This week we got another reminder of why democracy in Miami keeps failing as a model for democracy in Cuba. It was another shameful performance by the Miami City Commission 鈥� which, sadly, has given folks a bigger temptation to hurl the derogatory term "mafia" that helped prompt the spectacle.
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Most of us have been guilty of flippantly using 鈥渕afia鈥� to describe the alpha cohort of any ethnic community, especially if said community is said to be running the show in our city. The 鈥淚rish mafia鈥� in Chicago, for example 鈥� or the 鈥淐uban mafia鈥� in Miami, as new police chief Art Acevedo recently tagged the bloc that's generally thought to run the Magic City show.
Acevedo, himself a Cuban exile (escaped to Miami but was raised in California) has apologized for saying it 鈥� as he should have. The expression, especially when slung by a top public official, is admittedly more harmful than humorous.
But what鈥檚 flabbergasting is that Miami鈥檚 majority Cuban-American city commissioners, led by Joe Carollo, would then go out of their way during Monday鈥檚 special meeting to attack Acevedo with the sort of erratic, thuggish behavior that regrettably evokes street epithets like鈥︹�渕afia.鈥� Or worse, that makes the ghost of Fidel Castro 鈥� who liked to call his exile enemies in Miami a 鈥渕afia鈥� 鈥� grin like Che Guevara puffing a Cohiba.
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Carollo (his nickname is 鈥淐razy Joe鈥�) and fellow commission cubanos apparently don鈥檛 like Acevedo鈥檚 attempts to reform a Miami police department that until this year had been under federal oversight due to the deadly shootings of Black suspects. So they used Acevedo鈥檚 鈥渕afia鈥� comment to leverage a bizarre inquest whose sole gutter purpose turned out to be humiliating the chief and then beating their chests.
The lowlight, of course, was Carollo鈥檚 embarrassing, interminable showing of a video of Acevedo once doing an Elvis impersonation for charity. Crazy Joe kept pointing to Acevedo鈥檚 tight pants, insisting they focused attention on his, um, huevos in a way Carollo cried should scandalize every Miamian.
Many Cubans probably heard about this week鈥檚 Miami verg眉enza 鈥� and they're wondering: is that the kind of civics we want, what we鈥檙e risking our lives marching on the streets here in Cuba for?
Miami was instead scandalized by its commission 鈥� and likely will be on Friday when Carollo and company gather again to assail Acevedo.
But there鈥檚 a problem beyond Miami to all this, and there has been ever since politicos like Carollo started running the show here three or four decades ago.
DARKLY CONFUSING SIGNALS
Declaring their bully antics divinely permissible 鈥� because anything is permissible for Cuban exile leaders engaged in the struggle against Cuban communism 鈥� they鈥檝e time and again set Miami back as an example to Cubans in Cuba of how democracy functions.
A prime example was the 2000 Eli谩n Gonz谩lez debacle. Miami鈥檚 then mayor 鈥� gosh, hermanos, it was Joe Carollo! 鈥� turned Miami into The Laughingstock In The Everglades by firing his city manager for refusing to fire the city鈥檚 police chief for refusing to prevent federal agents from plucking 6-year-old Eli谩n from his Miami relatives and reuniting him with his Cuban father 鈥� the boy鈥檚 only living parent.
The people running Miami鈥檚 show at the time were flouting international law 鈥� an unsightly exhibition that wasn鈥檛 lost on Cubans I interviewed on the island in the episode鈥檚 aftermath. All they knew was the Miami fiasco had, absurdly, made their communist dictator Fidel look like a human rights-promoting, rule-of-law-following hombre by comparison.
Ditto the fierce effort here to keep the late Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles 鈥� whom the FBI considered a terrorist 鈥� from ever facing trial.
And all of that occurred before Cubans were wired to social media 鈥� and to U.S. and Miami media. Many today have confirmed to me they鈥檙e aware of even more of Miami鈥檚 Cuban-run show, most recently a suggestion from Bitcoin-breathing Mayor Francis Suarez that the U.S. should bomb Cuba in support of this summer鈥檚 unprecedented anti-government protests. Every anti-regime Cuban I鈥檝e spoken with there calls that unhinged 鈥� and a darkly confusing signal about the developed democracy they鈥檙e bravely aspiring to.
No doubt many have also heard about this week鈥檚 Miami City Commission verg眉enza. And many have got to be wondering: is that the kind of civics we鈥檙e demanding, what we鈥檙e risking our lives marching on Cuba's streets for?
It鈥檚 not. But maybe someday, when Cubans run their own democracy, they鈥檒l set an example for Miami that doesn鈥檛 elicit the m-word.
