CFO Jimmy Patronis Issues Proclamation Supporting the People of Cuba

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis issued a proclamation supporting the people of Cuba. The proclamation comes following protests by Cuban citizens over their lack of freedoms and being denied basic human rights. The CFO strongly stands with the people of Cuban and condemns the decades of repression and economic suffering brought about by Communist rule.

The proclamation can be viewed below and downloaded here.

WHEREAS, Florida has the highest concentration of Cuban-Americans living in the United States, in part due to its proximity to Cuba, which is 90 miles south of Florida; and

WHEREAS, more than 60% of the Cuban-American population lives in the State of Florida with the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Palm Beach having the most concentration of Cubans and account for more than half of all Cubans in the Unites States; and

WHEREAS, Cuban-Americans have enriched American life through their love of freedom and contributions to academia, business, the arts, politics and literature; and 

WHEREAS, recently, thousands of Cubans marched on Havana’s Malecon promenade to protest food shortages, high prices, and lack of medicine in one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in the country since the summer of 1994; and

WHEREAS, the Cuban people are protesting 62 years of socialism, lies, tyranny and misery and the most recently, rolling blackouts as the country undergoes a grave economic crisis; and

WHEREAS, for years Cuba has been in a dictatorship which has oppressed the people and can no longer feed or protect its own people and has denied Cubans access to basic human rights; and

WHEREAS, hundreds of Cuban-Americans in Florida stand by the people of Cuba and support their right to protest their lack of freedoms, and decry the ongoing social and political instability; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal of the State of Florida hereby confirms FLORIDA’S SUPPORT FOR THE PEOPLE OF CUBA and strongly stands with the Cuban people’s natural and inalienable right to peaceful assembly and condemns the decades of repression and economic suffering through Communist rule.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF the Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal of the State of Florida has hereunto subscribed his name and has caused the Official Seal of the State of Florida to be hereunto affixed in the City of Tallahassee on the 12th day of July 2021.