Add Miami-Dade to the growing list of governments and politicians that recognize Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela.
The county commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz to join the United States in recognizing the president of Venezuela’s congress as the new leader.  The commission also approved a separate Diaz resolution urging Congress to pass the proposed Venzuelan Humanitarian Relief, Reconstruction and Rule of Law Act to provide humanitarian aid to those fleeing Maduro’s government.
“It’s time to say enough is enough to Nicolas Maduro’s socialist dictatorship and to stand with the people of Venezuela to restore freedom and democracy to their country, which has suffered so much under the Chavez and Maduro regimes,” said Diaz, whose district includes Doral — also known as Doralzuela — home to the largest concentration of Venezuelans in the U.S.
This is not the first time local pols condemn Maduro or stand with the Venezuelan opposition. But it’s the first time they have so much company.
Read related: SOS Venezuela: A trendy 2014 Florida campaign theme
The U.S., Canada and most of the nations in South America and Europe have recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president after he led nationwide protests on two weeks ago on Jan 23 in which he declared himself interim president. He and millions of Venezuelans have demanded the resignation of Nicolás Maduro, a dictator who was “re-elected” last May in what everybody knows was a sham election and celebrated a lavish inauguration on Jan. 10.
“Miami-Dade County is proud to stand with the people of Venezuela and their demands for a restoration of freedom and democracy after decades of dictatorship and misrule by Maduro and Chavez,” Diaz said.
Part of the Venezuelan community is also in Congressional District 26, where newly-elected U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell — possibly the first local pol to make a statement supporting Guaidó — has been proactive.
“I have always joined the millions of Venezuelans in recognizing the National Assembly as the only legitimate governing institution in Venezuela and calling for new elections,” Mucarsel-Powell said on the 23rd, the same day as the protests, in front of the Equestrian Simon Bolivar memorial in D.C. (photo, right).
“I am hopeful that this step of invoking the country’s constitution to declare Maduro an illegitimate president and have interim President Juan Guaidó legitimately fill the vacancy will bring Venezuela closer to restoring stability and democracy to their country,” she said. “The Venezuelan people – those who have remained in the country as well as those who have fled – have suffered tremendously, and Maduro can no longer lead the country. Estamos con ustedes.”’
One day earlier, Mucarsel-Powell had held a roundtable discussion with community leaders and immigration rights advocates to address the Venezuelan political and humanitarian crisis, as well as her efforts to extend TPS to Venezuelans and Nicaraguans currently residing in the United States. The participants were urged to share their experiences navigating our broken immigration system, so Mucarsel-Powell can share their stories in Washington.
Read related: Blue wave wipes out in Florida and 305, with two bright silver linings
Other electeds also released statements on on the 23rd:
“Today, 61 years after the overthrow of the dictatorship in Venezuela, Venezuelans take the streets to demand freedom and an end to the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro,” said State Sen. José Javier Rodríguez. “I stand in support of the Venezuelan community in their efforts to defend democracy and denouncing Maduro’s dictatorship, and to ensure that we will continue looking for solutions to address the socio-economic crisis that continues to affect the lives of millions in Venezuelans.”
Said State Senator Annette Taddeo: “Today I stand in support with people in Venezuela marching for freedom from Maduro’s tyranny, denouncing the illegitimacy of the Maduro regime and recognizing Juan Guaidó as provisional president.”
Mucarsel-Powell and Congresswoman Donna Shalala — who probably represents the second largest concentration of Venezuelans in the U.S. — joined six other members of Congress to introduce the Humanitarian Assistance to the Venezuelan People Act of 2019. The legislation calls on the Trump Administration to form a long-term humanitarian aid strategy, provide up to $150 million in humanitarian aid directly to the Venezuelan people, and direct the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to make humanitarian assistance a global priority.
“Maduro’s illegitimate regime plunged Venezuela into a deep political and humanitarian crisis that has spilled over into the rest of the region and the hemisphere,” said Mucarsel-Powell, the first South American born member of Congress to be elected. She led a round table discussion last week with Venezuelan community leaders at her district office.
“I support a quick restoration of Venezuela’s democracy, which means supporting interim President Juan Guaidó, and I strongly urge him to quickly hold free and fair elections,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “Providing increased humanitarian assistance – more than the $20 million that was announced by the Administration – directly to the Venezuelan people is imperative to their survival and will be a stabilizing force in the region and the hemisphere.”
“Under Maduro’s  gross mismanagement,” Shalala said, “Venezuela’s once thriving economy has collapsed and its people are sicker, poorer, and less free. This bill works to help reverse those heartbreaking trends. By providing humanitarian assistance, we stand united as a country in our commitment to the leadership of interim President Juan Guaidó and freedom for the Venezuelan people.”
The other Congress members are Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel and Darren Soto of Florida, Sylvia García of Texas, of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
“The despotic rot and corruption of the Maduro regime has inflicted unimaginable suffering on the Venezuelan people,” said Wasserman Shultz. “It threatens to infect the entire hemisphere.
“Supporting interim President Juan Guaidó, along with open and fair elections, will restore democracy there in the long term, but only swift and substantial increases in humanitarian aid can help ease the tragic suffering its people face right now,” she said.
Said Soto:  “Maduro’s dictatorship has caused famine in what once was the wealthiest country in South America. We continue to see images out of Venezuela of kids scavenging for food out of trash, hospitals with medicinal shortages overflowing with patients, and refugees surviving the immigration journey in precarious conditions.
“As Venezuela resolves its political unrest within the country, it is our duty and moral responsibility to provide humanitarian assistance for those in need,” Soto said.
From their mouth to God’s ears.

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It started good at the top of the ticket. Then, ouch.
Was former Sen. Bill Nelson and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum actually winning with absentee ballots? Because early results had them just over 50.
Even Jeffrey “Doc” Solomon had 525 votes over newly-elected State Rep. Vance Aloupis, right, who ended up winning by 591 votes.
But that feeling of rising hope quickly turned to disbelief and dread when the blue wave turned into a wipeout after Gov. Elect Ron DeSantis and former Gov. and Senator elect Rick Scott turned it around.
We had a few bright spots where the wave did crash nicely.
Democrats gained two seats in Congress, with the election of Donna Shalala over Republican Maria Elvira Salazar (though not as solid as she should have) and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell‘s stunning victory over Carlos Curbelo. That’s a bright silver lining for Ladra that we will come back to.
And Ladra’s favorite new elected, mom gone mad Cindy Polo beat back former Miami Lakes Councilman Frank Mingo in District 103. That was a tremendous upset as Polo, right, was underfunded and losing in Miami-Dade, 56 to 44 percent. The voters in Broward — because the district also includes Miramar — saved us flipping those numbers so she won 53 to 47 percent.
But locally, Polo was it. Democrats failed everywhere else.
While Miami-Dade was overwhelmingly pro Gillum and pro Nelson — they won the 305 each with about 60% of the vote — and Democrats were able to defend Sen. Annette Taddeo from a challenge by Republican superwoman Marili Cancio (next time, Marili, don’t attack with lies about Taddeo and the NRA and talk about your own achievements), they let another Senate bid die and lost several opportunities to gain Florida House seats — even letting one flip red in District 118.
Former State Rep. Robert Asencio became a one-term legislator probably because he was too busy trying to help everybody else and didn’t campaign enough to keep his own seat. Granted, it was definitely an upset surprise for Anthony Rodriguez, who lost the primary two years ago to King David “Nine Lives” Rivera, to beat him ever so slightly, 51% to 49%.
The same narrow win gave Doral Councilwoman Ana Maria Rodriguez a seat in the House, replacing Ambassador Carlos Trujillo in District 105, beating Javier Estevez by a scant 560 votes. Democrats are used to voting for Ana Maria, right, that gap was expected to be even wider, but only because the party invested zero time and money in this flippable district.
The real pain comes with what happened up north, where special interest favorite State Rep. Manny Diaz Jr. beat firefighter hero David Perez for the Senate seat in 36 vacated by Rene Garcia (who will run for county commissioner in two years).
Now we heal and rest until next year when it’s time to gear up for 2020. Maybe Democrats will figure something out between now and then.

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Ya que se las cago with the Cuban-American vote, former University of Miami President and congressional candidate Donna Shalala may be going after the Colombian vote in District 27 with a new gimmick Saturday aimed at endearing her with the Hispanic community: A chiva tour.
Ladra said long ago that Kristen Rosen Gonzalez was the only Democrat candidate who could beat Republican nominee Maria Elvira Salazar — who the most recent polls show head-to-head with or ahead of Shalala — because both are young attractive women who speak Spanish. But Democrat insiders insisted on Shalala and bulldozed everyone else out of the way.
Now, they’re not only losing a race they had in the bag a year ago, they should be downright embarrassed about how clueless Shalala is pandering to Hispanics — who make up more than 70 percent of the voters in the district — in a last ditch and plainly oblivious effort to stop the bleeding.
Read related: Donna Shalala is snubbed; missing on Obama’s FL endorsement list
First, she pretends to sing the Guantanamera on Enrique Santos radio show, but Santos really does the singing while Shalala shakes her head back and forth and utters a few syllables. I mean, who doesn’t know la Guantanamera?
Then, last week, the Shalala campaign launched a new Spanish-language ad reminding voters of Salazar’s interview with Fidel Castro and the words she used to complement him. They call it “Sinverguenza.”
“El Comandante… the man who captured our social imagination in the 60’s,” Salazar calls Castro in that interview, a clip of which is shown in the ad.
Salazar is also shown talking about it, explaining that all journalists called Castro comandante, which isn’t true, as evidenced by a series of clips where journalists refer to Castro as a dictator, instead. We held our breath and used the word president at the Miami Herald.
But while its true that Salazar was practically drooling in that exchange, it seems disingenuous for Shalala — who invited Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Lee to campaign with her in Coral Gables — to judge.
Read related: Dumb Dems invite pro-Cuba pols to stump for them in Miami-Dade
It’s like family. We can say Maria Elvira es una comemierda. Shalala — whose party embraces giving more opportunities to a government that continues to repress its people, jail dissidents and deny basic human rights — can’t.
The latest gimmick: A chiva — the traditional, colorful, folkloric two-tiered bus used in rural Colombia and Ecuador — will take the candidate to early voting locations in Shenandoah and Little Havana, as well as area parks, leaving from Coconut Grove Park, 3628 Grand Ave., at 3 p.m.
Ladra kids you not! Photo op!
Will there be yerba mate? Pastelitos? Tamales? Cigars? What’s next? Canvassing with mariachis?
All this is to substitute for the fact that Shalala does not speak Spanish and that’s not the only reason she doesn’t understand a majority of the constituency she seeks to represent — but it sure is part of it.
Y le van a pasar la cuenta.
In Spanish, that means that they’re going to hand her the bill, make her pay. In Cuban Miami politics, it means she’s toast.
So maybe that’s why she’s going after the Colombian vote now? Someone ought to tell her that voter bloc is in District 26.

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Days after an angry mob swarmed Donna Shalala‘s campaign office where Congresswoman and known Castro apologists Barbara Lee and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi , Democrats have invited another pro-Cuba legislator to stump for them in Miami-Dade.
Really? Are they really that dumb?
New York Congressman Adriano Espaillat, a big advocate of opening relations with Cuba who has invited pro-Cuba lobby and business groups to DC, will be at a Little Havana restaurant Saturday evening. He’s there to support Andrew Gillum for governor and every single other local Democrat on the ballot, including a couple of council candidates in Doral and Hollywood.
But why? ¿Que pinta Adriano Espaillat aqui? ¿Que pinta Barbara Lee aqui, for that matter? Lee, photographed here with Raul Castro, ended up cancelling her visit because she apparently figured out it was a bad idea. Pelosi was enough communist on her own, however, to keep the Cuban American ire. Why on Earth are Democrats bringing these wrong-on-Cuba legislators to stump for them in a county where Cuban Americans are still the largest or, and more importantly, consistent voting bloc?
Are they really that stupid?
Espaillat was invited by the Dominican American Democratic Club and Dominicans for Gillum and the contact for the event is none other than former State Rep. Daisy Baez, who was forced to resign after she was caught living outside her district and lying about it. Dems can’t do better than this?
The congressman is also scheduled to canvass with Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who is running against U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, on Sunday afternoon.
Boneheaded. Girl, you don’t need his baggage. Just like Shalala, who was already struggling with the Cuban vote in particular, didn’t need Pelosi.
Certainly these status-symbol, celebrity Democrats attract a crowd (read: donations) and are good ambassadors or surrogates in competitive contests around the country where Cuba is not an issue. But not here. You don’t have to be a genius to know that their Cuba baggage could hurt more than help.
Read related: Promised ‘blue wave’ ends up being a little splash in state races
Ladra thinks someone was or should have been fired from Shalala’s campaign after they invited Lee. I mean, what were they thinking?
This is not to excuse the behavior of those Cuban American protesters who banged on the door and acted like thugs at the Shalala event Thursday. Ladra and her family were embarrassed to see their behavior and hear their language at what could have and should have been a perfectly legitimate demonstration of disgust.
Hopefully, Cuban Americans will keep it a little cleaner and more polite at the eventual protest at the Espaillat event Saturday night.
And hopefully local Democrats — who have done enough with their lack of support of local state candidates who could actually win with their help — will stop inviting these Castro apologists to come into our hen house. Especially if they want to win a couple of seats this year.

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President Barack Obama release his “second wave” of endorsements early Monday afternoon.
“Today, I’m proud to endorse even more Democratic candidates who aren’t just running against something, but for something—to expand opportunity for all of us and to restore dignity, honor, and compassion to public service,” tweeted the president, who gave his first wave of nods on Aug. 1, before the primary. “They deserve your vote:”
In Florida, where absentee ballots go out next week, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell got a shout out in her congressional race against Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo. So did State Senate incumbent Annette Taddeo. and State Reps. Javier Fernandez and Nick Duran. He also gave Senate candidate David Perez, a firefighter who wants to replace the termed out Rene Garcia, a nod.
But there was a notable omission in the list: Donna Shalala.
Shalala, the former UM president who won the Democratic nomination in August, was former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton and president of the Clinton Foundation until 2017. Her supporters (read: puppeteers) portray her as bluer than anyone.
Read related: UM’s Donna Shalala is not going to fool anyone in CD 27
But Obama knows what Ladra and the rest of us voters in District 27 know: Shalala is a Republican at heart.
She was bad on labor, going against unionized sanitation workers who striked at UM because the working conditions were so awful. She was bad on the environment, letting UM sell endangered pine rock lands to a developer who wants to build a Walmart. And just how much did tuition increase during her tenure at UM? Bad on education.
So why is anybody surprised that Obama didn’t endorse her? Ladra is not among them. I am far more surprised she won the primary in the first place.
Party leaders are already doing damage control, especially since Republican nominee Maria Elvira Salazar has painted herself as a moderate and gained some steam heading into the general (more on that later). A Herald reporter tweeted that someone with the DCCC said there was “still room for more Obama endorsements.”
So there’s going to be a third wave? When? After ABs go out? Like, you know, “Ooops, I forgot. But I like these people too! My bad.”
Really? Really?
Did I mention that Nick Duran was on Obama’s yes list? So it’s not like he just overlooked anybody.
Obama didn’t just overlook Beto O’Rourke, who is running against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in a much more high profile race than this, or New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo or New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who were also curiously missing from the list.
And he didn’t just overlook Donna Shalala. He intentionally excluded her. Que pena!

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So, Donna Shalala wants to be a congresswoman all of a sudden. Why? Because she’s “angry” at Donald Trump?
Aren’t we all? Most of us are not just angry but enraged at the current administration’s fear mongering, lies and conflicts of interest — just for starters. But if being angry makes you qualified for public office, well, then Trump has a lot more going for him than we thought.
The former president at the University of Miami may be angry now, but where has she been? She sounds like an opportunist taking advantage of the Trump rage fueling the blue wave across the nation. She also said at her announcement that she was disturbed at the lack of action after the tragic school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High last month. That’s opportunism for ya.
So why are some already giving her the congressional win in District 27, where there is a slew of qualified and good candidates already? Because they don’t live here. Ladra does. And let me tell you, the people of CD 27 are not falling for that internal poll she paid someone on her campaign team for. Have you seen the comments on social media?
Related: And then there were 16 candidates in the CD27 race to replace Ileana
Shalala’s announcement that she was going to, after all, run for Congress after thinking about it for a month came complete with a poll from Bendixen Amandi that shows her as the front runner in a Democratic primary against six other candidates. I call BS! First, because it is a paid campaign poll and like all paid internal polls is suspect. And also because we haven’t seen poll details, particularly the questions that were asked. Ladra suspects it was a push poll where the caller “tested” positive messages on Shalala until they got their desired results. There is just no way that she has a 32-point lead ahead of Jose Javier Rodriguez, who just spent close to $5 million in an overlap district to take the senator’s seat against Republican Miguel Diaz de la Portilla. They overshot.
And also, and this might be the most important, because the voters here can tell an opportunist when we see one. Like her saying she is running because she is angry at Trump. She is actually saying that because her poll showed 78% of the Democrat voters have a unfavorable view of the president (only?).
But when Donna has had an opportunity to actually do something for her community, she failed time and again. Shalala is a smooth talker and has pretty paper credentials topped by a recent stint at the Clinton Foundation, but she also has a ton of baggage that Dems will find particularly heavy:

She was serving as Health and Human Services secretary under Bill Clinton in 1996 when Congress passed a law banning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from studying gun violence. Why is she hot on the gun issue now? Opportunism.
She parlayed that position into a gig on UnitedHealth’s board of trustees, where she ended up with tons of stock she sold in 2005 for more than $5 million. Now Shalala will have to convince Democrat voters that she will work for Medicare for all instead of the for-profit insurance industry that she used to work for and made so much money from. Opportunism. And hypocrisy.
For almost 10 years, she served as on the board of Lennar Homes, a major builder of crappy, cookie cutter homes credited with helping to create the housing and mortgage crisis in South Florida. Shalala only left after one of the company’s directors became a UM board member — only to join the board again two years after she left the school. Opportunism.
As president of the University of Miami, she twice fought efforts by the cleaning staff and food service staff to unionize and make a decent living wage, protesting what many called “poverty pay.” Shalala was called an “enemy of the working poor” by a campus chaplain. The labor dispute gained national attention when professors and department academics began a hunger strike to support the workers. Meanwhile, she lived in a mansion in Cocoplum and, later, a nice condo on Edgwater Drive in Coral Gables she bought for $1.4 million in 2014. Oh, she also has a little place on South Beach she bought for $275,000 in 2013. That’s just hypocrisy.
Then there’s that picture circulating of a giddy Donna taking a $50,000 check from booster Nevin Shapiro, who was later charged with securities fraud in a $900 million Ponzi scheme and showered UM players with gifts that led to an NCAA investigation.
As UM president, she also sold us out when she secretly sold environmentally sensitive and endangered Pine Rocklands property that the university owned in South Dade to be paved over for a Walmart-anchored shopping strip. Opportunism.

She’s already coming under fire for that on Facebook, as you can see from the meme below.
And Donna is coming into this race a little late because she had to figure out the “mechanisms of a campaign” first, which she said means she had to gauge support. Sounds like she had to get all her ducks in a row. Sounds like she would only run after all the financial commitments (promised contributions) were made, but not if they weren’t. Opportunism.
Seriously, maybe Shalala should run as a Republican.
Either way, though, we don’t need more opportunists (or hypocrites) in Washington. There are plenty already there.

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