For the first time since 1988, Miami-Dade County flipped Republican in a presidential election this past November. It is a shift experts attribute to the influence of the Hispanic vote. Anti-socialism rhetoric has resonated deeply with Latino voters, especially those with ties to Cuba and Venezuela, where they experienced firsthand communist regimes.
One Cuban American, Ernesto Vasallo, shared his perspective on how his journey from Cuba to the United States mirrors the concerns of many voters in Miami-Dade County.
Born and raised in Havana during the 1970s, Ernesto Vasallo’s early life was shaped by the Cuban Revolution. His father, a supporter of Fidel Castro’s government, worked for the Communist Party overseeing an aluminum factory, while his mother was a nurse.
Like many Cuban children, Ernesto began each school day with a patriotic ritual—singing the national anthem and hearing about the successes of the revolution.
“Even though in Cuba it is difficult to talk about the government because it’s totally prohibited,” Vasallo recalled, “When you get into like high school age, you start getting little questions about, why is it like this?”
By the time he was a teenager, Ernesto began to notice the goods were scarce, and the promises of equality under socialism felt hollow.
“Communism means ‘common for everybody,'” he said. “But it was not common. That’s when I realized I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
After completing three years of mandatory military service with no benefits, the growing political unrest in Cuba pushed Ernesto to seek a new life outside the country. In 1994, he and his cousin got on a boat to Florida. They spent a year in Guantanamo Bay before being allowed to move to the U.S. and resettle in Homestead.
“My family picked me up on a Friday, and by Monday, I started working,” he said. “I remember my mom telling me when I was little: ‘Work, don’t kill anybody.’ That’s what I did.”
The opportunity to build a life and pursue the American Dream was a stark contrast to what Ernesto had known in Cuba. Over 625,000 Cuban immigrants settled in South Florida from the 1960s to the 1980s, and today, Cuban Americans make up more than 30% of Miami-Dade’s population.
“It changed my life,” Ernesto said. “My dream was to start my own business, something I could never have done in Cuba.”
Ernesto met Beatriz, also a Cuban immigrant, shortly after arriving in Homestead. They both shared a vision of creating a better life in America.
“We have been able to create and sustain this family,” Beatriz Vasallo said. “I can’t ask for anything better. I am blessed to live in this country.”
The anti-socialism rhetoric championed by the right resonates with many Cuban and Venezuelan Americans who fled socialist regimes. These voters fear leftist policies taking root in the U.S. and view Trump’s hardline stance on socialism as a safeguard against the very policies they fled.
Ernesto explained. “You don’t want this country to become the next Soviet Union, Cuba, or North Korea.”
Vasallo’s sentiments reflect a broader shift among Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County. According to a recent poll from Florida International University, Trump’s approval rating among Cuban Americans was his highest ever at 68%. In 2020, the poll registered 59%, and in 2016, 35%.
The nation’s Hispanic communities have become a key voting bloc. Experts believe this demographic’s growing political influence is a factor in the county’s historic shift from blue to red.
For many, the idea of left-wing policies is reminiscent of the regimes they fled—an outcome they are determined to avoid at all costs.
“We don’t want to go down the same path as Cuba,” Ernesto said.
