Miami, FL & Washington, D.C. — Log Cabin Republicans of Miami (LCR Miami) stands with the 1.5 million Cuban exiles in Florida who fled oppression — at risk of incarceration and execution — and will continue to fight for the 11 million people living in Cuba under a Communist regime.
“We will never forget that Fidel Castro was the father of the totalitarian state that is modern Cuba. His revolution brought over 3,600 documented firing squads causing over 1.5 million exiles to Florida’s shores, often abandoning friends and family to create a new life in America,” Log Cabin Republicans of Miami President Vincent Foster stated.
“The death of the brutal tyrant, Fidel Castro, brings a lot of emotion to the LGBT community in Cuba and across the world,” Gina Sosa, filmmaker and former member of the LCR Miami Board of Directors, said. Ms. Sosa had parents who were among the historic Cuban exiles. “From the start of the tyrant’s regime in 1959, he jailed and tortured anyone suspected of being gay. When the AIDS epidemic hit Cuba, Castro forced homosexuals into concentration camps. A dictator who has led a 57-year holocaust is finally dead. I’m at a loss for words for how important this is to Cubans — gay and straight alike.”
“Log Cabin Republicans of Miami hopes President-Elect Trump will deliver on his promise to stand in solidarity with the Cuban people and aid in their fight for a free Cuba,” Foster added. “Log Cabin Republicans of Miami is also cognizant that Fidel Castro’s death will have little impact on ending the Castro regime’s oppression, as his brother, Raúl, will continue the oppression. History will not absolve Fidel from the countless Cubans he has tortured and executed because of their sexual orientation or because they fought for free and basic human rights that we take for granted in America. LCR Miami also denounces those Americans who highlight any positive aspects of the Castro regime in the aftermath of his death. Cuba may have a high literacy rate, but they have no rights to speech, assembly, or fair and democratic elections. To speak positively about the regime of a tyrant in any way is un-American.”
Log Cabin Republicans National President Gregory T. Angelo added:
All I ever needed to know about Castro and his treatment of the LGBT community was that every member of Log Cabin Republicans whose lives were personally impacted by Castro’s oppression were unwavering in their opposition to him, and are relieved with the internment of his remains today. Today, the members in Log Cabin Republicans of Miami stand in solidarity with their Cuban brothers and sisters who fled an oppressive tyrant for the promise of freedom in the United States, and the national arm of Log Cabin Republicans stands in solidarity with them.