Chronicle on Cuba - June 2004

Exile Community

June 8: Democrat John Kerry enjoys a commanding lead over President Bush among Cuban Americans born in the United States and a decided edge among Cubans who arrived in the country after 1980, according to a new poll of Miami-Dade Hispanics that reveals deep divisions within a community traditionally viewed as staunchly Republican. The poll, commissioned by a Democratic group that is targeting Hispanic voters, shows Kerry with a 58-32 percent advantage among Cubans born in the United States, suggesting that the Massachusetts senator has an opportunity to siphon potentially critical support from Bush. But the poll shows Bush crushing Kerry among the largest -- and perhaps most politically active and vocal -- group of Cuban-American voters: those who arrived before the 1980 Mariel boatlift. Those voters -- who make up about two-thirds of all Cuban-American registered voters in Miami-Dade, according to the survey -- back the Republican incumbent overwhelmingly, 89 to 8 percent, with just 3 percent undecided. Among all Cuban-American voters, Bush leads Kerry 69 to 21 percent, with 10 percent undecided -- a massive lead, but a decline from 2000 when more than eight of 10 Cuban Americans helped Bush narrowly defeat Al Gore in Florida and win the White House. Kerry leads Bush 40 to 29 percent among Cubans who arrived in the United States after 1980, with 31 percent undecided. Among all Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade, Bush leads Kerry 60 to 29 percent, with11 percent undecided. (The Miami Herald, 11/6/04)

June 8: Cuban born actor, Andy Garcia, is starting work on a new film set in Cuba in the 1950s and has chosen the Dominican Republic as the filming location. The actor/director was traveling to the Dominican Republic to begin filming this week, his publicist Stan Rosenfield said. He said the screenplay was written by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, a prominent Cuban writer who opposes Fidel Castro. (AP, 8/6/04)

June 8: A Minneapolis trademark and brand licensing company will launch next year a new casual apparel and footwear collection for men under the name of José Martí—Cuba’s independence national hero. The company, Brand Impact Group, will use the likeness of the 19 thcentury Cuban hero to penetrate the coveted Hispanic retail market. (El Nuevo Herald, 9/6/04)

June 9: The plan of a Miami company that has launched a line of clothing bearing the name of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti has met strong criticism and condemnation in Cuba. Such marketing goes beyond bad taste and is profoundly offensive to those who respect Jose Marti and his humility, avowed Cintio Vitier, honorary president of the Marti Research Center, who attended the Roundable TV broadcast from Havana. (Prensa Latina, 9/6/04)

June 10: Cubans living in Tampa aren't embracing a federal policy limiting how often Cuban-Americans may travel to Cuba and how much they may spend there. ``When it deals with family, there shouldn't be restrictions,'' said Jorge Luis Capedevila, a Cuban-born radio disc jockey for WQBN, 1300 AM. ``With the restrictions, they are drowning our people. The action should be taken against [Fidel] Castro.'' (The Tampa Tribune, 10/6/04)

June 15: South Florida's Cuban-American community of about 600,000 is divided over the Bush administration's policies, with some hard-line exiles complaining that Bush has failed to take a tougher stance against Castro. A younger generation of Cubans who were born in the United States — or raised here most of their lives — are more likely to support engagement with Cuba. They are not solid Republicans like their parents. Many Cuban Americans abandoned the Democratic Party some 40 years ago, blaming President Kennedy for the debacle of the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. The strong feelings remain, bolstered by President Reagan's anti-communist views and the Republicans' tough-on-Castro message. And, Jeb Bush, the president's brother, made converting Cubans his cause in the mid-1980s, before he became Florida's governor in 1998. The community is expected to vote Republican again on November 2. But if enough switch to Bush's Democratic rival, John Kerry — or decide to stay home on Election Day — the president will have to make up those votes elsewhere in Florida, a growing state of more than 17 million. (AP, 15/6/04)

June 17: A Cuban dissident who returned to the island last year after a long exile in Florida is calling on Cuban-Americans to vote for John Kerry in November in response to the measures recently imposed by the Bush administration. Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, a former revolutionary commander and leader of the group Cambio Cubano (Cuban Change), appealed to the "sensibilities of Cuban-Americans living in the United States" to back Kerry "out of love for their country of origin and the good of the United States." The measures the Bush government has said it will take against the Fidel Castro regime "fly in the face of the interests of Cubans on the island and will only make the Cuban government dig its heels in deeper," Gutierrez Menoyo said in a communique released in Havana. (EFE, 17/6/04)

June 19: Operators of charter flights to Cuba are scrambling to schedule flights to ferry hundreds of Cuban Americans back from the island before new travel regulations make them illegal visitors subject to $7,500 fines as of June 30. The agencies are also trying to contact Cuban Americans already on the island who may not know that they have to return before the more restrictive rules take effect. ''We encourage folks to use this time period to make travel arrangements to get back to the US,'' said Molly Millerwise, a spokeswoman for the Department of the Treasury. A traveler returning after June 30 will be subject to a $7,500 fine, Millerwise said. First-time violators with mitigating circumstances have sometimes gotten off with a warning letter, she added. (The Miami Herald, 19/6/04)

June 20: A few hundred of Cuban Americans rallied in the streets of Miami, protesting against new travel regulations to be implemented on June 30. Demonstrators also made public their protests against limitations to remittances imposed by Washington. One of the participants carried a banner saying, “My family lives in Cuba, where does your family live, Mr. Bush?” (Encuentro en laRed, 20/6/04)

June 21: Federal immigration agents have arrested a Cuban man in Miami on suspicion he may have supervised a team of torturers who targeted dissidents opposed to Fidel Castro -- a charge strongly denied by his attorney. Jorge Felipe de Cárdenas Agostini, 46, was picked up at his home in Miami and taken to the Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade, where he is in deportation proceedings, according to officials familiar with the case. Cubans, however, are rarely deported because the Cuban government generally refuses to take exiles back. (The Miami Herald, 21/6/04)

June 21: The Bush administration's measures tightening sanctions against Cuba has provoked heated debate in the South Florida exile community. "I'm pleased with the implementation of these measures. The new pressures imposed on (Fidel) Castro's economy reduce the dictatorship's financial resources to continue oppressing the Cuban people," US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen told the press. Concurring in that view were two other South Florida Republican lawmakers, brothers Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart. More praise for stiffening the embargo came from Ninoska Perez Castellon, head of the Cuban Liberty Council. "It's not about isolated measures," she said, "but rather a comprehensive plan that includes a diplomatic initiative in favor of democracy in Cuba." Jorge Mas Santos, head of the board of directors of the powerful Cuban American National Foundation, said the plan's most important aspect was the promise of more help for the internal opposition to Castro. (EFE, 21/6/04)

June 21: Some organizations in the South Florida exile community have been critical of the Bush administration’s measures against Cuba. The Cuban American National Foundation’s Francisco Hernandez pointed out that the group, while urging Bush to adopt "an effective strategy" against Castro, never sought tighter restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to their homeland or on the remittances they send to relatives there. Claiming to speak for more "moderate" elements of Miami's exile community, the groups Puentes Cubanos (Cuban Bridges), Cambio Cubano (Cuban Change) and The Time is Now flatly rejected the Bush package. Jose Basulto, president of Brothers to the Rescue, a group that uses small private planes to scour the Florida Strait for Cuban rafters in distress, characterized the latest set of actions as "more of the same." (EFE, 21/6/04)

June 27: Before strict new US regulations on travel to Cuba are to take effect, hundreds of Cuban-Americans lined up at Miami International Airport to get on board flights to the communist island. Many in the two hour-long check-in lines expressed frustration with the new rules ordered by President Bush, which limit family visits to once every three years instead of annually. Those caught in violation face a $7,500 fine. The restrictions also have huge political implications in a presidential election year, especially in South Florida, where Bush and presumed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry are vying for Cuban-American voters. (The Miami Herald, 28/6/04)

June 27: With his family looking on, José Contreras became the dominating pitcher the New York Yankees expected all along. Making his first start since his wife and children defected from Cuba last week, Contreras struck out a career-high 10 in six shutout innings, beating the New York Mets 8-1 in the opener of a day-night doubleheader. (The Toronto Star, 28/6/04)

June 28: The Cuban American National Foundation issued a statement criticizing the new rules ordered by the Bush administration, which limit familt visits to the island. [CANF Statement] (CANF Press Release, 28/6/04)