Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryNovember 29, 2016

The first regularly scheduled flight in more than 50 years flew from Miami to Havana yesterday morning, just in time to begin the formal mourning for Fidel Castro, which leads to the question du jour — What will Donald Trump do with the Cuba-U.S. relations? The President-elect tweeted that “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American […]

Mitch PerryNovember 28, 2016

Did President Obama’s latest executive actions regarding Cuba policy in October incite hardline exiles to vote for Donald Trump in large enough numbers to help him win Florida? That belief was pushed by some in the immediate days after the election, and is getting more life from a Hillary Clinton supporter who knows the Cuban exile community very well in the wake of Fidel […]

Mitch PerryNovember 28, 2016

For the first time time since September of 2011, the University of South Florida’s football program is ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. This comes after the Bulls defeated cross I-4 rival UCF at Raymond James Stadium. They’re tied at 24, and have finished their regular season at 10-2, their most impressive record since […]

Mitch PerryNovember 26, 2016

There was no harsher a critic of the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba than Ralph Fernandez. Yet the Tampa attorney who represented several former political prisoners in Cuba over the past several decades says that nobody ever challenged the U.S. government as the longtime Cuban leader, who died Friday at the age of 90. “The guy stood up to […]

Mitch PerryOctober 6, 2015

It was billed as “The Great Debate” with two of the most prominent Tampa residents on the issue of Cuba, Al Fox and Ralph Fernandez, duking it out on whether the United States should end the 54-year-old economic embargo against the Castro-led government. Hundreds jammed into the historic Centro Asturiano building in Ybor City for a 90-minute forum hosted by the […]

Mitch PerryJuly 21, 2015

Monday’s official resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba was met with full-throated denunciations from Republican elected officials up and down the Sunshine State, and David Jolly, the latest entrant into the GOP 2016 Senate race, was no exception. “Look, I oppose the president’s decision,” Jolly told Florida Politics Monday regarding President Barack Obama‘s […]

Mitch PerryMay 18, 2015

Last week, a delegation of Tampa area officials visited Cuba in a trip organized by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. It was the third excursion to the communist island led by the Chamber in the past few years. It was “certainly the most productive and most historic,” Ronald Christaldi, a partner with the Tampa law firm of Shumaker, Loop […]

Tag: Ralph Fernandez

Mitch Perry Report for 11.29.16 — Will President Trump ‘terminate’ Obama deal with Cuba?

Ralph Fernandez convinced Obama policy on Cuba a major factor in Florida going red

Mitch Perry Report for 11.28.16 -While USF football soars, attendance doesn’t

In Tampa, agreement that Fidel Castro was one of a kind

Al Fox and Ralph Fernandez debate U.S. Cuba relations in Ybor City

David Jolly supports expanded American travel to Cuba

Tampa Chamber of Commerce positioning area to prosper with post-sanctions Cuba