Latino voters who helped seal Florida's status as a Republican stronghold are now reeling with anger, bewilderment and guilt over their support of President Donald Trump, according to El País.
"Trump’s manifesto of economic prosperity and law and order clashes with a reality that continues to punish disadvantaged families," writes Abel Fernández.
Nearly a year into Trump's first term and the Hispanic community, he writes, is deeply divided.
"Frustration and regret have grown among those most affected by the rising cost of living, cuts to social programs and an immigration agenda that has torn the Hispanic community apart," Fernández writes.
The disenchantment, he says, is palpable across the state, with a list of complaints including "the disruption to government aid as a result of the government shutdown, the unstoppable rise in the cost of rest, and persistent inflation."
The loss of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, in particular, are affecting those in Miami-Dade County "especially hard," Fernández explains, where "the shift of the Latino vote from Democrat to Republican was key to Trump’s victory last year."
In Miami-Dade, 215,000 households (about 24 percent) rely on SNAP, one of the highest rates in the country. "In other words, more than half a million people," he writes.
Alexis Maria, a single mother is one of those and says she deeply regrets her support of Trump.
“The last time Trump was president, I made more money than ever in my career. Prices were low. Gasoline was cheap. I remember going on vacation. Interest rates were lower. Now everything is out of control. I can’t even afford the air we breathe. Now I see that I made the wrong decision,” she says.
Maria, who relies on food stamps to feed her two children, says "The government is the reason we’ve been able to eat most of the month, and the other half, I’m counting each cent to survive, what with food prices and rent."
As Maria searches for food banks and organizations to help her and her family, her anger at supporting Trump grows.
"Now I need to go three times a week to feed my family, and the lines every week have been longer. This sums up why I’m angry with the president. His decisions are now [adversely] affecting the lower and middle class. They only benefit the rich,” she says.
Central Florida resident Michael Lyras is disabled and on food stamps and says that though he voted for Trump three times, he's deeply unsatisfied.
“I regret my last vote enormously,” he says. "It was necessary to make changes, but not in this way, sacrificing our civil rights and liberties that are enshrined in our Constitution,” Lyras adds. “[Trump] is turning this into a police state and he’s acting like an authoritarian. I didn’t vote for any of this”
Trump supporter Cuban Pita says that the Trump administration's immigration policies are “a Republican political manipulation. … If you say you’re going to deport all criminals, even migrants, like me, they [voters] are happy with that. That is why the Latino vote was oriented towards Trump. People agreed with what the Republicans were saying in the campaign, which was: ‘I’m going to get rid of all criminals.’ But what Trump is doing is something else, and it is very cruel and very bad, and they are going to pay dearly.”