It opens up brilliantly on a pair of caged parakeets, birds that old Cubans love to keep and care for. And over soft music, the grandmotherly Cuban lady’s story sounds sad. It makes you want to cry.
The first of several planned Joe Carollo recall ads with voter testimonials came out Thursday night about halfway through primetime’s Ahora con Oscar Haza on MegaTV — and it’s 
a total slam on the promises the Miami commissioner made to build affordable housing.
“Mi esposo, desgraciadamente ya hace cuatro anos que lo tengo en hospicio, y ya desgraciadamente no tengo esperanza de el,” the woman says, sitting in her tiny house, as the camera pans to a quick seconds shot of her stroking her husband’s chin in an act of pure tenderness.
“Yo conocí al Señor Carollo cuando las elecciones, que vino a mi casa,” she said. “El me dijo ‘Sí, sí, sí, Señora. Olvídese, que si yo salgo, del primer edificio que yo haga, el primer apartmento que se de ahí va a ser el suyo.
“Y lo he llamado, lo he vuelto a llamar. Carollo, usted es un mentiroso!”
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It basically translates to the fact that her husband has been in in-home hospice — basically invalid on palliative care — for four 
years and she has no hope for him. She says she met Carollo during his campaign, when he knocked on her door. They talked about affordable housing. “He said, ‘Yes, yes, señora. Don’t worry about it. If I am elected, from the first building I build, the first apartment there will be yours.'”
She says at the end that she’s called and called his office and that he never calls back. Before she looks straight at the camera and says “Carollo, you’re a liar!”
Sources in the misfit group of hodgepodge recall supporters and organizers — the Take Back Our City political action committee paid for the ads — told Ladra that this was only the first of several testimonials they plan to put out in the next week from people who are volunteering to denounce the commissioner.
The first commercial so far looks, feels and sounds like a campaign ad rather than an ad for a petition drive. So the group must be confident they will get the signatures.
The TV ad also came out the same week as 30-second radio spots where an announcer encourages listeners to join the recall effort.
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“Instead of solving the problems we have, Carollo has brought controversy, chaos and lawsuits that we will have to pay,” says a man’s persuasive voice. “Enough already. Join the effort of thousands of residents.” It gives he number for the recall outreach (786-250-1160) and ends “Tell Joe Carollo that his days of corruption are over.”
A source also said that González, the TV star, contacted them after she got the mailer that went out about the broken promises on housing with the phone number of the recall group — which is also making its way around the streets on a mobile billboard.
She called them. She wanted to tell them about her own broken promise 
experience with the Miami commissioner.
What the ad doesn’t tell you is that one of those times Miriam González called Carollo, she told Ladra, he picked up the phone by mistake. He actually told her he picked up because he thought it was somebody else. The rest of the time he’s ignored her.
How many other voters has he done that to? How many voters did he make the same promise to? Ladra has a feeling people are going to recognize those exact words in the commercial and realize that Carollo es un cuentista. He’s a storyteller. A storyteller extraordinaire. And he has told everyone the same story.
Thursday night, after she had seen her spot, González said she felt very good about her debut as the first testimonial in the Carollo recall. “It’s the first time that I go on camera to say anything, but I feel very satisfied. Because it’s the truth,” Gonzalez, 72, told Ladra. “Me cansé de llamar.” She got tired of calling.
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She said that she let Carollo into her heart by sharing her story and he hurt her feelings, by ignoring her and telling her that he only picked up the phone by mistake. “I feel betrayed,” she said.
But she doesn’t feel scared. And that’s the point of the ad. Petition collectors have run into some residents of District 3 who would love to sign the petition but — because those records become public when they are turned into the elections department — they are afraid that Carollo will retaliate. It’s not like he hasn’t done it before.
But if a 72-year-old lady with a comatose husband can stand up to Carollo, anyone can.
“If he comes to my house again, he will know there’s a woman here ready to face him,” González told Ladra.
And, boy, would he get an earful.
“I am not afraid of him.”
The ad is clearly a message to people that they don’t have to hide in fear. Like caged parakeets.
Joe Carollo recall starts radio, TV ad with first of real life voter testimonial added by Ladra on
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