Cuba is a land of surreal contrasts; a place that seems to exist outside of logic, where even the most unimaginable juxtapositions become imaginable. Which is why it’s perfectly reasonable to catch sight of a small, yet vocal rally of Trump supporters in one of Havana’s iconic public squares. And that’s precisely what passersby were treated to last Friday when a group of Cuban dissidents converged on a leafy park hoisting signs that read “Trump / Pence 2016.”
That’s right: there was a Trump rally in Havana.
As the rally’s apparent leader explained to an unidentified cameraman, the gathering was a group of “brothers and sisters from Cuban civil society who came together to support the Republican candidate, Donald Trumps.” With or without an “s” at the end of his name, the dozen or so Habaneros making their voices heard all had similar reasons to support the United States’ collective nightmare: their belief that he will support Cuban dissidents in ways that the Democrats wont.
In fact, as Mr. Trumps’ Cuban superfan elaborates later on in the video, the nub-fingered apricot monster running on the Republican ticket is “the best option for our country” – which makes an odd sort of sense even though Trump is not technically running for president of Cuba. Others lament that the Democratic ticket represents a continuation of the status quo; and a tall, bearded gentleman in a tank-top accuses Obama of having a “weak hand” toward the Cuban regime.
But overall, it seems they have very little notion of what Trump actually represents for this country and the citizens of the world; opting instead for a pretty standard anti-Democrat, pro-Republican line. Maybe whoever brought them those fancy color-printed signs (a rare luxury in Cuba,) also passed along a few talking points.
H/T CiberCuba