The Commission (council) of Miami approved the creation of a working group that will investigate the possible links of local businesses with the Government in Cuba, which if found, would cause the revocation of their licenses.
This proposal was voted unanimously on Thursday by the Miami commissioners, and adds to the decision of the local government of Hialeah, a neighboring city that has the highest proportion of Cubans in the United States, to take measures against those businesses that do business with the island.
Before its entry into force, the measure will require the signature of the mayor of Miami, Democrat Eileen Higgins, who last December became the first non-Hispanic person to assume the head of the municipal government.
The proposal establishes the creation of a task force made up of city employees and the Miami-Dade Tax Collector’s office.
Miami District 4 Commissioner Ralph Rosado said during the session that “any company that acts illegally, inappropriately and helps the Government of Cuba runs the risk of being closed.”
New mayor of Hialeah launches investigation into businesses with commercial ties to Cuba
The city of Miami has more than 100,000 inhabitants of Cuban nationality, in addition to hundreds of thousands of Cuban origin who fled Cuba in recent decades. The Little Havana neighborhood is home to dozens of businesses run by members of exile.
The proportion of Cubans is higher in neighboring Hialeah, where the newly inaugurated mayor, Bryan Calvo, stated this month that they were going to crack down on businesses with ties to the Castro regime.
According to figures revealed by Calvo, 290 businesses in Hialeah have received complaints.
