An investigation into his efforts to build a casino in Cuba could be devastating in a community whose support he desperately needs: Miami’s Little Havana.

Little Havana is the heart of Florida’s Cuban-American vote, who loyally vote Republican but might see Trump’s backhanded maneuvering as a deal breaking issue as the area is home to tens of thousands of elderly exiles from the days of the Cuban Revolution.

 

“It is never a good thing when voters who consider the Cuba issue practically sacred find out they have been played and taken for fools by a lying, hypocritical candidate,” said Ana Navarro, a GOP consultant from Miami and a prominent ‘Never-Trumper’.

In 1988 Trump sent out feelers to determine the feasibility of building a casino in Cuba if then-President Bill Clinton lifted the trade embargo.

  • The embargo was reportedly breached by Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts paying a consultancy firm approximately $69,000 to travel to Cuba on Trump’s behalf

Such a commercial trip would have violated US law that prohibited US business from investing in Cuba.

Cuba was then still on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and Trump’s hotel company paid Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corporation to review the options locally.

To this note, Trump visited Little Havana on the 27th of September

 

 

In 2012, Obama won Florida by only 74,000 votes out of 8.4 million

This makes every vote in such a key swing state critical.

A recent poll by RCP showed that on average Clinton has a 1,2 percent lead over Trump with 44,7 percent to 43,5 percent end of September.

But Trump was  leading Clinton 46 percent to 36 percent among Cuban-Americans in Florida, with the majority of that support coming from the older generation. Will those Cunban-born-Trump-fans stay loyal with him, after he did business with their main enemy?

Thanks to this, his incredibly poor polling with Latinos overall has been given a slight bump. The Trump campaign now fear this bump could be flattened by these new revelations.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who competed against Trump for the GOP presidential nomination and now backs him, called the story’s allegations “very serious and troubling” in a statement.

“I will reserve judgment until we know all the facts and Donald has been given the opportunity to respond,” said Rubio, who is now seeking re-election to his Senate seat.

Learn more about the democratic opposition and the “Ladies in White” in Cuba and join President Obama starting better relations and visiting Cuba in March 2016.