Big beer merger sparks exile fears

    In a statement e-mailed to reporters last week, Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, brothers and incumbent Republican Cuban-American congressmen from South Florida, expressed concern about what was then the impending acquisition of Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, Mo., by the Belgian conglomerate InBev. The Diaz-Balart brothers’ concerns stemmed from the Belgian firm's “ties to the Cuban dictatorship, a State Sponsor of terrorism,’’ their statement read in part. It added that InBev “distributes and markets its products throughout the entire ‘tourism apartheid sector of communist Cuba.’’ The statement also suggested that InBev may be involved in undetermined “trafficking in stolen property in Cuba,’’ a reference to possible use of properties confiscated without compensation by the Cuban revolutionary regime from Cuban or U.S. owners after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959.

   Now that the Anheuser-Busch-InBev merger is a reality, it’s perhaps a good time to explore the Cuban concerns. (The Associated Press photo shows crates of Beck’s beer at an InBev brewery in Germany).

   The fears of InBev’s Cuban connections were not raised by Cuban-American leaders first.

   Anheuser-Busch itself denounced InBev’s Cuba deal when it was fighting the InBev acquisition.

   Here’s what Anheuser-Busch disclosed about InBev’s Cuba involvement, according to a Reuters story July 7.

   InBev, through a subsidiary, has a partnership with the Cuban government to produce and distribute products in Cuba, the story said.

   InBev suggested, before the merger deal went through, that its dealings in Cuba were small and that if need be it might divest itself of them to comply with U.S. laws related to the American trade embargo on Cuba, Reuters indicated.

   “Like many multinational companies, InBev has modest activities that relate to Cuba,’’ InBev said, according to Reuters. “The affected volumes constitute less than ½ of 1 percent of InBev’s global volumes.’’

   On its Internet website, http://www.inbev.com/, InBev features a market fact sheet listing as local beer brands in Cuba Bucanero, Bucanero Malta, Bucanero Max, Cristal and Mayabe and a beverage plant in Holguin in eastern Cuba.

   InBev also said, according to the Reuters piece, that its Cuba business does not violate U.S. or international law and that it would comply with all legal requirements were it to successfully acquire Anheuser-Busch.

   U.S. Cuba embargo laws prohibit any “person subject to U.S. jurisdiction from dealing in any property in which Cuba or a Cuban national has an interest.’’ Under the regulations, property includes contracts and services, according to a U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control fact sheet on the embargo. The regulations also say that persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction "may not provide accounting, marketing, sales, or insurance services to a Cuban company or to a foreign company with respect to the foreign company's Cuba-related business.''

   InBev had no immediate comment on what it intends to do with its Cuba interests now that it has acquired Anheuser-Busch. But it sent The Miami Herald Wednesday a written statement via e-mail.

   Here's what the statement says:

   "Like many multinational companies, InBev has modest activities that relate to Cuba. These operations do not violate US, EU or international law. All aspects of our Cuban business are handled out of Europe. InBev currently brews, distributes and sells Beck's and Bucanero, Cristal and Mayabe branded beers in Cuba through a 50-50 joint venture with the Cuban ministry responsible for food matters, and the volumes constitute less than 1/2 of 1% of InBev's global volumes.

   "Inbev continuously reviews its commercial activities and contractual relationships to insure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Once the transaction with Anheuser-Busch is completed, which will still take a few months, the combined company will continue to comply with US, EU or international law.''

-- Alfonso Chardy

U.S. broadcasts to Cuba focus of attention again

    Radio and TV Marti are suddenly in the headlines again this week after the Government Accountability Office issued a report on the International Broadcasting Bureau’s no bid contracts. (You can Download the_gao_report_here.pdf )

   IBB oversees the work of Miami-based Office of Cuba Broadcasting which operates Radio and TV Marti.

   It was in 1983, early during the Reagan administration, that Congress approved Radio Marti – a radio broadcast service that beams commentary, entertainment and news to the island. (The photo shows the studio in Miami).

   Since 1990, TV Marti has been airing similar content on television.

   (If you want to watch TV Marti or listen to Radio Marti, both in Spanish, click on this Internet address http://www.martinoticias.com/ and then click on either Radio Marti en Vivo or TV Marti en Vivo on the left hand column of  the website).

   According to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the mission of Radio and TV Marti is to break through the media control that the Cuban government exercises on its media. A key objective of both services is to deliver balanced commentary, entertainment and news to the island.

   From the outset Radio Marti was controversial. Critics insisted it was part of a covert operation by the Reagan administration to overthrow Fidel Castro.

   More controversy followed when TV Marti started, with critics claiming few watched the television broadcast on the island.

   Even more controversy ensued when President Clinton in 1996 gave authorization for Radio and TV Marti operations to relocate to Miami from Washington.

   The most recent controversy, prior to Tuesday’s GAO report, involved a Miami Herald story in September 2006 about how at least 10 South Florida journalists, including at least three from El Nuevo Herald, received regular payments from the U.S. government for programs on Radio and TV Marti.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Cuban Americans in congressional races featured

    Two Cuban Americans from Miami were featured prominently in The New York Times Sunday magazine.

   Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia, challengers respectively to incumbent Republican congressmen Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, were highlighted in the article by longtime Cuban community observer David Rieff titled Will Little Havana Go Blue?

   (The photos from top to bottom show Martinez, Garcia, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart)

   A contributing writer to the magazine and author of the 1993 book The Exile: Cuba in the Heart of Miami, Rieff suggested that perhaps political conditions may be shifting in South Florida and that Martinez and Garcia could defeat the Diaz-Balart brothers.

    “Two Democratic Congressional candidates in the Miami area – Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez – were added last month to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s list of potential ‘red to blue’ conversions, bringing to 37 the number of seats nationally that the Democrats hope to flip away from the Republicans,’’ wrote Rieff in the article titled Will Little Havana Go Blue?

   “For the first time, the hard-line consensus is being challenged. There is real debate in Cuban Miami these days about the embargo, above all about the series of further restrictions that were imposed by the Bush administration in 2003 and 2004.’’

   Martinez, former Hialeah mayor, and Garcia, former Cuban American National Foundation executive director, favor lifting the travel restrictions for Cuban exiles who have relatives in Cuba. The Diaz-Balart brothers favor the restrictions.

    Under the travel restrictions, Cuban exiles can only visit Cuba once every three years – instead of once a year as before.

   Lincoln Diaz-Balart has said the restrictions are a cornerstone of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

   “The U.S. tourism ban, which is the most important aspect of the embargo, would simply become unsustainable if Cuban American members of Congress advocated unrestricted travel for Cuban exiles,’’ Diaz Balart told The Miami Herald earlier this year.

    “How could I ask my colleagues from other states to continue prohibiting travel to Cuba by their constituents if I were advocating unrestricted travel to Cuba for Cuban Americans?’’

  -- Alfonso Chardy

Exile broadcaster finds new AM home

    Maverick Cuban exile broadcaster Max Lesnik has landed a new AM radio deal to resume daily weekday broadcasts of his program.

   Lesnik told The Miami Herald Wednesday that starting Monday July 14 at 10 p.m. his hour-long show will resume Monday through Friday on local station WNMA 1210 AM.

   (The photo by Miami Herald photographer Peter Andrew Bosch shows Lesnik at his tiny studio in his Miami office)

   Lesnik and another controversial Cuban exile radio talk show host, Francisco Aruca, ended their weekday news and commentary programs on WOCN 1450 AM June 13 when that station switched to largely ESPN sports programming in Spanish.

   Initially, Aruca and Lesnik attempted to strike a new deal with WKAT 1360 AM, but those efforts did not prosper.

   Aruca managed to resume his show on WOCN at a different time, Saturdays only for two hours starting at 8 a.m.

   Both Lesnik and Aruca also carry their commentaries on their Internet websites, respectively http://www.radio-miami.com/ and http://progreso-semanal.com/

   Traditional Cuban exiles view Lesnik and Aruca with suspicion because both advocate improved relations between the United States and Cuba and reconciliation between exiles and Cubans on the island.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Exiles seek pardon for convicted Cuban exile militant

    Several Cuban exile organizations are launching a campaign to persuade President Bush to pardon convicted Cuban exile militant Eduardo Arocena, reputed mastermind of Omega 7.

   Arocena, 65, was sentenced to life in prison for gunning down a Cuban diplomat and for several bombings in the New York City area. Also, a federal jury in Miami convicted Arocena of planting nine bombs over a four-year period in the Miami area.

   The photo by El Nuevo Herald photographer Roberto Koltun shows a 2007 rally in support of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles in which some people carried placards urging the U.S. government to release Arocena from prison.

   Arocena’s wife, Miriam, is spearheading the campaign through a website – www.libertadparaarocena.com -- in which she asks for signatures for a petition to be sent to President Bush for a pardon before he leaves office.

   “After 25 years in prison in the United States, I have again taken up the cause seeking a presidential pardon for my husband, Eduardo Arocena,’’ Miriam Arocena wrote in an open letter featured on the website.

    “My husband was sentenced severely, perhaps to more time than his actions warranted, for having violated some laws of the United States. But it should be remembered that his actions were carried out on behalf of his deep desire to return liberty and democracy to our fatherland, Cuba…’’

   According to a YouTube video on the pardon campaign, the crusade has been endorsed by the former Cuban political prisoner group Presidio Politico Historico Cubano.

   -- Alfonso Chardy

Delay sought in test of travel law

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has asked a federal judge to extend an injunction that temporarily suspended enforcement of a new state law on travel to Cuba. The law, which requires travel agencies specializing in trips to the island to post a $250,000 bond with the state, among other impositions, was challenged in court by 16 Miami-Dade travel agencies. U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold had set July 11 as the date for a hearing to determine the validity of the law, but Department of Agriculture lawyers have asked for that hearing to be postponed until Aug. 29, so they may better prepare their arguments. Attorney Ira Kurzban, whose firm is representing the agencies, has agreed to the postponement. Thus, even if upheld, the tighter controls on travel to Cuba could not be enforced until mid-September at the earliest, and flights would be unaffected until then. For more details in The Herald, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Spy's ex-wife writing book and planning movie

    Ana Margarita Martinez may be forever known as the spy’s wife.

   Now she’s striking back with a possibly tell-all book about her relationship with Juan Pablo Roque, the infamous member of the Cuban spy Wasp Network who fled back to the island on the eve of the deadly Brothers to the Rescue shoot down Feb. 24, 1996.

   “Don’t get mad, get even,’’ Martinez told The Miami Herald during a conversation Wednesday in a South Beach apartment where she was on hand for an interview with Lt. Col. Chris Simmons, a U.S. Army counterintelligence officer.

   Besides a book, there’s also a possible movie in the works – but she won’t say who she has in mind to play her role. The book’s working title is The Spy’s Wife: Beyond Betrayal. The book will be finished and turned over to the publishers next year, but it may not be published until 2010.

   Martinez and Simmons are collaborating on the book and the movie plan.

   The photo above shows Martinez posing with Roque’s Jeep Cherokee, which he said was one of the things he missed most from his Miami stay. The photo below shows Roque in South Florida.

   Roque, a Cuban military pilot, arrived in the United States in 1992 claiming to be a defector and seeking asylum.

   Within a short time, Roque had become prominent in the exile community – helping to organize a Cuban defectors’ support group and flying for Brothers to the Rescue, the exile group that at the time helped find Cuban rafters in the Florida Straits.

   One day, specifically Feb. 23, 1996, Roque vanished – leaving behind his jeep, cell phone, credits cards and bills. The next day, a Cuban MiG fighter plane shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes, killing four volunteers. Within hours, Roque appeared on Havana television and later admitted he had been a spy all along.

   Two years later, the FBI busted the Wasp Network of Cuban spies and named Roque as a member and conspirator in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down.

   Since then, Martinez got the Roque marriage annulled and secured a court ruling ordering the Cuban government to pay her more than $27 million in damages on the ground she was the victim of a sham marriage so her husband could infiltrate the Cuban exile community. She has only been able to collect a small portion of the award.

   -- Alfonso Chardy

Exile debate on Cuba travel restrictions

    Beyond the controversy over a new state law that tightens regulations for travel agencies that book Cuba trips lies a growing debate about whether Cuban exiles should visit family and friends frequently on the island.

   The debate has become central in the fiercely-contested South Florida congressional races.

   All three Democratic Party candidates challenging Republican incumbents favor lifting travel restrictions President Bush imposed in 2004 limiting exiles to one family trip to Cuba once every three years – instead of once a year as before.

   For example, Raul Martinez – the former Hialeah mayor – favors lifting travel restrictions arguing that current limitations hurt families.

   “It is immoral when the United States government talks about family values and not allow family travel to Cuba,’’ Martinez told The Miami Herald early in his campaign against Republican incumbent Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

   Diaz-Balart told The Miami Herald recently, in response to Martinez’s statement, that he supports travel restrictions because they are a cornerstone of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba under which U.S. citizens and residents are prohibited from traveling to Cuba as tourists.

   “The U.S. tourism ban, which is the most important aspect of the embargo, would simply become unsustainable if Cuban-American members of Congress advocated unrestricted travel for Cuban exiles,’’ Diaz-Balart said. “How could I ask my colleagues from other states to continue prohibiting travel to Cuba by their constituents if I were advocating unrestricted travel to Cuba for Cuban Americans?’’

   The travel agency regulation law, which was to take effect Tuesday, was essentially put on hold pending a hearing in federal court July 11 to review a lawsuit against the measure.

   Under the state law signed by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Florida travel agencies that arrange Cuba trips must post a $250,000 bond with the state and pay up to $2,500 in annual fees.

   Separately, a federal court in Vermont is reviewing a lawsuit joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida that seeks lifting travel restrictions. The photo by Miami Herald photographer John Vanbeekum shows a May 22 news conference in Miami in which ACLU officials explained the lawsuit at the Democracy Movement office,

   The lawsuit was filed in early March by a group of Cuban Americans living in Vermont.

   -- Alfonso Chardy

Exiles planning reunion of ex-employees at pre-Castro high-end Havana store

    Former employees of El Encanto, once Cuba’s leading department store, are preparing a special reunion in October to mark the 120^th anniversary of the business.

   Dario Miyares, president of the Association of Former El Encanto Employees, told The Miami Herald in a recent interview, that ex-employees now living in Miami, other U.S. cities and foreign capitals plan to gather at the Renaissance Ballrooms, 5910 Southwest Eighth Street, starting at noon Oct. 26.

   Miyares said relatives of some of the original founders will be on hand to reminisce about what was once a high-end department store chain frequented by the elite of Cuba and foreign celebrities like Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power. Fidel Castro also used to go by El Encanto to read books at the book department, according to Miyares, and the wife of then Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista to buy fashionable clothes.

   The ex-employees have been gathering every year since 1980. El Encanto burned down on April 13, 1961 – four days before CIA-backed Cuban exile forces landed at the Bay of Pigs for an ill-fated invasion.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Miami emigre group Antonio Maceo Brigade marks 30th anniversary

    Many of them were children when they first arrived with their parents who were then fleeing from Fidel Castro’s communist regime in Cuba. But when they grew up they did not agree with their parents’ decision to leave the island or with their views on the Cuba revolution.

   Now some of these Cuban-American men and women are in their 60s and are celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the organization they formed to express their views in favor of the Cuban revolutionary government in a city generally opposed to Castro and his revolution.

   In a press release issued Monday, Andres Gomez (photo) – leader of the Antonio Maceo Brigade – said that on Sunday at a local hotel ballroom more than 100 people gathered to commemorate the group’s three decades of existence.

   The event Sunday, Gomez wrote, was dedicated to Carlos Muniz Varela, former leader of the brigade who was murdered in San Juan, Puerto Rico 29 years ago. Gomez said the event also demanded the release of the five Cuban spies convicted by a federal jury in Miami as a result of an FBI investigation into the Wasp Network case.

   Named after Cuban independence hero Gen. Antonio Maceo, the brigade was founded in 1978, a time when some Cuban exiles sought to open a reconciliation dialogue with the Castro regime.

More Cubans are settling in Arizona

An ever-growing Cuban community is making a mark in Phoenix, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday. Over the past 15 years, as many as 10,000 Cubans have settled in the Valley of the Sun, becoming one of the five largest Hispanic groups in the area. Many of the newcomers are being resettled in Phoenix by humanitarian organizations because Miami is saturated with immigrants, the newspaper said. Compared with Miami, "Phoenix has a more affordable cost of living [and] it's easier to find a job," a Catholic Charities official told the newspaper. Many Cubans who fled the island through Mexico decided to settle in Arizona, rather than go on to Florida. To read the entire article, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

A visit to the Elian Little Havana museum

   A one-story house in Little Havana that immigration agents raided early one morning in April 2000 has become a museum to commemorate the operation.

   It was no ordinary immigration raid. Agents stormed the house to seize Cuban child rafter Elian Gonzalez, then six and in the custody of his Miami relatives who lived at the house.

   An exclusive photo by Associated Press photographer Alan Diaz of the moment when an armed agent demands the crying boy from a family friend captured the raw emotion of the raid for posterity.

    A large frame displaying the photograph is now the centerpiece in the very room of the Little Havana house at 2319 Northwest 2^nd Street where the agent seized Elian from family friend Donato Dalrymple.

   The house is now a museum, open to the public every day after noon. The room where Elian was seized and the adjoining room where the boy slept are largely kept intact, as they were when Elian lived in the house until immigration agents raided it on April 22, 2000.

   The house was in the headlines again Friday when Elian’s Miami great-uncle and great-aunt, siblings Delfin and Caridad Gonzalez, called a news conference to express their anger at presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama.

   They said they were upset that two of Obama’s advisers, Greg Craig and Eric Holder, had played a role in the seizure of Elian and his return to Cuba subsequently.

   Craig, a lawyer, represented Elian’s father in the custody battle against the Miami family branch. Holder was deputy attorney general at the time immigration agents seized Elian.

   The photos, taken by El Nuevo Herald photographer Roberto Koltun, show landmark spots at the house including the room where Elian was seized and his bedroom, shown by his Miami great-aunt, Caridad.

Exile groups decry EU decision on Cuba

   Cuban exile organizations in Miami protested Friday against the European Union’s decision Thursday to lift its diplomatic sanctions on Cuba.

    At least four exile groups –- Directorio Democratico Cubano, MAR por Cuba, Plantados hasta la Libertad y la Democracia en Cuba and Union Liberal Cubana – were among the first to issue a joint statement deploring the European Union’s action.

    

     According to the joint statement, the anti-Castro exile groups feel that the European Union decision does not take into account the “repressive reality’’ which ordinary Cubans currently experience. The statement also blamed the lifting of European Union sanctions on the “influence and diplomatic work’’ on the part of the Spanish government “on behalf of the oldest totalitarian dictatorship in the American continent.’’

     “We consider it shameful that the government of [Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis] Rodriguez Zapatero (photo above) would lend such services to the dictatorial regime of the Castro brothers, while on the island hundreds of people are attacked, arrested arbitrarily and jailed in subhuman conditions for expressing their ideas and demanding universally recognized rights,’’ the exile groups’ statement said.

    “A government that uses torture and intimidation as a systematic method to stay in power must not be legitimized by the world’s democracies.’’

   Separately, the Cuban American National Foundation also protested the EU’s move. “With this decision, the voices of Cuban dissent will be denied access to the European stage,” said foundation president Francisco “Pepe” Hernandez.  “If the EU’s decision to strengthen diplomatic relations with Cuba were to result in the shutting out of the opposition it would effectively amount to the legitimization of Castro’s tyranny.”

Some South Florida voters would back lifting Cuba travel restrictions for exiles

   One of the findings in a poll released Wednesday in Miami is that a majority of registered voters surveyed in two hotly-contested South Florida congressional districts would support a presidential candidate willing to let Cuban Americans travel to Cuba without restrictions.

   According to the poll released by the Foundation for Normalization of US/Cuba Relations, 48 percent of surveyed registered voters in districts 21 and 25 are “more likely’’ to vote for a candidate for U.S. President who would allow Cuban-Americans to travel freely to the island.

   Thirty six percent in district 21 and 34 percent in district 25 would be less likely to support such a candidate. Seventeen percent in each district said they had no opinion. The margin of error: plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

   Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic Party presidential candidate has promised to lift current Cuba travel restrictions for exiles.

   Republican Cuban American brothers Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, who support the restrictions, respectively represent districts 21 and 25.

    In his speech to the annual Cuban American National Foundation Cuban Independence Day luncheon in a downtown Miami hotel on May 23, Obama said he would allow unfettered travel by exiles to Cuba -- along with money remittances to relatives on the island.

   “I will immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island,’’ Obama said. “It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers. It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent upon the Castro regime.’’

   In 2004, President Bush imposed travel and money remittance restrictions on Cuban Americans who have relatives on the island. Exiles now can only visit relatives in Cuba once every three years instead of annually and can send money only to close family members like spouses, parents or children instead of any relative.

    In his own speech to the Cuban exile community on May 20, presumptive Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain accused Obama of seeking to undermine the longtime U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

   "Now Senator Obama has shifted positions and says he only favors easing the embargo, not lifting it,'' McCain said. "He also wants to sit down unconditionally for a presidential meeting with Raul Castro. These steps would send the worst possible signal to Cuba's dictators.''

Exile broadcasters fail to secure second AM station

    Maverick Cuban exile radio talk show hosts Francisco Aruca (left) and Max Lesnik (below) have failed so far in efforts to resume daily broadcasts of their news and commentary shows on another Miami AM radio station.

   Lesnik said the bid to air his show Radio Miami on WKAT 1360 AM  “is not going anywhere.’’ Aruca said efforts to resume his show Ayer en Miami on the same station “did not prosper.’’

   Both men said they were still looking for another radio station on which to resume their daily on-air broadcasts.

   Lesnik’s Radio Miami and Aruca’s Ayer en Miami went off the air on Friday June 13 when WOCN 1450 AM switched to largely all-sports programming by Spanish-language ESPN.

    For now, the daily broadcasts of Radio Miami and Ayer in Miami continue only on the Internet websites of each show, respectively: LaRadioMiami.com at http://www.radio-miami.com/ and Progresosemanal.com at http://progreso-semanal.com/

   Aruca also will have a two-hour show starting Saturday June 21 at 8 a.m. on WOCN.

House bill would ease travel curbs

Travel restrictions to Cuba could be eased under the terms of a bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee, the Reuters news agency reported Wednesday. The bill would enable Cuban-Americans to visit close relatives in Cuba once a year, instead of once every three years, as the restriction stands now. And the list of approved relatives would be expanded to include uncles, aunts and first cousins. Rep. José Serrano (D-NY), the panel's chairman, called the proposal "a concession to Cuban-Americans who keep asking for it. There is no reason to place harsh restrictions on those who simply wish to visit family members." The bill could clear the House next month but undoubtedly will encounter strong opposition from the White House, as similar proposals have. To read the Reuters report, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

New Cuba attitude polls to be released

   An organization that seeks better relations between the United States and Cuba has announced plans to release polls Wednesday about how voters in three South Florida electoral districts feel about U.S. policy toward the island.

  The Foundation for Normalization of US/Cuba Relations (FORNORM) has scheduled a news conference at a hotel in Coral Gables to release results of three opinion polls on Cuba-related issues, according to a press release.

   The statement said the polls were conducted by Hamilton Campaigns whose website -- http://www.hamiltoncampaigns.com/ -- describes the organization as one that helped the “Democratic leadership committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives take back control of Congress.’’

   According to the FORNORM press statement, the polls were conducted in three Florida congressional districts: 17, 21 and 25.

   District 17 is represented by Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., while 21 and 25 are represented, respectively, by Republican Reps. Lincoln and his brother Mario Diaz-Balart.

   The Diaz-Balart brothers are being challenged by two prominent Cuban-American Democrats.

   Former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez is challenging Lincoln while former Cuban American National Foundation executive director Joe Garcia is challenging Mario.

Exile broadcasters seek new AM radio home

    Maverick Cuban exile broadcasters Max Lesnik (left) and Francisco Aruca (below) may find out this week whether they can resume daily radio news and commentary shows on another Miami AM station.

   On Friday, when Lesnik and Aruca went off the air after years of broadcasting daily weekday shows on WOCN 1450 AM, they both announced they were negotiating with WKAT 1360 AM to resume shows in coming days.

   But late Friday Lesnik said he had been advised WKAT was no longer considering the deal because both he and Aruca were “too controversial.’’

   Tony Calatayud, the WKAT general manager, said he had “no knowledge’’ of any negotiations because he had just returned from a trip.

   Both Lesnik and Aruca were looking forward to resuming broadcasts on WKAT. They said that if they struck a deal, their broadcasts would be heard throughout South Florida. On WOCN, they said, broadcasts were heard only in parts of Miami-Dade. As of Monday WOCN will broadcast Spanish-language ESPN sports programming.

    For now, Lesnik and Aruca will continue regular broadcasts on their websites – respectively LaRadioMiami.com at http://www.radio-miami.com/ and Progresosemanal.com at http://progreso-semanal.com/ 

   Lesnik and Aruca are disliked by traditional Cuban exiles because they embrace viewpoints that are either sympathetic or neutral toward Cuban revolutionary regime positions. Both describe themselves as independent journalists who sometimes support but also criticize official Cuban policies.

   Their shows, Radio Miami by Lesnik and Ayer en Miami by Aruca, carry news about and from Cuba, the Cuban-American community and the United States.

-- Alfonso Chardy

New book revives claim exiles linked to JFK assassination

    A new book by the first black Secret Service agent on the White House presidential detail is sure to revive the controversy about whether Cuban exiles were involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

   The Echo from Dealey Plaza (Harmony Books, $25.95), by former Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden, provides an insider’s account of what went on at the Secret Service Chicago office in relation to an investigation of Homer Echevarria, one of the Cuban exiles initially suspected of links to the Kennedy assassination.

   “Just a few days before the shooting in Dallas, the Secret Service received even more threatening information, this time about a group of anti-Castro Cuban activists allegedly plotting to assassinate the president,’’ Bolden wrote. “Homer S. Echevarria had been overheard to make a statement to the effect that Kennedy was about to be taken care of.’’

   Bolden added that instead of immediately warning the White House Secret Service detail, which was with Kennedy near Dallas, the head of the Chicago Secret Service office ordered agents to look further into the matter and eventually “the investigation fell apart.’’

   In the end, Bolden wrote, the then Chicago Secret Service chief – Maurice Martineau --ordered the investigation turned over to the FBI. “In early December [1963], Agent Martineau called us together to tell us that the FBI was taking over the Echevarria case and that our investigation was to terminate immediately.’’

   While Bolden’s story is a witness account of a historic element in the Kennedy investigation, his reference to Homer Echevarria is not new. The name came up in the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations report.

   It said Homer (the actual name is Homerio) Echevarria was at one time suspected in the assassination because the day before the killing in Dallas he had reportedly told a federal informant in Chicago that his group had money and was ready to buy weapons “as soon as we take care of Kennedy.’’

   The report said House investigators were never able to “substantiate the content’’ of the informant’s tip. The report concluded that Kennedy was “probably” killed as a result of a conspiracy, but did not specifically name the conspirators – though some exiles were viewed as possible suspects.

   The Warren Commission, however, said assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

   Bolden was separated from the Secret Service in 1964 after being convicted of soliciting bribes from a counterfeiter. Bolden has said he was framed because he had complained about “laxity’’ in Secret Service protection for Kennedy.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Controversial exiles to go off the air in Miami

   Two controversial Cuban exiles who support improving U.S. relations with Cuba will go off the air Friday because the Miami radio station on which they broadcast their news and commentary shows is becoming a sports news outlet.

    Max Lesnik and Francisco Aruca said they are looking for another radio station where they can buy air time to resume broadcast of their shows, respectively Radio Miami and Ayer en Miami. Meanwhile, Lesnik and Aruca plan to continue carrying broadcasts on their websites: LaRadioMiami.com at http://www.radio-miami.com/ and Progresosemanal.com at http://progreso-semanal.com/ (The photo above shows Lesnik and the one below shows Aruca).

   Starting Monday, the radio station, WOCN AM 1450, will begin airing Spanish-language ESPN sports programming.

  Radio Miami has been on the air for about five years while Ayer en Miami has been broadcast since 1991.

   Both Lesnik and Aruca are considered by many traditional Cuban exiles as sympathetic to the Cuban government and revolution. But both describe themselves as independent journalists.

   Lesnik says he favors the restoration of full-fledged diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba as a way to lessen tensions between the two countries and bring about change in Cuba.

   Aruca says he both defends and criticizes policies of the Cuban revolutionary government.

Farewell Dr. Lago

I'll miss the regular breathless phone calls I got from Dr. Armando Lago, who would call me every time he made an exciting discovery for his book, the Human Cost of Social Revolution. Dr. Lago's work logging the human cost directly tied to the revolution -- on either side -- was important, and I was proud to have met him. He was a Harvard-educated economist and former champion swimmer whose life's legacy was to help build the Cuba Archive. Read his obituary here.

- Frances Robles

Anti Embargo group heads to Tally

The anti-embargo group Cuban American Commission for Family Rights plans to protest at the capitol in Tallahassee Wednesday against the proposed Cuba travel bill.

The protest is aimed at  Florida Senate Bill 1310, which would require sellers of travel to Cuba to annually certify to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services the scope of their business activities by filing a disclosure statement. “Provides that it is a violation of the Florida Sellers of Travel Act to offer to sell, at wholesale or retail, prearranged travel, tourist-related services, or tour-guide services for individuals or groups directly to any terrorist state which originate in Florida, etc." the bill says.

The people at the commission say the bill would further limit Cuban-Americans’ abilities to visit their families on the island. They plan to meet with key staffers at the governor’s office.  They say a group of Miamians will have “traveled all night in buses to attend the rally.”

The protest is 11 a.m. Wednesday at capitol square.

- Frances Robles

Dissident will return to resume struggle

Dissident and former political prisoner Héctor Palacios wants to return to Cuba in July, the Agence France-Presse reported Friday. "Great changes begin with small gestures," he told the French news agency, alluding to the socioeconomic changes instituted by Cuban leader Raúl Castro. Palacios, 66, is one of the 75 dissidents arrested in March 2003 during a major crackdown on the opposition; he was released in December 2006 because of heart problems and spent six months in Spain undergoing medical treatment. In Washington this week, he told the AFP that he believes "the struggle for the people of Cuba must be waged inside and outside [the island], but what's most important is that the changes will occur inside." Asked if he is afraid to return, he answered yes, "but my duty toward my country exceeds [my fear] and gives me the energy needed to return." Palacios told the AFP that he favors dialogue between Washington and Havana and called for the lifting of U.S.-imposed curbs on travel and money remittances. "Without dialogue, there is no peaceful change," he said, adding that Cubans living in the U.S. "should travel to their homeland any time they wish and send to their families as much [money] as they wish to send." For more of the AFP interview (in Spanish), click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Plaintiffs foiled as travel case opens

In Burlington, Vt., Judge William Sessions opened hearings on a lawsuit by four residents to lift federal restrictions on travel to Cuba. The plaintiffs contend that the restrictions violate their constitutional rights and discriminate against people of Cuban descent. At the hearing Wednesday, the judge denied a request for a temporary injunction that would have allowed three of the plaintiffs, who are Cuban-born, to travel to their native country. The presentation of arguments from both parties is expected to take at least one month.  According to Sessions, "This is not something that's going to be expeditiously resolved." [Photo shows: Armando Vilaseca, one of the plaintiffs, visiting his aunt, Gladys Casdelo, during a trip to Cuba last year. Last month, she died of cancer.] For details on the hearing, click here. For a feature story, click here. ---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Court case on travel curbs begins

The lawsuit brought by four Vermont residents against the federal government to end the limitations on family travel to Cuba will begin Wednesday (May 28) with a court hearing in Burlington, Vt., The Boston Globe reports. The plaintiffs allege that the 4-year-old restrictions violate their constitutional rights and discriminate against people of Cuban descent. Cuban-Americans can travel to their native country only once every three years. The Justice Department says that the lawsuit interferes with foreign policy and that the plaintiffs have no constitutional right to travel abroad. For more on the lawsuit, click here. Also, see our blog posting "Cuba travel restrictions emerge as exile issue," May 22.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Exiles cheer Obama at Cuban American National Foundation luncheon in Miami

   When Barack Obama on Friday addressed the annual Cuban American National Foundation Cuban Independence Day luncheon he probably expected his audience to consist largely of longtime Cuban exiles who fled after Fidel Castro’s revolution triumphed 49 years ago. (The photo shows Obama with Cuban American National Foundation chairman Jorge Mas Santos before the senator's speech).

   But among the estimated 900 guests at the cavernous soft-lit ballroom of the downtown Miami hotel where Obama spoke were about a dozen recently-released political prisoners or recently-arrived former Cuban dissidents.

  They are examples of the very people on the island who are now at the center of exile debate about possible change in Cuba and the ones who would be affected the most by any change of American policy toward the island.

   Among the newly-arrived Cubans who sat at the “dissidents’’ table was former political prisoner Hector Palacios who arrived in Miami only last month for a short stay.

   Palacios has said he plans to return to Cuba in a few weeks to rejoin the dissident movement that peacefully seeks democracy on the island. (Photo shows Palacios meeting with Obama after the speech in Miami Friday).

   Palacios, 64, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being arrested during a government crackdown against dissidents in 2003. He was released from prison on Dec. 6, 2006 for medical reasons. He was allowed to travel to Madrid, Spain, and then Miami in October.

   In an interview with The Miami Herald seconds after Obama finished speaking at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Miami, Palacios said he welcomed the Democratic Party presidential candidate’s remarks on Cuba.

   “He spoke about Cuba and that for me has been very important,’’ Palacios said, adding: “And what Obama intends to do about Cuba includes many things that I share. This is not the moment to fence in the people of Cuba. This is the moment to open the doors so Cubans and Americans can go there. We cannot subject the people of Cuba, after 50 years of war, to one more war and we cannot continue killing each other. Changes in Cuba are taking place and people have not realized this. Fidel Castro is no longer there but the people are and the people are stronger than ever.’’

   Many Cuban exiles are critical of Obama because they reject his prior statements that he would meet with Raul Castro.

   In his speech, Obama said he would not meet Castro “for tea’’ but to discuss substantive policy differences between the two countries.

   “There will be careful preparation,’’ Obama said. “We will set a clear agenda. And as president, I would be willing to lead that diplomacy at a time and place of my choosing, but only when we have an opportunity to advance the interests of the United States, and to advance the cause of freedom for the Cuban people.’’

   When he arrived and left, Obama received a standing ovation and was repeatedly interrupted by applause and cheers.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Cuba travel restrictions surge as exile issue

    Travel restrictions that limit the ability of U.S. citizens and residents to visit family members in Cuba have become a controversial issue in Miami’s Cuban exile community.

   Under the restrictions, citizens and residents can travel to Cuba to visit close relatives once every three years. Prior to 2004 they could travel once a year. Tourist travel to Cuba from the United States is prohibited under the Cuba trade embargo.

   On Thursday, the Democracy Movement and the American Civil Liberties Union Florida affiliate held a news conference to press the issue. It will come to a head next week with a hearing in Burlington, Vermont federal court. The ACLU last week joined a lawsuit in Vermont challenging the travel restrictions. (The photo shows the scene at the news conference Thursday at Democracy Movement headquarters in Miami).

   Democracy Movement leader Ramon Saul Sanchez, who hosted the news conference with the ACLU, conceded that the issue will spark major divisions among Cuban exiles.

   “The majority of the exile community has supported the [trade] embargo [against Cuba], but many, many people do not support these [travel] sanctions,’’ Sanchez told the news conference. “I know a debate will open with this issue here in our community. It is already out there and it will happen and we welcome that.We want to defend this as a matter of principle, not politics. It’s a matter of civil rights.’’

   It’s also a campaign issue in South Florida.

   The three principal Democratic Party challengers -- Annette Taddeo, Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia -- to the incumbent Republican Cuban American federal lawmakers – Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and brothers Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart -- favor a liberalization of travel restrictions. Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers – favor the travel restrictions.

-- Alfonso Chardy

A day of exile solidarity with Cuba

    Cuban exiles and their allies marked a day of solidarity with Cuba.

   From President Bush on down, those who support a hard line against the Cuban government expressed solidarity with Cuba – by offering support for those who oppose the Cuban regime.

   It was the first Day of Solidarity with Cuba, promoted by activists opposed to the Cuban government as a way to bring worldwide support for political prisoners in Cuba and anti-government opponents within the island.

   The Day of Solidarity with Cuba stems from a gathering earlier this year at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, said Marcibel Loo, spokeswoman for the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

   At that meeting, Loo added, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez met with exiles and activists who favor the replacement of the Raul Castro regime with democracy and agreed with the idea of a solidarity day.

   Bush picked up the idea and on Wednesday told officials and supporters gathered in the East Room of the White House that he embraced the concept of a solidarity day with Cuba.

   “This is the first Day of Solidarity with the Cuban people,’’ Bush said, adding: “and the United States must keep observing such days until Cuba’s freedom [arrives].''

   It was during his solidarity day remarks that Bush announced his initiative to allow the shipment of cell phones to Cuban exiles’ family members.

   The AP photo above shows President Bush kissing Yamile Llanes Labrada, wife of Cuban political prisoner Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, after Bush spoke. At right is singer Willy Chirino.

   Locally, the office of City of Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez said he plans to present a resolution Thursday stating that the City of Miami will stand in "solidarity with the people of Cuba seeking political freedom and basic human rights.''

   The solidarity day is part of a series of events scheduled in connection with the 106^th anniversary of Cuban independence.

   These events culminate Sunday with a mass in memory of Pedro Luis Boitel, a Cuban political prisoner who died after more than 50 days on a hunger strike in 1972.

   The mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Church of San Juan Bosco, 1328 NW Third Ave., in Miami.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Cuban exiles mark Cuban independence day

                                                      It’s Cuban independence day. On May 20, 1902, the first president of Cuba – Tomas Estrada Palma – took control of the island from the last U.S. military governor.

   U.S. forces had previously landed in Cuba and helped put an end to Spanish colonial rule in 1898. Cuban rebels had been fighting against Spain since 1868 when a rebellion broke out led by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes.

   Cuban exiles are marking the 106^th anniversary of Cuban independence throughout the week.

   On Tuesday, Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain spoke to exiles at independence day events in Miami-Dade. Photo shows McCain at the Sheraton Miami Mart hotel.

   Barack Obama, who is seeking the Democratic Party presidential nomination, will address the annual Cuban American National Foundation Cuban Independence Day luncheon Friday at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Miami.

   The two candidates are split on their policies toward Cuba.

   Obama has said he favors bringing democratic reforms to the island by talking to the Cuban government now led by Raul Castro, younger brother of Fidel Castro who retired in February. McCain favors continuing the Bush administration’s hard line on Cuba.

-- Alfonso Chardy

Famed store exhibit evokes memories for exiles

    When people walked into the leading department store in pre-Fidel Castro Cuba, many would exclaim: esto es un encanto – roughly this is enchanting in Spanish.

   It was a fitting reaction given the name of the high-end outlet: El Encanto, the enchantment.

   The fashionable Havana store was in the headlines again this past weekend -- in Miami.

   Thousands of people flocked to El Encanto exhibit at the Cuba Nostalgia show at the Fair Expo-Center in west Miami Dade where former store employees offer