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Hialeah already has municipal emergency plans in place for the day the Cuban regime falls, as revealed by the city's Emergency Management Director, Paul García, during a historic meeting led by Mayor Bryan Calvo last Wednesday.
"We don’t know exactly how it will look when Cuba is liberated, but we do know that we are ready," García stated before the press during what was the first session open to the media in the history of the municipal government of Hialeah.
The mayor Bryan Calvo avoided revealing specific details of the plan but made clear the spirit in which it was designed: "It will be an event to celebrate, and we will not allow any harm to property or lives."
Hialeah is not the only city in South Florida preparing operationally for that scenario.
On May 11th, the mayor of Miami, Eileen Higgins, confirmed that Miami has a contingency plan with police, firefighters, and paramedics ready for the celebrations.
The state of Florida approved bill HB 905 on May 8, which opens the door to free trade with a post-regime Cuba and includes a provision that allows Governor Ron DeSantis to suspend trade restrictions if Washington changes the diplomatic status of the island.
The geopolitical context fuels that expectation.
This Thursday, Axios revealed that the Trump administration believes that the Cuban regime could collapse this summer and that Southern Command has already conducted military simulation exercises for various scenarios on the island. A senior White House official described the strategy as "accelerationism": "There is a method. It is staged."
In that atmosphere, the meeting on Wednesday in Hialeah also addressed daily matters of the city. Municipal attorney Barbara Covea reported that Palmetto Hospital and Hialeah Hospital owe approximately 2.4 million dollars to the city since 2024. "The city is focused on collecting that money," Covea stated. Mayor Calvo noted that both institutions received an extension until the end of May and that "it seems they are going to pay."
The police chief George Fuente announced the acquisition of new weaponry: "We have ordered equipment for our department. This benefits both the officers and the community... new guns with new technology."
The session also coincided with a pipe break on 84th Street West and 15th Avenue, which caused flooding in the area.
Calvo acknowledged that many of the city's pipes are old and emphasized that Hialeah is working on a program for digital meters that can detect leaks before they cause significant damage.
Calvo, elected in November 2025 with just over 52% of the votes, has made the cause of Cuba's liberation a central focus of his administration from day one.
In February, he stated that "the days of the Cuban regime are numbered" and activated the CUBAT Task Force to investigate businesses with alleged ties to the regime.
On May 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the regime as "incompetent communists" during a cabinet meeting, although he left the door open for dialogue: "We will be working on it."
Governor DeSantis stated on May 15 that a free Cuba could become the main tourist destination in the Caribbean with a constitutional government and rule of law: "I hope we see that day. Every day that passes is a day too long for this government to be in place."
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