The project seeks to bring back journalists laid off from local newsrooms and has $75,000 in initial funding.
14ymedio, Havana, November 14, 2026 – Cuban independent media outlets elTOQUE and Café Fuerte announced this Saturday the launch of elTOQUE USA, a journalistic initiative aimed at covering current events in immigrant communities in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe counties in South Florida. The project is emerging amid a deep crisis in the region’s Spanish-language media, marked by closures, layoffs, and a significant reduction in local newsrooms.
The new platform aims to take advantage of the experience of journalists who have lost their jobs in recent months and combine it with digital content distribution tools. Its goal is to restore coverage that has been weakened in areas such as housing, the cost of living, immigration laws, public services, and decisions made by local governments.
The initiative has financial backing from the Knight Foundation and Press Forward South Florida, which have committed $75,000 in matching funds. To reach the $100,000 needed to sustain the first year of operations, the organizers will have to raise another $25,000 through community donations before December 31. For every dollar contributed, the funding organizations will add another three dollars.
The launch comes after a succession of blows to Miami’s Hispanic press. América TeVé, Channel 41, ended its live production after three decades of broadcasting; Univision 23 reduced its local news team, and the McClatchy company recently eliminated 32 jobs in Miami, a decision that left El Nuevo Herald with virtually no Spanish-language reporters.
The new platform aims to take advantage of the experience of journalists who have lost their jobs in recent months
The elimination of those positions has particularly affected journalism devoted to monitoring municipal and county institutions, following the courts, and explaining administrative decisions that affect immigrants’ daily lives. At the same time, numerous professionals with decades of experience, sources, and knowledge of the community have been left out of newsrooms.
elTOQUE USA will operate through a collaboration between the two publications. Wilfredo Cancio Isla, founder of Café Fuerte and a former El Nuevo Herald journalist, will oversee the work of a team of independent contributors. elTOQUE, for its part, will contribute its experience in audiovisual production, social media, and audience development to distribute reports through videos, newsletters, and messaging services such as WhatsApp.
“We don’t want to build a smaller version of El Nuevo Herald,” explained José Jasán Nieves, executive director of Mas Voces Foundation, the organization that operates elTOQUE. The intention, he added, is to get the work of experienced journalists onto the platforms where a large part of the community currently gets its information.
The announcement comes just four days after Nieves, elTOQUE’s editor-in-chief, received the 2026 Knight International Journalism Award in Washington, presented by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). The recognition particularly highlighted the exchange-rate monitor for Cuba’s informal market and the La Travesía project, dedicated to documenting missing Cuban migrants.
With this expansion, elTOQUE, which began as a news project aimed at Cubans both on and off the Island, is broadening its scope to include American local journalism
The fundraising campaign will begin with Give Miami Day, an annual donation event organized by The Miami Foundation. Between November 14 and 19, the organizers hope to initially raise $5,000, while the overall campaign will remain open until the end of the year.
With this expansion, elTOQUE, which began as a news project aimed at Cubans both on and off the Island, is broadening its scope to include American local journalism. The initiative comes at a time when South Florida’s Hispanic community is losing traditional media outlets but still has a large pool of professionals capable of telling its own stories.
Translated by Regina Anavy
______________________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.