The city of Hialeah is holding a "Free Cuba Rally" on Tuesday night at Milander Park to support the Trump administration in demanding Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel resign along with other top communist Cuba leaders.
"From the heart of the Cuban-American community, this rally sends a clear message: the time for freedom in Cuba is now," city officials said in a statement announcing the rally.
Hialeah has the largest concentration of Cuban-Americans in the U.S., with roughly 8 in 10 city residents of Cuban descent.
“Let me be clear,” Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo said. “The Cuban people have waited long enough.
"This rally honors their unbreakable spirit and calls for undeniable regime change.," he said. "Hialeah stands ready to lead, to support, and to help envision a post-regime Cuba rooted in hope and action.”
City officials said activists, community and faith leaders, artists, and members of the Cuban exile community will join the rally "for a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with the Cuban people."
"We stand together, raising our voices for a free and democratic Cuba," said city officials. "This rally is a declaration of hope and a call to action for a post-regime Cuba.
The "Free Cuba Rally" will run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Milander Park in Hialeah.
The rally comes at a time when Trump and top administration officials have been pressing for dramatic change in Cuba and an end to its communist government.
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Cuban-American, have said they see the island nation as the next country where the U.S. can expand its influence.
The administration is looking for Díaz-Canel to leave his position, The Associated Press previously reported. No detail has been offered about who the administration might like to see come to power.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío on Friday refuted comments about a change in the political system or the potential departure of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel as part of the ongoing talks between the two countries.
“The Cuban political system is not up for negotiation, nor is the president, nor the position of any official in Cuba, subject to negotiation with the United States or with the government of any other country,” said Fernández de Cossío.
He noted there are many areas of common interest on which dialogue with Washington is possible, as has been done in the past.
Trump administration officials are also demanding, in part, that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions.
Trump has for months suggested Cuba’s government is on the verge of collapse. After Cuba's electric grid collapsed last week, spurring an island-wide blackout, Trump told reporters he believed he'd soon have “the honor of taking Cuba.”
“Taking Cuba in some form … whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth," Trump said. "They’re a very weakened nation right now.”
Trump has suggested that top Cuban leaders would be smart to avoid the fate of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was ousted in a U.S. military operation on Jan. 3 and whisked to New York to face federal drug conspiracy charges. Venezuela had been Cuba's closest ally and provided it with heavily subsidized oil.
