the abuses and the famines imposed by the Cuban communist regime; and
WHEREAS, in seeking to secure basic human rights by escaping the island, countless Cubans have died in the process, including due to direct actions by the Cuban government; and
WHEREAS, for example, on February 24, 1996, the Cuban Air Force, without warning, shot down in international airspace two unarmed civilian planes operated by �Hermanos al Rescate� (Brothers to Rescue), a Miami-based activist nonprofit organization that sought to assist refugees escaping Cuba by raft; and
WHEREAS, the Cuban government has never acknowledged its human rights violations and has instead attempted to erase or rewrite historical events, as reflected in the government�s refusal to recognize May 20th as Cuban Independence Day; and
WHEREAS, despite the Cuban government�s efforts, the Cuban diaspora in Miami-Dade County and elsewhere continue to celebrate May 20th as Cuban Independence Day; and
WHEREAS, Miami-Dade County wishes to show solidarity with Cuban exiles by expressing its intent to acknowledge May 20th as Cuban Independence Day, by condemning the Cuban government�s numerous historical and continuing human rights abuses, by calling for free
and fair elections of Cuba�s leadership and for the regime to liberate all political prisoners, and by urging and calling upon President Donald J. Trump and the federal government to continue to take any steps necessary to stand against these abuses,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, that this Board:
Section 1. Expresses its intent to acknowledge May 20th as Cuban Independence Day and to condemn the many historical and ongoing human rights abuses by the Cuban government.
Section 2. Urges President Donald J. Trump and the federal government to continue to take all necessary action to stand against ongoing human rights abuses by the Cuban government, including its jailing of social and political dissidents and its refusal to hold free and fair elections.
Section 3. Directs the Clerk of the Board to transmit a certified copy of this resolution to President Donald J. Trump, United States Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio, United States Senate Majority Leader John R. Thune, United States House Speaker James Michael Johnson, and the Chair and Members of the Florida Congressional Delegation.