JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 100 people gathered in downtown Jacksonville Monday night, supporting the fight for freedom in Cuba.
Demonstrators are calling for an end to communism, and help to get the basics, like food and medicine to those on the island nation.
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The support is growing throughout the state of Florida, as it’s home to many Cuban immigrants and their families.
Here in Jacksonville, the community standing with Cubans to speak up.
One of the demonstrators News4Jax spoke with said his brother back in Cuba was thrown in jail Sunday for organizing a protest against the Cuban government.
“They got inside his house yesterday and sequestered him,” Nestor Esteves, a demonstrator, said. “They pushed his child. He didn’t appear again until this morning when they said he was going to be persecuted for crimes against the government. And all he did was call for the people where they live to come out into the streets and protest.”
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has ties to the island says the U.S. needs to step in and help.
“People everywhere around the world, including 90 miles from our shore, should be able to peacefully call for an end to a dictatorship and not have their head cracked open,” Sen. Marco Rubio said.
President Joe Biden is praising the thousands of Cubans who took to the streets – demanding their freedom from the authoritarian regime.
A demonstration is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Regency Square Mall.