Cuban businessman Mike Fernández believes the thaw with the U.S. failed because of “the fear of older Cuban leaders, who are afraid of change.”
14ymedio, María Casas, Miami, 8 October 2025 — From time to time, he still gets a whiff of the guava jam a neighbor used to make in his hometown of Manzanillo, even though much has happened between that childhood and the prosperous businessman Miguel Mike Fernández is today. Along the way, this 73-year-old Cuban has fought all kinds of battles and now he’s leading the umpteenth skirmish, this time from Miami and out of respect for migrants.
The pharmaceutical magnate welcomed 14ymedio to his office this Tuesday to discuss his crusade of recent months and the challenges facing the island.
14ymedio: Where does your sensitivity toward migrants come from?
Fernández: When my family left Cuba in 1964, we landed in Mexico, and the Mexicans helped us a lot. They gave us a roof over our heads and invited us to meet some nuns who provided protection and services to Cuban migrants like us. On Fridays, we went to that convent to get powdered milk, cheese, and other food items in little boxes they prepared. Six months later, we arrived in New York City, living in a very poor area. At first, I had a good time playing in the streets and attending school, but then winter came, and we realized we weren’t prepared.
A Mexican man, who was a waiter in a restaurant, gave me my first coat and a pair of snow boots that had belonged to his son. So, my life has been touched by the generosity of others from the beginning. In those difficult times, they offered me their help, and I consider it my obligation to serve those who now need me.
14ymedio. What led you to fund these billboards critical of Donald Trump and Cuban-American congressmen, which have caused so much controversy in Miami?
Fernández. As a Cuban, and living in a city with so many Cubans, it pains me to say that most of my fellow citizens have closed the door, as if to say, “I’m in, and that one who just arrived can stay out.” It pains me that my people don’t defend migrants, that they don’t protect them. That’s why I wanted those who support our representatives to realize that they’re not doing us any good by working in Washington. continue reading
For these politicians to be elected, they have to raise money and votes. I’ve contributed a lot, and others have too. I always considered this a contract that says, “You want my money and my vote, I want your voice in Washington to represent me.” But they’re not representing us, nor are they representing us in the case of Cuba, nor are they representing us in Miami. They’re not defending the rights of the people who brought them to that position. It was important to say that publicly.
14ymedio. What was the reaction?
Fernández. At first, I didn’t say who was financing the billboards. We spent close to a million dollars, and for months no one knew. Cuban-American representatives even said they had been organized by George Soros’s leftist party, and it was then that I felt compelled to come forward so they would realize I wasn’t a leftist, a socialist, and much less a communist. I was a capitalist, a Cuban, a resident of Miami, and a taxpayer.
14ymedio. You have a letter signed by Donald Trump in your office. What does that framed document on the wall say?
Fernández. Donald Trump is not a good person. I met him years ago and I disliked him like a sore thumb, as my father would say, to the point that I got up from the table and left. I didn’t have lunch with him because of the way he treated the Central American waiter who was serving us food at his club in Palm Beach. I called him out and said, “Forgive me, Don, but that young man has already suffered so much to get here. You can’t imagine what he must have gone through in his country to be able to work at this private club. So don’t mistreat him, do me a favor. Treat him well, that kid is going to become something you can’t even imagine; this is just a stop on his life.” Trump’s response was, “He works for me,” and I got up and left.
14ymedio. And what does the letter say?
Fernández. When he first decided to run for president, he was giving speeches all over the country, and I decided to put up several billboards. One had a picture of Senator John McCain that said “our hero.” Next to it was a picture of Donald Trump that said “our snake.” From then on, I started getting these threatening letters telling me to stop. So I simply sent him a copy with the amount of my annual taxes and said, “If you want to keep sending me letters, it’s going to cost us both.” I didn’t get any more; the one on the wall was the last one.
I simply sent him a copy with the amount of taxes I pay annually and said, “If you want to keep sending me letters, it’s going to cost us both.”
14ymedio. And will all this activism you are currently displaying lead to a political career?
Fernández. I have no interest in politics. I’m doing it because my parents raised me to care for others, to be responsible for what happens around me. After a certain age, I’ve had a privileged life and feel an obligation to give back. This is costing me capital, time, and headaches.
14ymedio. Reactions and retaliation for your actions?
Fernández. About two weeks ago, I was having lunch in a restaurant, and a Cuban man came up to me, with a sour face, and said, “You’re a communist in disguise.” I stood up to shake his hand, but he wouldn’t give it to me, so I asked him if he liked fishing. When he replied that he did, I told him that if he and I were on a yacht in the middle of the sea and we came across a rowboat. The Castro brothers were on the bow. They had no water and were asking for help. There were two small children in the stern. “Would you give them water even though you knew the two old people were going to drink too?” I asked him. The man replied, “Let them all die of thirst.” I can’t be like that.
14ymedio. Aren’t you afraid?
Fernández. I’m afraid of what might happen after the attacks I’ve received, but I’m also receiving very positive calls and comments congratulating me on what I’m saying publicly.
14ymedio. You recently helped place a sculpture near La Ermita de la Caridad in Miami. Who does the piece honor?
Fernández. Every year, my family and I spend at least a month in Europe, and while visiting the Vatican, I see this sculpture of a boat filled with people. It touched me emotionally because they were of all races, from all over the world. When I returned to the United States, I tracked down the artist Timothy Schmalz, and told him I thought it would be interesting to place a piece like that in Miami, where there are so many cultures and several languages spoken, a city built by migrants. The one we put up here is smaller than the one in the Vatican, and the ideal place to put it was right in that church where so many Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans go.
14ymedio. “No dogs, no Cubans,” read a sign outside the rental houses when you first arrived in Miami. And now?
Fernández. Unfortunately things are getting very hot.
Unfortunately things are getting very hot.
14ymedio. You recently withdrew funds you donated to Florida International University (FIU). Will you use those resources for any other educational initiatives?
Fernández The Florida government decided to increase the tuition paid by children of migrants not born in the U.S. Many people who were in their final years of college have been forced to drop out because they can’t afford it. It hurts a lot because that document on that wall [pointing to a couple of framed sheets of paper] is the law that was passed in 2011 in this state to charge the child of an undocumented migrant the same as a child born in this country. That was reversed this year.
I’m now contributing to The Dreams US organization , which helps many of these young people continue their education.
14ymedio. You’ve written a book, you’ve walked the Camino de Santiago five times, touched the lives of thousands of people, have five children, a multimillion-dollar business, and have cared for countless dogs throughout your life. What’s left on your personal to-do list?
Fernández. Helping others. I see my life as a book in which I write a page each day, and on that page, I have an obligation to do something for someone each day. Whether it’s a shoe salesman or a mayor. I don’t seek publicity or fame.
14ymedio. Where does this desire to serve come from?
Fernández. From my parents and my Catholic upbringing. My father taught me how to confront evil, and my mother how to be generous. The Jesuits, with whom I studied at school, told me to be a “man for others.”
14ymedio. What is your most vivid memory of your childhood in Cuba?
Fernández. Climbing onto the roof of my house at dusk, lying face up to the sky, and turning on a small radio I’d made myself out of a tobacco box, a magnet, and a speaker. Those were the happiest days of my life.
14ymedio. Any advice for those who run the Cuban economy?
Fernández. Open the doors.
14ymedio. Have you worked for that opening on the Island?
Fernández. I’ve never mentioned it, but a few years ago, I approached the US government about creating an investment fund of around $300 million for Cuba. I met with Cuban officials and told them I had no interest in investing a cent in government projects; I wanted to help private entrepreneurs. That initiative had to be approved by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and that’s where it remained, in that process. I don’t think an idea like that could prosper right now, and unfortunately, Cuba has a bad reputation for not paying its debts.
They became afraid of the words Obama spoke.
14ymedio. Why did the diplomatic thaw between Washington and Havana fail?
Fernández. I was there for Obama’s speech at the Grand Theater of Havana, and something that caught my attention was that every time he said an important phrase, the officials sitting in the audience first looked at Raúl Castro to see if he would applaud. Only if Castro applauded did they applaud back. Cuba’s future would have changed completely if they had continued to foster that relationship with the US rulers, but that process was destroyed by the fear of the older Cuban leaders, who feared change. They became afraid of the words Obama spoke.
14ymedio. On your return trips to Cuba, have you been to Manzanillo?
Fernández. Yes, I was there once in 1999 and reunited with some childhood friends. One of them still had the bicycle I gave him when my family and I had to go into exile in 1964. It was a very emotional reunion. At first, I didn’t remember much about the city, but as I got closer, the memories began to flood back, and I knew where I had to go to find those friends I’d been inseparable from.
14ymedio. It is better not to return to a place where you were happy… Would you go back to live in Cuba?
Fernández. As long as there’s no political change on the island, I don’t see a future for Cubans or for myself. I hope to be alive when that change occurs. I was in the Vietnam War, and 20 years later, I met a Vietnamese general in Washington. We started talking, and I asked him how his country had managed to establish a capitalist economy. The man pointed to a book nearby and said, “Turning the page.”
14ymedio. So Mike Fernández’s farm, with cows and horses, in Manzanillo… won’t be coming for the time being.
Fernández. No, they would confiscate my cows.
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