A.J. Llewellyn & Stephani Hecht - Fire and Ice 2 - A Hundred Fires by AJ Llewellyn & Stephani Hecht

Author:AJ Llewellyn & Stephani Hecht [Llewellyn, AJ & Hecht, Stephani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

“W

e have never seen something like this before in Miami. All Cubans around the world should know that the day is coming! Thank you, Miami, which shows that we are one people. We are the people that love and defend freedom. It doesn’t matter what country, where we came from, we are united in this great country in freedom. At this moment, the Ladies in White are marching in Cuba. At this moment, they are receiving violence, again. They are joined with us here. Let us pray for them right now and show them peace.”

Pop singer Gloria Estefan’s impassioned speech was interrupted by the screams and shouts of support from the myriad Cuban refugees stuffed into the banquet room of Noches, a small Cuban nightclub in East LA, watching her on a large overhead screen.

Estefan’s historic moment, leading thousands of men and women in Miami in support of the women in Havana, Cuba, was a stirring moment. After fifty-one years of the Castro government, the female citizens of Havana were staging their first democratic protest along the Malecón, the city’s famed promenade.

Images switched back to Miami where men and women wearing white, marched in the hot sun.

Back in Havana, Cuban women, holding flowers and photos of their jailed husbands, sons and fathers, walked with varying stages of emotion. They were protesting the government’s repressive regime, the report playing over the club’s huge sound system.

Angel and everybody else present, watched the astonishing images of tens of thousands of women dressed in white swarming through the streets of Havana.

At the same moment, thousands of men and women walked in solidarity in Miami. The TV coverage flicked back and forth between the two cities.

In Miami, all was calm. The right to protest, a given.

In Cuba, violence erupted against the peaceful protestors.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Angel whispered.

As Estefan repeated her words in Spanish, Willie lowered the sound.

Angel walked to the small dais, erected for his celebratory press lunch. He’d chosen this day to bring attention to his country’s plight. Willie had organized everything, amazing Angel, once again, with his abilities.

He’d wanted badly to be in Miami, but Willie had insisted, and rightly so in hindsight, that Angel belonged to the people of LA. He needed to hold the press conference here.

“I cannot be in Cuba today, which kills me,” Angel said, barely holding back tears. “I cannot be there to march with the Women in White. I wish I could be in Miami to march with my brothers and sisters, but I want to be with you all here today to tell you that I love what I do. If I have a message, it is a message of peace. A message of freedom.”

Angel swiped at pooling tears as cameras clicked. His entire team stood beside him. Angel knew his mother was marching in Havana and he was sick with worry. He hadn’t glimpsed her in the crowd, but he knew there was violence. He knew she could be injured.

All those present applauded and threw out questions.

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