Phil Ehr, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida's 28th District, demanded this week on his social media that the United States government formally charge, arrest, and prosecute Miguel Díaz-Canel, the president of Cuba, in a message that reflects the increasingly aggressive turn of his campaign towards the positions of the Cuban exile community in South Florida.
“Let them accuse Miguel Díaz-Canel. Let them arrest him. Let them bring him to trial. Let him pay for what he has done,” wrote Ehr, a retired U.S. Navy commander with 26 years of service.
His message was accompanied by a post from the Polymarket platform that estimated a 66% probability that Washington would file federal charges against Díaz-Canel before the end of 2026.
The immediate trigger was twofold: the projection of the betting house and the criminal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against Raúl Castro for the downing of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue in 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four people, three of whom were U.S. citizens.
Ehr acknowledged that the charges against the former Cuban dictator, while welcomed, came too late. «The charges against Raúl Castro are years overdue, but it made one thing clear: those who have led the Cuban dictatorship are not above justice», he pointed out.
However, he warned that judicial accountability alone is not enough to transform Cuba.
"But let's not deceive ourselves: none of this will free Cuba. If Washington negotiates a supposed 'transition' and keeps the Communist Party, the FAR, and GAESA in control of the country, nothing will change. We've already seen that movie in Venezuela," he wrote, referring to the process that followed the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in January 2026.
The candidate also invoked the historical memory of exile: "Cubans do not forget the Bay of Pigs and the promises that Washington abandoned."
For Ehr, a real commitment from the U.S. to Cuba involves concrete conditions: protection of civilians, humanitarian aid that the regime cannot appropriate, release of political prisoners, dismantling of the repressive apparatus, and free elections. "Without this, there is no freedom," he concluded.
These statements are part of a clear electoral strategy. District 28, which covers the southwest of Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys, has one of the largest Cuban-American electorates in the country, and Ehr is looking to overturn the defeat he suffered in November 2024 against the Cuban-American Republican Carlos Giménez, who won by 64.5% to 35.6%.
Since then, the Democratic candidate has progressively hardened his stance on Cuba, aligning with the positions of the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers from the exile community.
In March, he called for a protest at Miami Airport against a supply convoy to the island; in April, he rejected any negotiations with the regime; and in August, he presented a six-point plan for the freedom of Cuba that includes the possibility of military action authorized by Congress.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has already sanctioned Díaz-Canel on June 4, 2026, including him on the list of blocked persons along with his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza and Alejandro Castro Espín, but no formal criminal charges have been brought against him to date.
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