A rally in Midtown Saturday called for freedom in Cuba, after a week of heightened tension between the communist country and the Trump administration.
With cries of “Viva Cuba libre, abajo la dictadura, abajo!,” demonstrators demanded an end to the dictatorship that began with the late Fidel Castro taking power in 1959.
The dictatorship is a cancer and we have to treat this cancer, get rid of it right away,” former West New York, NJ Mayor Felix E. Roque, a Cuban national, told NBC New York.
Members of the Cuban community in New York rallied outside the permanent mission of Cuba to the United Nations. They pleaded with President Trump to intervene on the island.
When asked by News 4’s Axel Turcios if he believed the regime’s end was near, Roque said “I believe it is. And I tell you, I know Mr. Trump doesn’t play around,” he explained. “I believe he’s going to keep his word and make a positive change for Cuba.”
U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the United States is not looking at imminent military action against Cuba, despite Trump’s repeated threats that “Cuba is next.”
“We (are) showing to them we are not afraid, we expressed what we feel, and we are in conjunction with our fellow that are presently suffering in Cuba,” said Roque.
Bárbara Cambón, the New York Cuban and Latin American Parade President, added, “I support our Cuban people. They protest about the freedom, they need freedom, they need electricity.”
Officials involved in preliminary discussions with Cuban authorities also told The Associated Press that they don’t think the communist government will accept tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, after an American delegation met with the Cuban government last month.
Cambón, who still has family in Cuba, tells News 4, “My family is saying no electricity right now, the condition for life is not good, they don’t have food.”
This week, the Trump administration imposed new financial sanctions against key Cuban entities as part of a massive pressure campaign aimed at a regime change.