Cubans should vote for Democrats, not Republicans

Carlos Martinez, Brigadier General, USAF, (Ret)

CARLOS MARTINEZ | El Nuevo Herald

My parents brought me from Cuba several years before Fidel Castro. We settled in Miami, where I attended school until graduating from the University of Miami.

During those years our home served as a way station for several uncles and cousins who were fleeing Cuba.

Having managed to be the first Cuban to rise to the rank of general in the United States Air Force, I am no fool.

Therefore, in this presidential election, as in the last two, I cannot give my vote to Donald Trump.

I understand why Cubans have, for many years, preferred Republicans.

I remember very clearly the morning of April 17, 1961. My father woke us up before dawn to hear on the shortwave radio reports of the Bay of Pigs invasion by the brave Cubans of Brigade 2506.

That day I went to school with great hope that the Castro regime would be overthrown and our homeland would be free again. But it didn't happen. The air support that the US had promised was cancelled.

Within three days the invasion failed and all the brave soldiers who survived the invasion were detained. My parents, like many other Cubans, believed that President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, had betrayed us. From that day on my parents, who had already become citizens of their new country, never voted for the Democrats.

I also followed their advice and began voting for Republican candidates such as Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush.

They were the candidates that we considered the best to combat Russian communism that had taken over our Cuba and that was threatening many countries in the world, from Vietnam, through central Africa, to the Americas.

President Reagan did the most to fight the Russians. In particular, he led the invasion of Grenada in 1983 that halted Russian attempts to establish an air base on that island that could support their strategic bomber aircraft.

Several years later, Reagan was the president who urged Russian President Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. During those years, serving as an officer in the American Air Force, I was very proud to have presidents who knew the danger that the Russians presented to us.

But now, Republicans have thrown their support behind a person who doesn't care about the Russian danger and doesn't appreciate the importance of our country in maintaining peace in the world.

Trump is the opposite of past Republican presidents. Trump considers Vladimir Putin a person with whom he can deal, not understanding that Putin is scamming him. Putin was a KGB officer and still wants to defeat all the democracies in the world.

Also, Trump is the one who shook hands with Kim Jong-un, the leader of the most oppressive communist country in the world. And, more recently, Trump has invited Putin to invade any European NATO country he wants.

Despite all his shortcomings, the Republican Party continues to support Trump. In reality, the American Republican Party has changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable. It is no longer the party that my parents supported and that I supported most of my life.

And, since I know that Cubans are not stupid, I urge to all Cubans to abandon their usual loyalty to the Republican party and vote for the Democrats this year.

(Brig. Gen. Carlos Martinez, USAF (Ret.) is the first Cuban to rise to the rank of general in the US Air Force.)