Florida protesters show solidarity with Cubans by blocking major roads. They may be challenging stat

[hay rick]

Source: Sun-Sentinel

In a show of solidarity with Cuban people protesting against the country’s communist dictatorship, South Florida demonstrators shut down a major expressway Tuesday afternoon in Miami-Dade County.

The Palmetto Expressway/State Road 826 was closed for hours, starting at about 1 p.m. Video from television station helicopters showed the highway closed in both directions, and there was an extensive police presence.
...

The blocking of Florida’s major roads by protesters sparked discussion about the state’s new anti-protest law — championed and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in response to 2020 social justice demonstrations the MAGA movement didn’t like. The law makes illegal some of what anti-Cuban government protesters are now doing.

When he signed the legislation into law in April, DeSantis said: “Just think about it, you’re driving home from work, and all of a sudden, you have people out there shutting down a highway, and we worked hard to make sure that didn’t happen in Florida. … They start to do that, [then] there needs to be swift penalties.”

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-miami-cuba-street-protests-20210713-phkjsvjfrnb55pujvf2geye7gm-story.html

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In the first major test of his new anti-riot bill, DeSantis can't run away fast enough. Let the hypocrisy begin.

[blm]

1. Yup.

[OrlandoDem2]

2. I just returned from a rally in Orlando that blocked SR 436 south for over an hour.

It is a major road through Orlando. At one point north bound was closed too. There were several hundred people, close to a thousand total. Police took one man under arrest.

I hope the protests continue (my wife is of Cuban descent). But the law passed by the GOP and signed by DeSantis is clearly not being enforced much at all. Wait until Black Americans protest, however. He’s so hypocritical.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Thank you for attending and reporting back.

[reACTIONary]

13. What is the rational for....

... blocking roads in protest? How does this help Cubans gain their freedom? How does it promote sympathy for their cause?

[AZLD4Candidate]

3. Didn't Florida just pass a law saying if protestors block a road, you can legally run them over?

[hay rick]

5. Yes they did: SB 1.

DeSantis came up with it when the George Floyd demonstrations were in the national spotlight. It's expected to be trashed by the courts, but in the mean time it's state law. It's DeSantis' baby.

[AZLD4Candidate]

6. FYI. . .SB is Chinese short hand for 傻逼 (sha bi) which means asshole

I figure somehow that fits talking about DeSantis, since he is truly the SB1 of Florida.

[sop]

10. Yeah, that was the "run over black protestors" law. It doesn't apply to anyone else.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. Here we go. Good Night and Good Luck. RIP Mr. Murrow.

[pfitz59]

8. Hypocrisy on display

"Only the 'right' protestors should be run over."

[Warpy]

9. Oh, the inhumanity of inconvenience!

Somebody needs to grow up.

[hay rick]

12. A lot of somebodies need to grow up.

They still haven't recovered from the day the dog ate their homework.

[Hulk]

11. These damned fools should be protesting the US policies that have been strangling Cuba for 60 years

Of course they are out in the streets. Anything to overthrow the Cuban government. Forget how miserable we have made their situation.

[eissa]

14. There is enough blame to go around

While the embargo has had a negative impact on Cuban society, so have the government's decades of repression and corruption. The embargo aside, had the Russians not propped up the Castro regime for years, and had the Cuban government heeded the advice of other communist nations to embrace a market economy, we probably wouldn't be here today.

[Hulk]

15. Plenty to the story....

Are you suggesting 60 years of our strangling embargo is a minor reason for the state of their economy?

Since there is plenty of blame to go around....I suggest we accept OUR blame to the state of affairs in Cuba today as well.

[EX500rider]

16. Lots of other countries to trade with

The issue is communist countries never produce either quality or quantity of goods for trade

[Hulk]

18. They have been educating doctors at an extremely large number....

But that may be the only example i can come up with.

Not sure why I'm being cornered into trying to back a communist failure....but I do know that EVERYONE has medical care and food rations...although meager. That is superior to what we currently have in the US.

And they really don't have "lots of other countries to trade with"...because the embargo prevents other countries from trading with them as well. It isn't JUST the US that refuses to trade....the US threatens other countries from trading. It's more complex that one might think.

[EX500rider]

21. And yet ...

Cuba's main trading partners include Venezuela, China, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and the Netherlands.

[eissa]

17. The embargo has provided a convenient excuse

for the Cuban government. I’d venture to say that they actually preferred them as it was any easy scapegoat for all their failures. Had our short-sighted pettiness not dictated our policies with Cuba, I actually think the people would have risen up a lot earlier than this.

Aside from the Cuban people, there are no innocent parties in this mess.

[Hulk]

19. Agreed....

Convenient.....and there are no innocent parties aside from the Cuban people.

I visited Cuba a few years ago. I know there is resentment there...especially by the younger generation. They want to prosper, and they really can't. There is not just poverty, but the city of Havana is crumbling, and people are living in squalor. They are not happy...but they are also not as sick and contaminated by capitalism and poor nutrition like in the USA.

Somehow, this embargo needs to be lifted. The people need to be able to enjoy an open society, but it is still under this phony communist illusion of government. It does not work...and it's obvious to everyone. They are such good people. Crime is negligible in Cuba. The people are as varied as anywhere in the world. They deserve better.

[eissa]

20. It's long been on my bucket list

I love the culture, music, history and food. Friends who have visited have shared the sentiments as you have - a beautiful but deteriorating country filled with friendly people scraping to survive. One friend was chased down by a young mother and her child begging her to go into a store and buy her some toilet paper and milk. She did so, but had to give her the goods discreetly so she wouldn’t be caught. They definitely do deserve better.

[VarryOn]

22. Protesting on a road refusing to get vaccinated...

Hope you end up OK, but I'll struggle very hard to find half an ounce of sympathy.