Lech Walesa receives key to city, says he would back Miami mayor in any White House bid

Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Walesa received a key to the city in Miami at a ceremony on Wednesday after visiting Mayor Francis Suarez and leaders in the Cuban exile community.

Walesa, a leading figure in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the first democratically elected president of Poland since the 1920s, has long called for change in Cuba. Walesa marked Labor Day by visiting the Brigade 2506 Museum and Library in Little Havana, where he encouraged Cubans to look for “new tactics” in the fight against the communist government.

Walesa received a warm welcome Wednesday afternoon at Miami City Hall, where Suarez lauded the 79-year-old for his advocacy against communism in Cuba and around the world.

“President Walesa saw firsthand, and related to me upstairs, the toxicity of communism, which promises to make everyone the same but only succeeds in making everyone equally miserable,” said Suarez during a press conference.

A trade union leader and founder of the Solidarity Movement, Walesa said he had visited Miami to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and he also connected with Cuban exiles to encourage them to work for freedom in Cuba.

“I didn’t expect to be in a setting where I was expected to wear a suit,” he said, clad in blue jeans and a T-shirt that said “Constitution” in Polish. Attendees smiled.

“So please don’t be offended by the way I am dressed today, but I will put on a suit when Cuba is free,” he said, drawing applause from the audience.

Walesa also said the U.S. should take a leading role in solving global issues, saying that “the tragedy is that America isn’t the leader of the world right now.” He gave a nod toward Suarez’s possible future political ambitions.

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“The U.S. needs great leaders, like your mayor. I spoke with him briefly before we came here, and I’m telling you, such people should lead us. And I said that I would vote for him as the next president of the United States,” Walesa said, drawing another round of applause.

Suarez, a Republican whose political advisors have fueled speculation that he may run for president in 2024, has never dismissed talk about a potential bid for higher office.