Chronicle on Cuba - August 2006

Exile Community

August 1: The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) claimed to be ready to provide assistance during a “non violent” political transition in Cuba. Alfredo Mesa, the Foundation’s director and spokesman said that, for the time being, the situation in the island is very confusing and that it would be best to analyze in detail whatever little information comes out of Havana. "But we now remind the Cuban people that we are willing to support a non violent transition," he indicated. (EFE, 2/8/06)

August 2: Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, said there were still those in Miami who talked of reclaiming what was lost in Cuba. "You have people who lost a farm and now say they want their cows back," Mr. Mas Santos said. "Forget it. The cow is dead." But he said there was a strong feeling among young, educated professionals like himself that they could share their expertise and aspirations with their counterparts in Cuba. He said the Castro government had long portrayed him and his colleagues as "Mafiosos" –the “Cuban mafia”, the Cuban government calls them-who wanted to take over, but Mr. Mas Santos bluntly dismissed that notion. "Cuba can give me nothing,'' he said, "but what we have here, we can give to Cuba. Look at the miracle of South Florida. Yes, we can rebuild roads and buildings. But what we have to do is touch the hearts of Cubans and help them smile and dream again; to propel them into the future, and not relive the past. That is our generation's gift." (The New York Times, 3/8/06)

August 2: The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) asked the Cuban Army to facilitate the step towards democracy by seizing the opportunity presented by the current political juncture in the island to establish an interim civic-military government and prevent a transfer of power to Raúl Castro. The CANF proposed that all political prisoners be released and "free, multi-partisan and transparent" elections be conducted within a “reasonable” period of time. Pepe Hernández, president of the Foundation, claimed to have received messages from Havana, " coming from both the military and the civil hierarchy," that hint at the existence of internal differences within the government. (Europa Press, 3/8/06)

August 2: The only place in Cuban Miami, it seemed, not abuzz with the excited chatter of exiles was the small pharmacy owned by Juanita Castro, Fidel Castro’s sister. ''I have differences with my brother, ideological and political,'' said Juanita, who owns the Mini Price pharmacy at 2671 SW 27th Ave. and has largely shied away from the often contentious nature of exile politics.  The 73-year-old Castro emphasized she had nothing to say about her 79-year-old brother, his illness or the state of affairs in her homeland. ''I'm not going to be making any declarations about that,'' she said. ''I never listen to the radio. There is so much hatred in this community. And they will say that all Castros are the same,'' she said. ``And that is a lie.'' While she is no fan of her brother's politics and chose to live her life in exile, she said she had mixed feelings about the hordes of celebrators who took to the street the night before, leaning on car horns well past midnight. ''This is a spectacle, all this happiness,'' she said, shaking her head. ''Los lazos de sangre son fuertes'' (the ties of blood are strong), she said with a shrug. (The Miami Herald, 3/8/06) 

August 3: Exile leaders in Miami were calling on the US President to support Cubans living in the US, by easing travel restrictions to Cuba. Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Democracia movement, urged the US to allow Cuban-Americans to travel freely to help Cuba re-define its future. “No one on earth should have the power to tell a citizen of a country that he or she cannot return to his or her homeland,” Sanchez said. Sanchez, backed by other exile leaders, spoke at the Versailles restaurant. His concern was echoed by patrons of the restaurant, who believe they should be a part of any New Cuba. “If we had a solution in Cuba where the Castro brothers were out of the picture,” Esteban Bobo told CBS4’s Art Barron,“those restrictions would have to be eased, because we are a country of law; this is not a kingdom.” (CBS4News, 3/8/06)

August 5: Some Cuban exiles, seizing on the unprecedented transfer of power in Cuba, called for the US government to do more to encourage a democratic transition on the island. William Sanchez, an attorney for the Cuban-American non-profit Democracy Movement, urged Bush to tell Cuba to set an elections timetable and let Cuban-Americans come to the island to help with a political transition. The Cuban government used such statements by what it calls the "terrorist mafia" in Miami, as well as Bush's call for democratic change on the island, to justify its fears of an invasion. (Canadian Press, 5/8/06)

August 5: Buoyed by Fidel Castro's illness, members of Orlando's Cuban community in Florida plan to walk the streets to express their support for a democratic Cuba. Rene Plasencia, producer of the Fiesta Medina and Festival Calle Orange, which attracts thousands of Hispanics to downtown every year, is calling on fellow Cubans and supporters of the exile community to march for freedom in the island nation. It's not clear how many of the roughly 31,000 Cubans in the Metro Orlando area will participate, but organizers expect to lead the crowd, starting at 10 a.m. from City Hall, to Lake Eola for speeches, flag-waving and music. (Orlando Sentinel, 5/8/06)

August 6: Fidel Castro's exit from the world stage has the potential to shake up decades of Republican dominance among Cuban-American voters. South Florida's large Cuban-American population has long been one of the party's most loyal constituencies. At least eight in 10 of Florida's nearly half-million Cuban-American voters backed President Bush in 2000, when he won the state by just 537 votes, although a survey after the 2004 election showed a slip. Republican Senator Mel Martinez, a Cuban American, acknowledged that a Castroless Cuba could pose new complications for the GOP. ''I think there'll be change and I think there'll be challenges,'' Martinez said. He added, though, that any changes would be years away, when a democracy is restored in Cuba. ``It'll be a lot more complicated to make the case. It won't be just a simple one issue where the Democrats have abdicated the field, really, on foreign policy. I think there'll be more of a challenge because the issues will be more varied.'' ''Republicans have had a lot of bark and no bite, but the bark has been enough,'' said Joe Garcia, a former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation and director of the New Democrat Network's Hispanic Strategy Center. ``Once Castro is gone, you can bark all you want, but Castro's not there. You've got to develop a more realistic agenda that's in tune with the Cuban-American reality.'' ''Cuban Americans will still be analyzing the positions taken by the parties and candidates after a post-Castro Cuba,'' said Representative David Rivera (Republican-Miami), a former Republican Party of Florida strategist who two years ago publicly warned the White House to crack down on Castro or suffer an erosion of support at the polls. (The New Herald, 6/8/06)

August 7: Damian Fernandez, the Cuban-born director of Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute, cautioned against assuming that all of the original exiles are hard-liners or extremists. The truth is much more nuanced, he said. The first arrivals -- many of whom are now either dead or old and weary -- were driven by "a very deep, affective, emotionally charged crusade against what they perceived to be the evil represented in Fidel and communism," said Fernandez. Their fight was almost a family feud, as many members of the community came from the same left-of-center political current as Castro before he turned communist. There is a paradox in that the Miami exiles are the leading voice demanding Cuba be isolated through US economic and political sanctions and yet are more engaged with the island than any other community in the United States, Fernandez said. "We are perceived as supporting isolation and disengagement. We are engaged on a daily basis; we send money, we call, we travel, we send packages. We're informed." (Reuters, 7/8/06)

August 8: With Fidel Castro convalescing from intestinal surgery, a multi-layered community of Cuban immigrants eyes possible political change on the island. Gone are the days when Cuban-Americans could be expected to speak with one voice. "We're not monolithic," said Silvia Wilhelm, founder of the Puentes Cubanos organization that sponsors humanitarian exchanges with Cubans. "It's very much divided, very confused, but I think the majority of us all want to end this nightmare. There may be different strategies, but I think people want some peace here. People are very, very tired." (Sun Sentinel, 8/8/06)

August 11: Investigators from the Southern Florida special antiterrorist unit interviewed the former-director of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) who weeks ago revealed his involvement in alleged plans to use military action to eliminate Fidel Castro. Sources indicated that the cross-examination of José Antonio Llama, A.K.A. "Toñín", is part of an inquiry launched by the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), following the activist’s confession regarding the creation and financing of a secret paramilitary arm of the Foundation in 1992. (El Nuevo Herald, 11/8/06)

August 11: A lot more than the treacherous Florida Straits separates Miami's Cuban exiles from their homeland just 90 miles off the southern tip of Florida. But the handover of power by ailing Fidel Castro has many thinking about change on the communist-ruled island and the day, perhaps soon, when barriers between Cubans and staunchly anti-Castro Cuban Americans may finally come tumbling down. "In the long run it's going to be impossible to separate South Florida from Cuba, the links are too strong," said Anthony Maingot, a Caribbean expert and sociology professor at Florida International University. "I have absolutely no doubt that Cubans will go back," said Maingot, predicting many exiles would return to Cuba to live after Castro's long rule comes to an end. But a 2004 poll by Florida International University showed that most exiles -- who may not be welcome back on the island -- would probably never return to Cuba to live. Even if it changed to a democracy, nearly 67 percent said they were unlikely to consider a permanent return. That total was even higher than the 60 percent who said they favored military action, by the US government or Cuban exiles, to overthrow Castro. Cuba and Florida could eventually have "highly integrated economies," said Javier Corrales, an associate professor of political science at Amherst College. "But a lot depends on whether Cuba becomes a hospitable place, politically and economically." If there is a true democratic opening in Cuba, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, an exile and Republican congresswoman from South Florida, said booming tourism and new business and franchise opportunities could lure many Cuban emigres back to stay. (Reuters, 11/8/06)

August 13: South Florida's Cuban exile community used the report in Cuban official press with Fidel Castro’s note and pictures to criticize the island's government. "Sadly, Granma's optimism of Fidel Castro's health is in sharp contrast to political prisoners who are rotting in Cuban prisons for simply disagreeing (with him)," said Alfredo Mesa, spokesman for the Cuban American National Foundation. "Dead or alive, change in Cuba must come now. The era of Fidel Castro must end." (Reuters, 13/8/06)

August 15: Refusing to dialogue with Fidel or Raúl Castro "is like being mute," said the leader of the Cuban Committee for Democracy, Alfredo Durán, in a press interview. Sheer logic tells you that "the Cubans who are going to take the fate of Cuba in their hands cannot share the views of the historical leaders from the Sierra Maestra," said Durán. "Cuban socialism needs to be complemented with the word “democratic”. When the predominant figure of Fidel Castro is no longer in the picture and they are faced with a big void that none of them can fill, that word is going to come up,” he predicted. (Notimex, 16/8/06) 

August 15: About 50 Cuban migrants are being detained indefinitely at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to an exile group in Miami. Federal officials confirmed the number. One migrant has been held for nearly two years; another, age 10, has diabetes. The Cubans were picked up at sea at various times trying to reach the United States, according to the exile group, Democracy Movement. Normally they would have been returned to Cuba. But after interviews aboard US Coast Guard cutters it was determined that those migrants appeared to meet the standard of having a well-founded fear of persecution if repatriated and, therefore, were diverted to Guantanamo, the exile group said. The exile group said Cubans can be held at the base until the United States can find a third country that will take them. Ramon Raul Sanchez, who heads Democracy Movement, said at least one Cuban has been held at the base nearly two years, and recently staged a hunger protest over US immigration policy. A State Department spokesman referred CNN's questions to Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond. (CNN, 15/8/06)

August 16: The Comandos F-4, a paramilitary group of Cuban exiles based in Miami, said the only way to achieve change in Cuba was through arms. Now that it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that Fidel Castro is still alive, and that even though he has handed over command to his brother Raúl the state appears able to function in the same way as before, Miami-based exiles have begun venting their disappointment and demanding urgent action. The US, however, appears to be urging caution and is exceedingly unlikely to endorse any adventurism.  The Comandos F-4, described as a "terrorist" organisation by Cuba, said it had training camps in Paraguay and, interestingly, Venezuela and was ready to "support militarily" its compatriots on the island. "Fidel Castro has not left us any other option, given that his reaction to all peaceful action has been to send people to prison" Rodolfo Frometa, the commander-in-chief of the group, said. (Latinnews Daily, 17/8/06)

August 16: Following Fidel Castro’s provisional transfer of power to his brother Raúl, some Cuban exile groups admitted that it would be best to show restraint and patience in a future process of transition in Cuba. Diego Suárez, the director of the Council for the Freedom of Cuba, one of the main Cuban exile organizations in Miami, said that "the change is coming" and "there is no need to despair." However, Angel Desfana, the president of Plantados, maintained that "it is not a matter of patience, but of urgency." (EFE, 16/8/06)

August 20: A pair of Cuban-American opponents to Fidel Castro's rule hope a database they are compiling will provide an accurate record of how many have been killed by the regime.  Maria Werlau, 46, a former banker living in Chatham, New Jersey, and Armando Lago, 66, a half-paralyzed economist in Coral Gables, Florida, say their eight-year-old Cuba Archive project has already compiled 9,000 reports of people killed during Castro's 47 years running Cuba. The reports, many of which they say have been confirmed, involve more than 5,000 killed by firing squad, mostly in the immediate years following Castro's 1959 rise to power. Werlau and Lago say roughly 2,000 others died in prison, some executed, some perishing in accidents never explained. On top of that, there's an estimated 77,000 people who have died trying to flee Cuba, according to Castro critics. Werlau and Lago also hope to include the roughly 3,000 people who died in the violence before the 1959 revolution, including those killed by the forces of dictator Fulgencio Batista. (AP, 20/8/06)