![\"Maritza](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773423066_958_MIA_2026-03-08AD0788Cubanexilegroupsrally.JPG\" "\\"Maritza")
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Maritza Lugo Fernandez speaks to supporters during a Proof of Life of Our Brothers ceremony at the Bay of Pigs Monument in Miami\u2019s Little Havana neighborhood. Cuban dissident groups held a press conference to demand repatriation of the bodies of the men killed in the shootout with the Cuban Coast Guard on Sunday, March 8, 2026.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n
adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
As the Cuban government engages in negotiations<\/a> with the Trump administration, the city of Miami said it anticipates potential \u201cmass migration\u201d and is prepared for large-scale celebrations \u201cin the event of a significant change in the government of Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, Miami City Manager James Reyes told city commissioners that Miami\u2019s fire and police chiefs have recently updated plans relating \u201cto the challenges presented with the politics surrounding Cuba and the impacts here in the city of Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n At the commission meeting, Reyes said that earlier this year, he instructed those agencies to \u201crefresh\u201d their action plans in light of \u201cthe politics currently playing out in Cuba, particularly on two fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne is obviously the mass migration front,\u201d Reyes continued. \u201cThe other one is what we can expect, a lot of celebration and mass demonstrations here within the city.\u201d<\/p>\n Reforms to Cuba\u2019s government would be significant in Miami-Dade County, which is home to the largest Cuban diaspora in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n Depending on how things unfold, Reyes said the city of Miami is part of a task force that has partners in county, state and federal law enforcement to assist \u201cparticularly on the migration front.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking at that same meeting Thursday, Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance told the City Commission that \u201cCuba is on the cusp of change.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPreparedness is essential,\u201d Gutierrez-Boronat said. \u201cAs we learned from history, what happens in Cuba deeply affects Miami. What happens in Miami also deeply affects Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n Miami District 3 Commissioner Rolando Escalona<\/a>, who moved to the U.S. from Cuba about a decade ago, said in a statement Friday that, \u201cfor many in our community, Cuba is not a distant issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is personal. It is our story,\u201d Escalona said. \u201cAs developments continue to unfold, Miami understands that what happens in Cuba has a direct impact on our city.\u201d<\/p>\n In an internal memo dated Feb. 4, Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales told Reyes the police department has developed a comprehensive action plan \u201cto ensure public safety, maintain order, and protect constitutional rights in the event of a significant change in the government of Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBased on historical precedent and current intelligence indicators, such an announcement is expected to generate immediate, large-scale spontaneous celebrations throughout the City of Miami, particularly within the Cuban American community,\u201d Morales continued.<\/p>\n Morales said Miami police anticipate \u201cspontaneous gatherings, marches, rallies, and vehicle caravans concentrated in high-visibility and historically significant areas\u201d like Little Havana, specifically Calle Ocho, downtown, Brickell and Bayfront Park.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the anticipated gatherings are celebratory in nature, the scale and spontaneity of the response present risks related to crowd density, traffic congestion, impaired driving, fireworks, and opportunistic criminal activity,\u201d Morales wrote.<\/p>\n What about the Florida Keys?<\/p>\n Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said he doesn\u2019t anticipate an ease in U.S.-Cuba relations to have much of a law-enforcement impact in the Keys, which is where the fallout for unrest in the island nation is often first felt in Florida in the form of migrant landings.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because unlike other times when there were shake-ups in Cuba and citizens wanted to leave, the Trump administration has blockaded the country by water and tightened security at the U.S.-Mexico border, Ramsay said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they could do some sort of mass migration, they\u2019d be doing it now because the economy there is so bad,\u201d Ramsay said. \u201cBut they can\u2019t because of what I call the picket fence from the Coast Guard vessels and other agencies, and if they got caught after they arrived here, they know they\u2019ll be deported right away.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 12:10 PM.<\/p>\n
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