Despite the economic and political crisis in Cuba, some exiles in Miami remain hopeful about the future of their homeland as they say current conditions could lead to a positive, democratic change. In Miami’s Calle Ocho section, the sights, sounds, and smells serve as a reminder of the Cuba man y exiles were forced to leave behind. “The best way for me to describe it — it smells like Cuba,” said area resident Orlando Cabrera of Eighth Street. For many in South Florida’s Cuban exile community, those memories are accompanied by the hope that the dictatorship on the island nation is nearing its end. As for Cabrera, he’s already looking ahead to who could help lead a democratic future for Cuba. “It has to be someone out there. Of course, Rosa María Payá. She has the power to put all Cubans together on the same path,” he said. Payá, a longtime Cuban opposition figure, was nominated last year by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to serve on the Western Hemisphere’s top human rights commission. She is also the founder of the movement Cuba Decide, an organization focused on a democratic change on the island nation. Cameras captured Payá working with her team on the ground in South Florida as well as virtually with activists in Cuba despite the risks they face. They were packing supplies to get inside Cuba. One of the ways the team communicates inside Cuba is through various tools and technologies. “It’s kind of making your phone into a walkie-talkie,” said a Cuba Decide team member. As evidence of the seriousness of the moment, a member said people on the island nation can go to jail for wearing an arm bracelet that could be connected to Cuba Decide. “You can go to jail for wearing these,” said another team member while showing the bracelets activists wear. For Payá, the fight for freedom in Cuba is deeply personal. Her father, Oswaldo Payá, is honored with a memorial in Hialeah. She said he was one of Cuba’s most prominent opposition leaders. “He was seen as the hope for Cuba,” said Payá of her father. Oswaldo died in a car crash in Cuba in 2012. The Cuban government ruled the crash an accident, but Payá said the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights later determined that Cuban state agents were involved in the incident. Speaking at her home, Payá said the Cuban government would tell her father that he would not be alive to see Cuba become democratic. “They used to tell my father that he was not going to see the change. But they’re wrong. We’re going to see the change,” she said. That change could come sooner rather than later following the January capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Since then, the Trump administration has signaled that Cuba is next. Payá and other Cuban exiles like her surely hope it’s true, as what they all want more than anything for the island they once called home is freedom. “I want for the Cuban people to decide their own destinies, and if my name is gonna be on the ballot, we’ll see. It’ll be decided at due time,” said Payá. ...read more read less