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Cuban-American Bashing Courtesy of Sun-Sentinel
For those of you who love it when Cuban-Americans' and Miami's reputation take a low blow, this article is for you (emphasis and italicized commentary completely mine).
(prepare to deploy barf bags)
Appeals court ruling underscores negative view of Cuban exile politics
By Madeline Baró Diaz Miami Bureau
Posted August 22 2005
When a federal appeals court ruled recently that ardent anti-Castro sentiment in Miami-Dade County prevented five accused Cuban spies from receiving a fair trial, leading Cuban-Americans expressed outrage. But many outside of the Cuban-American community nodded their heads in agreement.
"[The impression is] that Dade County is like Alice in Wonderland where up is down, down is up," said David Abraham, professor of immigration and citizenship law at the University of Miami School of Law. "As soon as you drift out of Dade County you find that the Alice in Wonderland world ends at the Dade-Broward line." OK, we're off to a fine start.
Such perceptions are drawn from decades of tumultuous events in Miami-Dade. From bombings and assassinations militant Cuban exiles carried out in the 1970s and 1980s to strident demonstrations over Cuban performers, the community's outcry over Cuban castaway Elián González and one-sided court battles in Miami-Dade courts in which judges awarded millions to people with claims against the Cuban government, Cuba has long been the enemy.
That last sentence is the only correct thing stated so far.
In one famous case, the duped wife of a Cuban spy successfully sued the island's government for rape because her husband never revealed he was a Cuban agent. Hooray for justice!
The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 9 rejected the 2001 convictions of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, and René González, ruling that the climate in Miami prejudiced the jury against them. Barring a successful appeal by federal prosecutors to the entire 11-member court, the five Cuban nationals will receive a new trial. Hooray for justice!
The judges said that seating an impartial jury was an "unreasonable probability because of pervasive community prejudice."
"The entire community is sensitive to and permeated by concerns for the Cuban exile population in Miami," the judges wrote. Hooray for justice!
The most serious charges in the spy case involved a tragic episode in Cuban exile history, the 1996 shoot down by Cuban MiGs of two small planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, known at one time for rescuing rafters and dropping leaflets over Cuba. The jury convicted Hernández of conspiracy in the deaths of the four men aboard the planes.
In their decision, the judges cited demonstrations and commemorations held during the trial as contributing factors to the unfair atmosphere.
Cuban-Americans take particular issue with that. Damn right!
"This is America," said Alfredo Mesa (not according to some bozos, Mr. Mesa, just wait), executive director of the Cuban-American National Foundation. "Healthy debate -- protests -- are legal. There were people protesting outside the Michael Jackson trial. Why there are different standards when it comes to the Cuban-American community is what I don't understand."
Neither do I.
"Richard Nuccio, special adviser to the Clinton administration on Cuba (OK, place barf bags on face), said some people in other parts of the country are unsympathetic to Cuban-Americans because of the community's single-mindedness.
Yeah, like, we don't like Fidel and people who conspire with him, comprende Mr. Nuccio?
That became apparent during the battle for Elián, he said. The spy trial took place shortly after Elián returned to Cuba, something the appellate judges mentioned in their decision. The boy was reunited with his father, Juan Miguel González, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear the custody dispute between González and his Miami relatives. That sparked protests in Miami-Dade streets. Hooray for justice!
"The kind of high-decibel extreme emotion, even the language that a lot of Cuban Americans used about the Elián case turned off a lot of people," said Nuccio, director of international programs at the Center for Civic Education in Los Angeles.
The writer forgot to add this to Mr. Nuccio's credentials - expert on Cuban-American behavior.
Mesa and others also were offended by the judges' mention of Miami-area bombings from three decades ago."They are talking about a situation that happened a long time ago," said television commentator Tomás Garcia Fuste. "Those practices … are no longer used today in Miami. We understand that it was not the right path.
Don't even bother Mr. Garcia Fuste, they're not listening. Besides, some think it still happens.
"Nuccio, however, pointed to the case of Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles, who is awaiting an immigration hearing in Texas on charges he entered the United States illegally and some in the Cuban-American community's embrace of him as evidence of twisted notions of justice in the community
Ssince when did the opinion of some represent the entire community? Perhaps in Clinton-ese it makes sense.
Posada, accused of violent acts that include the downing of a Cuban jetliner and the bombings of Havana hotels, came to Miami in March, months after being pardoned in Panama of charges stemming from an alleged attempt to kill Fidel Castro in the Central American country."You did get this impression that he thought he could go from exile in Central America to Miami and that would be … safe haven there," Nuccio said. "For people that are paying attention, I think it does give the impression that somehow the Constitution and laws of the United States don't exactly apply the same way there."
Mr. Nuccio, we are paying attention, and last time we checked, Mr. Posada is locked up in El Paso, TX, not drinking mojitos in Miami, Florida, US of A. The protests the day he was taken away were deafeningly silent.
Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.
(prepare to deploy barf bags)
Appeals court ruling underscores negative view of Cuban exile politics
By Madeline Baró Diaz Miami Bureau
Posted August 22 2005
When a federal appeals court ruled recently that ardent anti-Castro sentiment in Miami-Dade County prevented five accused Cuban spies from receiving a fair trial, leading Cuban-Americans expressed outrage. But many outside of the Cuban-American community nodded their heads in agreement.
"[The impression is] that Dade County is like Alice in Wonderland where up is down, down is up," said David Abraham, professor of immigration and citizenship law at the University of Miami School of Law. "As soon as you drift out of Dade County you find that the Alice in Wonderland world ends at the Dade-Broward line." OK, we're off to a fine start.
Such perceptions are drawn from decades of tumultuous events in Miami-Dade. From bombings and assassinations militant Cuban exiles carried out in the 1970s and 1980s to strident demonstrations over Cuban performers, the community's outcry over Cuban castaway Elián González and one-sided court battles in Miami-Dade courts in which judges awarded millions to people with claims against the Cuban government, Cuba has long been the enemy.
That last sentence is the only correct thing stated so far.
In one famous case, the duped wife of a Cuban spy successfully sued the island's government for rape because her husband never revealed he was a Cuban agent. Hooray for justice!
The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 9 rejected the 2001 convictions of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, and René González, ruling that the climate in Miami prejudiced the jury against them. Barring a successful appeal by federal prosecutors to the entire 11-member court, the five Cuban nationals will receive a new trial. Hooray for justice!
The judges said that seating an impartial jury was an "unreasonable probability because of pervasive community prejudice."
"The entire community is sensitive to and permeated by concerns for the Cuban exile population in Miami," the judges wrote. Hooray for justice!
The most serious charges in the spy case involved a tragic episode in Cuban exile history, the 1996 shoot down by Cuban MiGs of two small planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, known at one time for rescuing rafters and dropping leaflets over Cuba. The jury convicted Hernández of conspiracy in the deaths of the four men aboard the planes.
In their decision, the judges cited demonstrations and commemorations held during the trial as contributing factors to the unfair atmosphere.
Cuban-Americans take particular issue with that. Damn right!
"This is America," said Alfredo Mesa (not according to some bozos, Mr. Mesa, just wait), executive director of the Cuban-American National Foundation. "Healthy debate -- protests -- are legal. There were people protesting outside the Michael Jackson trial. Why there are different standards when it comes to the Cuban-American community is what I don't understand."
Neither do I.
"Richard Nuccio, special adviser to the Clinton administration on Cuba (OK, place barf bags on face), said some people in other parts of the country are unsympathetic to Cuban-Americans because of the community's single-mindedness.
Yeah, like, we don't like Fidel and people who conspire with him, comprende Mr. Nuccio?
That became apparent during the battle for Elián, he said. The spy trial took place shortly after Elián returned to Cuba, something the appellate judges mentioned in their decision. The boy was reunited with his father, Juan Miguel González, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear the custody dispute between González and his Miami relatives. That sparked protests in Miami-Dade streets. Hooray for justice!
"The kind of high-decibel extreme emotion, even the language that a lot of Cuban Americans used about the Elián case turned off a lot of people," said Nuccio, director of international programs at the Center for Civic Education in Los Angeles.
The writer forgot to add this to Mr. Nuccio's credentials - expert on Cuban-American behavior.
Mesa and others also were offended by the judges' mention of Miami-area bombings from three decades ago."They are talking about a situation that happened a long time ago," said television commentator Tomás Garcia Fuste. "Those practices … are no longer used today in Miami. We understand that it was not the right path.
Don't even bother Mr. Garcia Fuste, they're not listening. Besides, some think it still happens.
"Nuccio, however, pointed to the case of Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles, who is awaiting an immigration hearing in Texas on charges he entered the United States illegally and some in the Cuban-American community's embrace of him as evidence of twisted notions of justice in the community
Ssince when did the opinion of some represent the entire community? Perhaps in Clinton-ese it makes sense.
Posada, accused of violent acts that include the downing of a Cuban jetliner and the bombings of Havana hotels, came to Miami in March, months after being pardoned in Panama of charges stemming from an alleged attempt to kill Fidel Castro in the Central American country."You did get this impression that he thought he could go from exile in Central America to Miami and that would be … safe haven there," Nuccio said. "For people that are paying attention, I think it does give the impression that somehow the Constitution and laws of the United States don't exactly apply the same way there."
Mr. Nuccio, we are paying attention, and last time we checked, Mr. Posada is locked up in El Paso, TX, not drinking mojitos in Miami, Florida, US of A. The protests the day he was taken away were deafeningly silent.
Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.
posted by Robert at 10:16 PM
10 Comments:
on what tomasito said
"They are talking about a situation that happened a long time ago," said television commentator Tomás Garcia Fuste. "Those practices … are no longer used today in Miami. We understand that it was not the right path.
BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO
this is what ive wanted all this time, someone, as prominent as garcia fuste, to acknowledge that it DID happen, and not pawn it off on "castro agents" sent to discredit the "miami" cubans..
robert you and i spoke about this before, and it always bothered me thatno one really spoke about it, that it was waved off, in fact i think one of the nastier moments for me on babalu was when george asked for incidents of exile violence, i ran a list from an article, and vals reply to me was "whats my point", which kinda bothered me at the time.. i think some people may feel similarly, that they remember "those" days, and the lack of people that spoke out against it.. in fact, the one perspn that did, got HIS legs blown off..
as far as the article, hey, its a free country, youre gonna see stuff like that.. however, in todays web age, blogs like yours, vals, etc can run a " editorial reply". .trust me, TRUST ME, there are those that will think it is biased AGAINST cuba and castro.. not too long ago, on a shortwave radio listner email group (we track and log the number stations, like what spies use) a reader objected to the use of the term "communist" in relation to cuba, and said that the msm only uses the term communist to make america THINK castro is bad.. thats why i dont beleive the media/msm bias crap.. no one is happy and everyone says its biased one way or another.. you cant all be right, so i think everyone is wrong ;)
daniel,
Fuste isnt the first one to denounce those militant actions. My problem with mentioning those events now is that they are taken out of historical context.
Bombs were also going off in Selma, Alabama. San Francisco. New York. Chicago. All over the place. they were a sign of the times.
It is only when used in the context of Cubans and Cuban Americans that we are reminded, ad nauseum, about those actions. And without a mention as to the fact that Cuban Exiles werent the only ones at the time that were taking such actions.
As for the media bias thing, I personally dont purport to be a reporter. thus, when you read my blog you pretty much know what youre getting. However, as a JOURNALIST not writing an editorial column but a news article, Baro is clearly biased. Google a news search with her name on it. Youll see exactly what Im talking about.
Baro has a big Cuban exile Miami community chip on her shoulder.
on baro, i think you have run her things a few times already on babalu, i dont know what her deal is, i could really care less..
fuste is not the only one, but sadly, the voices against it were few and far between (at the time, very few said anything, for fear of reprisals)..
Daniel,
fuste is not the only one, but sadly, the voices against it were few and far between (at the time, very few said anything, for fear of reprisals)..
You had me in total agreement until the "fear of reprisals" thing. How do you know that and how can you make that assertion as fact?
One guy got his legs blown off and the entire community is scared into cowing?
Dont believe everything you read, dude. There was much much more to that incident than what was reported.
fine, ill agree to i cant state it as fact, but will you concede, you cannot state as fact that it didnt happen.. in my opinion it happened, but i cant "prove" it.. in yours, it never happened, but i dont think you can "prove" it never happened as well.. i really do think intimidation played a role, and i think it was worse back then.. im not saying roving mobs of street justice, but i think maybe back then, there were those that maybe wanted a different approach, and didnt say anything for fear of being ostracized, labeled "castrista".. you can still see some of that today.., but hey, its just my opinion..
Glad to see some good discussion generated from the article.
daniel, we've talked about this very topic before. What bothers me(and Val based on his comments), is that people continue to dig up ugly things from our past and throw it in our faces. The article even mentioned the decades 70s and 80s. Like Val said, it is taken COMPLETELY out of historical context. I'm sorry daniel, but this IS media bias, and it does exist. I used to be skeptical that bias existed, but after reading too many articles like Baro's, the answer is too obvious. I could easily dig up dirt about a few corrupt good ol' boy while anglo-saxon protestants, but what's the purpose? To show off some personal bias, nothing else. That is exactly what Baro seems to be doing here.
Fuste spoke out against the acts of those days, and he's far from being the only Cuban-American to do so. Others have been hesitant to denounce those acts, and I am very critical of those people (I won't mention any names). But to paint all of us with the same brush, you have to be either dumb or biased.
Daniel,
How does one prove something that never happened?
:)
Im not saying that there werent any instances where some people were concerned, but to state that the entire community was cowed is irresponsible at best. You simply cannot use that broad brush stroke as Robert stated.
ay ay ay i can never win.. i never said the entire community was cowering in fear.. i said that few spoke out maybe i should have said "perhaps" they didnt speak against the violence of the 70's out of fear.. if you took it as a generalization, it wasnt what i meant, i know at times i dont express myself as clear as i meant.. this is one of those " only in miami" things, but i can remember , and this was just last year, just after the 6o million hurricanes that hit us in 3 weeks, i was at versailles, which was one of the few places open, anyways, the table next to me had people speaking about a trip to cuba they had just returned from cuba.. and not to generalize, pero cubanos, you know, they were a little... LOUD... i mean above the talking and kitchen noise and conversations of the others there, you could really hear each and every sylable, anyways this guy, old man, could be anyones abuelo, just walked up to their table and said "ustedes fueron a cuba?? assesinos, castristas, hijos de la gran.." and threw the water pitcher at their table.. now i know NOT ALL are like that, of course, but, maybe someone that saw it thinks, 'well let me save my cuba trip story for later'.. ok along the same lines, i think people saw the violence in the 70's and thought, 'let me not suggest anything that is not 100%anti castro anti dialouge, let me not condem this or that'.. that is what i meant when i said some did not speak out of fear..
I hear you daniel, believe me.
I just think we all (I'm being general here, not pointing the finger) need to be careful when trying to explain the behavior or beliefs of a particular group of people.
That abuelo who threw the water at that table was a jerk. But for every jerk out there, there may be 50-100 others who wouldn't even think of doing such a thing, or even dream of intimidating someone because of a different opinion. That's what we need to focus on, not the 1-2 jerks out there.
If only some in the media focused on that as well, us bloggers would be out of a "job"! ;)
all good points.. you know, einstien said
“the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” and i think thats important.. val, if youre still reading, you said something to me in an email once, that you would "never" speak out against the cuban exile commuinity, ever, punto.. i remember the 'punto'.. well, that kinda bothered me, cause i think that in the past, things happened that were wrong, that needed to be addressed, and today you can say we are paying for the sins of our fathers, and those events are still being visited today, as we can see in the article.. wrong is wrong, regardless of what the intentions are, remember the road to hell..
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