Columnist Fabiola Santiago

Fabiola Santiago

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez supports a proposed county charter amendment banning per-signature payments to petition gatherers. County Commissioner Xavier Suarez launched an ad claiming the measure makes it harder to recall Gimenez.

Fabiola Santiago

The ethics of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his lobbyist sons stink.

Why can’t Miami-Dade, FL Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s sons wait until he’s out of office to dip into the till? Julio Gimenez is pursuing a deal to build on county land. C.J. Gimenez lobbies for clients with county contracts.

Fabiola Santiago

In a city resisting change, he pushed the vision of modern Miami as gateway to Americas

Waterfront Museum Park will be named after the city’s history-making, six-term mayor, Maurice A. Ferré. He pushed the vision of Miami as a gateway to the Americas at a time when the establishment resisted change.

From marijuana lobbyist to candidate for agriculture commissioner.

Fabiola Santiago

In a post-Parkland Florida, there should be no room for the NRA to bully government

Florida voters elected Democrat Nikki Fried Agriculture Commissioner, not powerful NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer, who wants to shift Florida’s concealed weapons permitting program to Republican CFO Jimmy Patronis.

Gov. Rick Scott holds narrow edge over incumbent Bill Nelson in Florida Senate race

Fabiola Santiago

In waning days as governor, ‘red tide Rick’ sets stage for a 2020 Trump win in Florida

As his days as governor wind down, Rick Scott suspends Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes and appoints his fixer, Pete Antonacci. The move is designed to aid a 2020 Trump win in Florida by manhandling its largest Democratic county.

Fabiola Santiago

My unforgettable lunch with President George H.W. Bush in the White House

A Miami Herald columnist remembers lunch with President George H.W. Bush at the White House in 1989. What does a journalist talk about with the president at a White House lunch when protocol mandates no questions asked?

Alex Acosta, pictured here in a 2006 news conference when he was Miami’s U.S. attorney. He is now President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Labor.

Fabiola Santiago

Alex Acosta, you made a mockery of Florida’s sex offender laws. It’s time to resign.

Palm Beach predator Jeffrey Epstein got away with ‘Lolita Express’ trafficking ring because powerful men like Trump Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta allowed it, making a mockery of Florida’s sex offender laws.

Migrants vault over fence in Tijuana after tear gas launched

Fabiola Santiago

We’re outraged when other nations do it. But now we’re the ones using tear gas on kids

Using tear gas on asylum seekers, including children, is not the way to secure the U.S-Mexico border. But President Trump is, once again, justifying the normalization of cruelty as immigration policy.

Hillary Clinton speaks about bomb sent to her home in New York state

Fabiola Santiago

Thanks to Hillary Clinton, the Democrats’ big secret is out: They too hate migration.

Hillary Clinton’s immigration platform in the 2016 presidential election vowed to “embrace immigrants, not denigrate them.” Now the Democrat says Europe must “get a handle” on migration to thwart populism.

Fabiola Santiago

Can ‘Crazy Joe’ Carollo throw a better Friday night party in Little Havana? Nah

Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo is on a mission to kill the arts and culture event Viernes Culturales. It’s political payback against Ball & Chain owner Bill Fuller, who chairs the event’s nonprofit board.

Trump battles with reporters at tense news conference

Fabiola Santiago

President Trump doesn’t like Jim Acosta’s questions. Neither did dictator Raúl Castro

CNN journalist Jim Acosta forced Cuban dictator Raúl Castro to answer questions about the taboo topic of political prisoners. It’s shameful that he loses White House credentials for questioning President Trump.

A photo of a young Reginald Schroat. He grew into a strong man, but his intellectual capacity remained that of a 7-year-old, his family said.

Fabiola Santiago

The death was awful enough. But is there also a government attempt to cover it up?

Family needs answer on death at Florida psychiatric hospital

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, left, and Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

Elections

Here’s all the proof you’ll ever need that in Florida every single vote counts

The 2018 Florida recount is not about stealing an election, Gov. Rick Scott. It’s about making sure every vote is counted correctly in the tight races for governor, U.S. Senate, and agriculture commissioner.

Andrew Gillum concedes Florida governor’s race to Ron DeSantis

Fabiola Santiago

A divided Florida tossed the win to the Trump brand. But Andrew Gillum made history.

A divided Florida voted in record numbers. In the mixed-bag of election results, slim but big wins went to the Trump brand of conservatism of Ron DeSantis and Gov. Rick Scott. But Andrew Gillum almost happened.

Fabiola Santiago

Voters should end Florida’s partisan, racist policy of denying voting rights to felons

The Brennan Center for Justice calls Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s denial of voting rights to felons “one of the most punitive disenfranchisement policies in the country.” Yes on Florida Amendment 4 ends repression.

Fabiola Santiago

Trump can’t end birthright citizenship by executive order. Here’s why he’s bluffing.

On the campaign trail for the midterm elections, and in Florida this week, President Trump wants to end via executive order the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

President Donald Trump arrives at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018, from a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wis.

Fabiola Santiago

It’s not the media stoking pipe-bomb violence, Mr. President. It’s you.

President Donald Trump’s tweet blames media for “anger.” But all targets of pipe bomb mailings – CNN, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats – have been targets of Trump’s violent hate speech.

Cuban-American protesters swarm Shalala event after Castro sympathizer was to appear

Fabiola Santiago

These GOP ‘patriots’ attacking free speech forgot they were in the U.S., not Cuba

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was treated to a Cuba-style act of repudiation, staged by Cuban-American Miami-Dade Republicans, when she came to campaign for Donna Shalala and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

Check out the results of the 12 amendments on the November ballot

Fabiola Santiago

Don’t let the gambling industry confuse you on Amendment 3. It’s not about schools.

Amendment 3 would put the controversial issue of gambling expansion in Florida where the political power belongs — with voters, not with industry money-influenced lawmakers, governor, and town mayors.

Maria Elvira Salaza received the endorsement from the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association

Fabiola Santiago

She doesn’t want it known, but Maria Elvira Salazar favors Trump talks with Castro

In the race against Donna Shalala, Maria Elvira Salazar portrays herself as a GOP hardliner on Cuba like Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. But she told this columnist that President Trump should talk with Raúl Castro.

Sandro Laguerre, 9, celebrates after becoming a U.S. citizen during a naturalization ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Miami field office on Aug. 12, 2016. Laguerre is from Haiti.

Fabiola Santiago

Trump isn’t done going after immigrant children. This rule is as vile as jailing them

President Trump’s public charge rule would deny green cards, citizenship to immigrants using public assistance programs. In states like Florida, it means thousands of children without healthcare, school meals.

Fabiola Santiago

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