A billboard in paid for by a Democrat group that compared an elected President of the United States to a communist dictator who took power by force sparked a huge controversy and indignation among Miami’s Cuban American community. The offensive political advertisement insulted and minimized the pain suffered by Cuban exiles at the hands of a murderous dictatorship in Cuba. After many Cuban Americans, including elected officials, complained, the company hosting the advertisement has agreed to take it down.
Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, a Cuban-American, announced that the controversial billboard comparing Donald Trump to Fidel Castro will be removed at midnight.
According to a tweet from the legislator on the social media platform X, the Vice President and General Manager of Lamar Advertising for South Florida promised to take down the billboard by midnight.
The image is displayed on the Palmetto Expressway at 67th Avenue in northwest Miami-Dade.
Salazar stated that on Friday, she reached out to the executives of the advertising company to express her concerns about the “deeply irresponsible and dishonest billboard featuring Fidel Castro, a known murderous dictator.”
The company’s manager responded, assuring that the billboard would be removed.
Florida Democrats have been crying “censorship” since the news the billboard would be removed came out. However, the removal of the offensive material has nothing to do with freedom of speech. It was not the government that ordered its removal, it was the private company hosting it that did. And just like Democrats have a constitutional right to insult and offend Miami’s Cuban American community, that community also has the constitutional right to defend itself and call them out on it. The advertising company is the one who made the decision, and considering the fact that hosting an advertisement that offends a huge contingent of the audience they want to reach can have long-lasting negative effects on business, they made the right decision.
Unfortunately for Florida Democrats, this latest boondoggle is unlikely their last. The party continues its campaign of insulting and degrading voters who disagree with them. It’s a policy that has led to the near destruction of the Democrat Party in Florida and has turned the state, which not that long ago was a purple state, into a deep red bastion for the GOP.
Everyone knows this billboard would do nothing to erode support for Trump among Cuban American voters. Either Florida Democrats are unaware of this, or they just don’t care and only want to offend a group they loathe.
I’m inclined to think this was a deliberate “Fuck you” gesture directed at Cubans, but it was still stupid.