MIA Takes Down Russian Flags as Miami’s Latin American Exiles Side with Ukraine

With the lights of their cellphones pointing to the sky and waving Ukrainian flags, Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and people of other nationalities in Miami expressed their solidarity with Ukraine and denounced the Russian invasion that has left significant casualties on both sides and caused the flight of more than a million people.

Valentyn Prodaievych, a Ukrainian citizen living in the United States who denounced that cities, civilian populations and children’s centers in his country are being bombed, attended the “Lights of Solidarity with Ukraine and Russian Imperialists Out of America” rally on Thursday night.

“Vladimir Putin is a madman and a plague that can keep spreading throughout the world if we don’t stop him. (...) In Ukraine there are 16 nuclear reactors. If Putin attacks those reactors, it will be bad for Europe and for the whole world. The time has come when the future of the planet depends on each person. I ask everyone to do what they can to stop this war,” Prodaievych warned.

Prodaievych’s statements were translated into Spanish by Cuban-American Carlos Martínez, who studied in Ukraine, raised his family there and lives in Miami.

While Prodaievych addressed the public, people held banners with slogans rejecting the Russian invasion such as “Putin, murderer, get out of Ukraine,” “Traitors to the world: Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua” and “Ukrainians, kill the invader, have no mercy, they don’t have it with you. Putin, murderer.”

The rally, held in front of the Versailles restaurant on Miami’s Calle Ocho, was also attended by Ukrainian Alexander Filimonor with his wife and two children. When the armed conflict broke out, they were here on vacation — and now he said he’s desperate to return as soon as possible to join the fight in his country.

Daniella Levine Cava, Mayor of Miami-Dade County, joined the event. She said, “Today we are all from Ukraine,” and warned about the Russian presence in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

At that moment she said out loud, “We must say no more, no more” and the audience chanted her words.

The mayor spoke of the measures she has taken to prevent county government contracts from being linked to Russian business interests. And she announced that Russian planes “will no longer come and we will remove the Russian flags at the Miami airport.”

On Thursday, Levine Cava pointed out on her Twitter account that “effective immediately, I have ordered all Russian flags to be removed from Miami International Airport.”

During the event, a solidarity message to the people of Ukraine from Senator Bob Menéndez, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was broadcast in Spanish. The organizers said they were showing the message in the European country with subtitles in Ukrainian.

Protesters also joined in a prayer for the Ukrainian people, who are victim of a “brutal and ferocious” attack by Kremlin forces, some protesters said.

The armed conflict has left more than 2,000 civilians dead in a week, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported Wednesday, while Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said 498 Russian servicemen have died, and 1,597 have been injured.

Neutralize Ortega, Díaz-Canel and Maduro

Ramón Saúl Sánchez, president of the Democracy Movement, who organized the rally, said that this demonstration was the beginning of a series of protests that they will carry out in the future to support the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom and to condemn the Russian presence in Latin America.

He was also pleased with the announcement of the closure of the U.S. airspace to Russian aircraft, a measure he said he had requested from the authorities, and the suspension of Russian airline Aeroflot’s operations.

“We had been asking for that and when we heard the news that the president made that decision, we welcomed it. I believe that in our airport there should not be a single business of a dictatorship that kills children, women, old people and men simply to gain more territory and exploit a nation,” Sánchez told el Nuevo Herald.

President Biden announced Tuesday night the closure of U.S. airspace to Russian airlines, following the same measure implemented by Canada and the European Union, within the framework of sanctions against the Kremlin.

Another speaker in the event, José Colina, president of the Organization of Politically Persecuted Venezuelans in Exile (VEPPEX), said it is important that once Putin is neutralized, the same is done with rulers Daniel Ortega from Nicaragua, Miguel Díaz-Canel from Cuba and Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela.

Other acts of solidarity with Ukraine are called for Thursday and Sunday, some organized by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance. In those acts, the support given by the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan regimes to the invasion of Ukraine will be condemned.

At the U.N. session Wednesday, an overwhelming majority approved a non-binding resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine and demanded Russia to immediately withdraw its troops. Cuba, Bolivia, El Salvador and Nicaragua abstained, while Venezuela was not present.

A mass was held Thursday at Little Flower Catholic Church, 2711 Indian Mound Trail, Coral Gables.

The day before, there was a rally outside of Hallandale’s City Hall in Broward.

Meanwhile, the “Solidarity with Democracy and Freedom” event will take place Sunday, March 6 at 2 p.m. at the Cuban Memorial, located in Tamiami Park at 11201 SW 24th St., Miami, FL.

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