Chronicle on Cuba - May 2008

Exile Community

May 15: A prominent exile group is calling on the Bush administration to change how it operates Cuba democracy programs so that millions of dollars can reach dissidents on the island. In a 21-page report, the Cuban American National Foundation says that less than 17 percent of $65 million in federal Cuba aid funds spent during the past 10 years went to ''direct, on-island assistance.'' The bulk of the money, the report says, went to academic studies and expenses of exile organizations, mostly in Miami and Washington. Francisco ''Pepe'' Hernández, the foundation president, said the report was not meant as an attack on the US program. ''I have been connected to these programs and these ideas from the very beginning,'' said Hernández. ``These programs have been misused, and to see that only a small amount is reaching the island certainly drives us to do something about it.'' The Cuban Democratic Directorate, or Directorio, called the report a ``smear campaign.'' ''We are profoundly disappointed and dismayed that CANF has chosen this time in history to attack and lie about a fellow Cuban pro-democracy organization,'' said Orlando Gutierrez, the Miami group's national secretary. Frank Calzón, a former foundation official who now runs the Center for a Free Cuba in Washington, accused the foundation of harboring a communist spy. [CANF USAID Funding Report] (The Miami Herald, 15/5/08)

May 15: Marcelino Miyares, vice-president of the Christian Democrat Organization of America (CDOA), asked the European Union to keep all diplomatic sanctions against Havana in place until the Cuban regime provides "concrete signs (of change). In declarations made after attending the Conference "Quo Vadis, Cuba – Scenarios for a post-Castro transition," organized by the Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer foundations in Brussels, the Cuban-American politician pointed out that the sanctions must not be lifted until there are concrete signs, the first of them being the release of all Cuban political prisoners. (Cubaencuentro, 15/5/08)

May 18: The latest report finds that more than 80 percent of the money earmarked for Cuban democracy stays in Miami. But the most surprising thing about the study is its sponsors: The Cuban American National Foundation. CANF has been slowly adapting since the death of its founder, Jorge Mas Canosa in 1997. Many factors have contributed to the once-hardline organization's evolution. But no single person more embodies its philosophical shift than its president, Francisco ''Pepe'' Hernandez. ''Before, we thought we could go to Cuba and invade and establish democracy by force and the US would help us,'' Hernandez told me. ``Those times are over. A man like me who has struggled and dreamt has to reach the conclusion that the future does not belong to my generation. Change in Cuba has to come from inside.'' In Hernandez's case, his new willingness to engage Cuba puts him at odds with an even more intimate figure: his former self. ''I'm speaking as someone who had a lot to do with the policies, or at least someone whom people want to blame for them,'' he said, a smile in his voice. “But Cuba has bought some $900 million from the U.S., including the paper used to print Granma. That's something people don't understand. Embargo? What embargo?'' (The Miami Herald, 18/5/08)

May 21: President Bush announced that people living in the United States soon will be allowed to send cell phones to Cubans on the island nation — a move that he hopes will push the communist regime to increase freedom of expression for Cuban citizens. Francisco J. "Pepe" Hernandez, president of the Cuban American National Foundation, called Bush's announcement "absurd." He urged the president instead to lift restrictions that limit Cuban Americans to one visit to the island every three years and to no more than $1,200 they can send to relatives annually. Although cellular phones are on the lengthy US list of items not allowed to be sent to Cuba, Hernandez said his organization and many others regularly ship them there. "With all due respect" to Bush, he said, "you can't eat cellphones." Joe Garcia, former head of the Cuban American National Foundation who is running to unseat Republican Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami, called the new cell-phone rule a cosmetic policy change. "If George Bush were serious about effectuating change in Cuba, he would immediately grant Cuban-Americans unrestricted family visitation and remittance rights," said Garcia, a Democrat. (AP, Washington Post, 22/5/08)

May 23: The American Civil Liberties Union Florida affiliate called a news conference to publicize a lawsuit in Vermont federal court in which plaintiffs are seeking to persuade a judge to lift travel restrictions. ACLU chapters in Florida, Vermont and Massachusetts joined the lawsuit and a hearing has been scheduled in Burlington, Vermont, on May 28, said Howard Simon, the Florida ACLU executive director. Ramón Saúl Sánchez, the Democracy Movement leader, said he backs the lawsuit because travel restrictions divide exile families and violate their civil rights. ''We should be in the business of protecting rights and not diminishing them,'' Sánchez said. “To deprive the Cuban people in exile of the right to travel to their homeland in the name of freedom constitutes an act contrary to the values of freedom.'' Sánchez said restrictions were partly responsible for a recent increase in Cuban migrant smuggling. ''The imposed family separation by the Cuban regime, coupled with the travel ban against Cuban exiles of three years between trips, contribute to the increase of human smuggling as relatives on both sides of the Straits of Florida miss each other,'' he said. (The Miami Herald, 23/5/08)

May 23: The Cuban American National Foundation, once the foremost voice representing the Cuban exile cause in Washington, is hosting a speech by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a bold move to recapture the group's prominence. Its founder, Jorge Mas Canosa, long served as a symbol of stalwart anti-Castro sentiment. But since his 1997 death, the group has receded into the cacophony of Cuban-American voices. ``Right now, it's a very important chapter in the history of Cuba. We are also at a turning point in our own community,'' said Francisco Hernandez, the foundation's president and co-founder. Hernandez said the next president will have a unique opportunity-- now that Raul Castro has replaced his brother Fidel as Cuban president-- to promote change on the communist nation and is calling on the government to allow private organizations to send money directly to dissidents on the island. The U.S. economic embargo, which the foundation still generally supports, prohibits such transactions with the Caribbean nation. ``Even those of us viewed as the historic hard-liners, 'the troglodytes,' realize we have not been able to communicate our true message,'' he said. ``Our interest is not revenge. It is to help our brethren.'' (AP, 23/5/08)

May 23: The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) is the most prominent of the anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in Miami. Barack Obama’s appearance at a lunch in Miami organized by the CANF was viewed by his supporters as a sign of change in Cuban-American political leanings. Jorge Mas Santos, son of the group’s founder, introduced Mr. Obama and endorsed his plan to lift restrictions on visiting relatives in Cuba and sending money. He said it was time for a new approach to dealing with Cuba.
“The other centerpiece of US-Cuba policy has been that there should be no negotiations and conversations with Raúl Castro,” Mr. Santos said. “Although this may sound tough, on its own it’s ineffective and plays into the hands of Raúl Castro.” (The New York Times, 24/5/08)

May 27: While campaigning in Florida, Democratic co-frontrunner Senator Barack Obama of Illinois addressed the Cuban-American community. In the past, this voting bloc has been crucial to the GOP let alone a GOP victory in Florida. For this year’s election, it does not look as if the Cuban-American voting bloc exclusively belongs to anybody, let alone the GOP. While in Miami, Obama gave a lunchtime speech to the Cuban American National Foundation. One of the audience members was Alina Fernandez, the estranged daughter of Fidel Castro. Fernandez lives in Miami in exile. She is one of the most outspoken critics of Fidel Castro. To Fernandez, Obama is the only candidate that has been genuine in regards to Cuba. (Digital Journal.Com, 27/5/08)

May 30: Exiled Cuban writer and journalist Carlos Alberto Montaner denounced the Cuban regime’s efforts to discredit and intimidate him "through slander and lies." In an opinion article sent to several media, Montaner launched a tirade against Lázaro Barredo, member of the Cuban National Assembly and director of the official Cuban newspaper Granma, for requesting more rigorous punishment for the democrats of the opposition in the island and that Montaner be extradited to Cuba. "I suppose that (Barredo) wants them beaten more fiercely, that they are given longer prison sentences, and that the Ladies in White be treated even more disrespectfully,” said the journalist. As for Barredo’s request for his extradition on the grounds of him being on the run from Cuban justice, Montaner indicated that what the Cuban National Assembly representative claims is only a "half truth." "Almost half a century ago, in May, 1961, when I was 17 years old, I escaped from jail (...) back then I was not fleeing from Cuban justice but the injustice of an absolutely illegal trial, complete with fake evidence and false witnesses." (EFE, 30/5/08)