A few months ago, the Cuban American philanthropro Michael B. Fernández was walking to his dogs through his house in Miami when he saw a strange plastic bag at the entrance for cars that someone had thrown on the fence. When opening it, he found a pound of ground meat with a note: “We know you like dogs.” “It was an indirect threat,” says Fernández. And only two weeks ago, when leaving a business lunch, a car stopped next to his, the window went down and the driver said: “Mr. Fernández, should stop talking so much shit.”
“At that time, I decided that I would not be intimidated,” says Fernández, 73, who emigrated at 12 of his native Manzanillo, Cuba, to the United States, where a fortune valued at billions of dollars was forged. Known for his large donations for research on cancer, university scholarships and in defense of immigrants, among many other causes, he has always tried to maintain a low profile. Until now. Since last April he has anonymously financing an advertising fence campaign, managed by a political group called Keep Them Honest, which have appeared alongside the main highways in southern Florida criticizing local Cuban American congressmen and Secretary of State Framework Rubio for their position on immigration, with messages such as “Deporting immigrants is cruel”. Following the threats he has recently received, Fernández has decided to face publicly.
“I hope others know who is behind this, because so far nobody knew who was behind. I am sure that I will expand the group of donors that I have now that this has come to light,” says Fernández in a telephone interview with the country. “I have received at least one or two dozen emails offering contribute,” he adds. The philanthropist has not specified how much money has spent on advertising fences, but says: “If I have to spend 10, 20 or 30 million dollars in this fight, I will.”
Fernández, known as Mike, affirms that his intention is not to be a leader, but that he cannot detach himself from his history as the immigrant who, because of a dictatorship he lost his home, his family, his friends and his language, and had to reinvent me in a foreign land that became his home. The United States gave everything, and is deeply grateful. That is why he listed in the army when he was military. “My country, this country, means more for me than for many people born here, because I come from a place that I lost,” he says. “I owe this nation a lot, and I will give her everything I can to help her get out of this difficult moment.”
The difficult time referred to is the Anti -Inmigrant Crusade of the Donald Trump administration, which has promised mass deportations, established a quota of 3,000 daily arrests, and has canceled temporary protections and humanitarian programs for hundreds of thousands of people, who have stayed overnight in Limbo. In southern Florida, where one of the largest Latin diasporas in the world lives, immigrant detention centers are crowded with people, mostly without a criminal record, which have been arrested even at the exit of the courts.
“The direction in which we go as a nation is totally opposite to what the Constitution says, to the way in which the Americans treated me as a child,” says Fernández. “I do not oppose many of the provisions of the administration or all its policies, but what I do oppose is the cruelty and treatment towards other people as if they were animals. These people who are being arrested, most of them without any criminal history, do not deserve it. They are valuable for our nation, just as the Irish, the Italians, all the previous groups that arrived in this country and that have helped build it. Miami, for example, is a city built by immigrants.
Fernández was affiliated with the Republican party for years, which he made important donations, but for more than a decade has no political affiliation. “Right now, I don’t believe in either of the two games,” he says, “so I feel that I have to talk just for myself, and I have the capital to do it.”
The posters he has financed are a sample of his frustration with both games, and chose Miami because it is where he lives. “I think that both the Republican and the Democratic Party are acting for their own benefit and not in that of their nation. I began to do this on my own. I kept it silent because I am not looking for advertising. I do not want it. I have never looked for it. I am not in favor of open borders. I am not a republican. I am not a Democrat. I am American. I am an American with values, and I want the virtues of this country, and I want the virtues of this country Country had worldwide, they recover, ”he adds.
“They are cowards”
Fernández tells this newspaper that he wants to get involved in politics. Is focused on replacing the three local congressmen who were target Billboards: Mario Díaz Balart, Carlos Giménez and María Elvira Salazar, all Republicans. The billionaire ensures that to date he had not been involved with any political action committee, but believes that, from now on, he will do it. “What I have been trying to do is awaken our community about where we are and who represents us. But I think I can help identify people, serious people who want to defend what is correct,” he says.
In his opinion, the three legislators “have had enough time to listen to this community and see with their own eyes the cruelty against which they are not willing to raise their voice,” and the time has come to replace them. “I am sure that these representatives had good intentions when they were running for the position, and that people like Mario Díaz-Balart, with decades in the Chamber, at some point also had good intentions. But they are drunk with power and must be removed. These people have lost the vertebral column. They can speak hard, but that is only to cover their cowardice. They are cowardly. Be strong. And that is Trump, ”he says.
Congressmen Díaz-Balart, Giménez and Salazar did not respond to a request for comments for this report. The State Department did not respond either.
“I have been lucky, in business, in many ways. I have built 32 companies that have been sold mainly to public companies, so money is not a problem for me. Principles and morals are,” he says. “We don’t have candidates, so I’m spending my money knowing that there may be no result of these efforts. I think the right thing is to help those who are less lucky than me. I have been blessed. And I will spend what is necessary to express my opinion.”
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