Exile activists make pledge with Cuban dissidents
By Laura Morales, The Miami Herald, September 16, 2006
MIAMI - In 1962, Fidel Castro's police threw Angel De Fana in jail for being a member of a pro-democracy group named after Jose Marti, the Cuban writer and national hero.
''We had to hide to assemble,'' De Fana, who languished in prison from 1962 to 1983, said in Spanish, adding that he and fellow prisoners had to endure years of forced labor. ``I was forced to cut stone in a quarry.''
De Fana and scores of other exile activists clogged the sidewalks of Miami Saturday to answer a call from Cuba's dissidents and political prisoners asking folks to not cooperate with Castro's regime.
Many protesters wore T-shirts bearing the words "Yo No" (I Don't) and shook anti-Castro placards at drivers. A non-stop procession of supporters leaned on car horns, waved at friends and pumped fists through open windows and sunroofs.
''We're here to show solidarity with those who want freedom,'' said Sylvia Iriondo, president of Mothers Against Repression and a passenger in the only plane which survived the Brothers to the Rescue shoot-downs in 1996.
''We ask all Cubans to say no to repression and to defend fundamental human rights,'' she said.
Grizzled, cigar-chomping exile veterans filled Domino Park to capacity while younger activists pounded the sidewalk and shouted slogans to energize some of their more subdued elders.
Diane Cabrera, of Raices de Esperanza (Roots of Hope), a Cuban youth organization, said she wants to show support for her counterparts on the island.
''I have to show solidarity with these young people who don't have the same rights and freedoms I do,'' she said. ``I want to help them reach for their dreams of a free pluralistic society.''
The drive for non-cooperation, launched on July 25, asks those on the island to drop out of Communist organizations and to not ''snitch'' on fellow dissidents or participate in "actos de repudio," meaning ''public attacks.'' The latter is a Cuban term used to describe the verbal and physical assaults dissenters typically endure when they go protest in public.
Cubans outside the island are asked to promote the campaign as widely as possible.
The Cuban Committee for Human Rights, Agenda: Cuba, the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Forum, the Miami Medical Team and the Democracy Movement are among the groups who helped organize the event and are spearheading the non-cooperation campaign.
At about noon, the protesters clustered to hear a taped statement from Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, a political prisoner at Kilo 7 prison in Camaguey, Cuba.
''This is a call to the conscience of all, young and old, laborers and professionals, soldiers and civilians,'' Antunez said in Spanish. ``Refuse to keep cooperating with a repressive regime. Fight for the rights and dignity of all Cubans.''
Youth rally sends a message of hope to young Cubans A group of about 80 young Cuban Americans gathered Friday to support their counterparts in Cuba.
By Susan Anasagasti
Aug. 5--They came wearing white as a symbol of peace and unity, while holding balloons and banners that read: Hope. Esperanza.
On the sandy white beach off Ocean Drive Friday afternoon, 10 miles east of Little Havana, where the possible end of Fidel Castro's regime has been celebrated all week -- there was no music or dancing, honking horns or pots and pans.
Instead, a group of about 80 young Cuban Americans formed a single line along the shore. On this day, it's the closest they can be to Cuba, some 90 miles away.
They gathered on the beach at Fifth Street for a rally and to form a human chain of solidarity and pray for a peaceful transition of power in Cuba.
"We're not celebrating here today because the Cuban people are not free yet," said Diane Cabrera, a 23-year-old Cuban American who organized the rally. "We have hope there will be democratic changes in Cuba."
A major focus of the rally, organized by Raices de Esperanza, a group of young Cuban Americans, was to send a unified message to those living on the island, Cabrera said.
"We want the youth in Cuba to know we stand beside them," Cabrera said, adding she has spoken to several young Cubans living on the island. "They've told us they want to do something, but they know their voices can't be heard."
The rally, dubbed Freedom Friday, stood in stark contrast to the images portrayed on national television last week showing teenagers celebrating after learning Fidel Castro handed the reins of power to his brother Raul.
Many of them were criticized for taking to the streets and partying prematurely.
Eduardo Perez, 31, a Miami-born son of Cuban exiles who visited Cuba in 2003, said he was one of hundreds who celebrated at Versailles restaurant.
"Unless you're personally touched by the situation, it's difficult to understand," he said. "This is more constructive."
Jennel Carreras, a Miami-born Cuban American, agreed.
"The loud noise sends a message of celebration, but many people don't know what they're celebrating," she said. "Here you know exactly what the message is." Others, including Veronica Nur, 22, of Miami, said she attended Friday's rally because she shares the same nostalgia for the island as her parents and longs to see it free.
"I'm here because of the stories my grandparents told me. They never let the Cuban flame die," she said. "I'm also here because I believe in this and because it's my responsibility to them."
Tonight, Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's National Assembly, is scheduled to take part in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' Convention in Fort Lauderdale. Participants should seize on this unique opportunity to hold Alarcón's feet to the fire regarding his government's hostility toward Cuban journalists on the island.
In the United States, the right of journalists to freely practice their trade is enshrined in the Constitution. Accordingly, NAHJ members have the right and responsibility to question Alarcón about their Cuban colleagues. They should also join groups like Reporters Without Borders in calling for greater press freedom in Cuba and the release of all imprisoned journalists.
One of these journalists, Armando Betancourt Reina, was detained on May 23. Following violent and unjust evictions by State Security in Camagüey, Betancourt did his job as a reporter by collecting facts and interviewing the victims. He later was arrested for ''public disorder,'' taken to State Security headquarters, where he was reportedly beaten, and remains in prison.
Showcasing an enemy of press freedom at this convention should compel NAHJ members to reach out to Betancourt and others in Cuba's independent press corps, who would much rather report the news than make it. Doing so will give NAHJ members a more-complete perspective of Cuba and rightly shine the spotlight on its repressed journalists whose sole ''crimes'' are seeking the truth and having the courage to report it.
ALEX BURGOS, Raíces de Esperanza, Washington, D.C.
Hot issues at Hispanic media convention Ricardo Alarcón, the president of Cuba's National Assembly, will take reporters' questions during today's kickoff of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention. By OSCAR CORRAL
As many as 2,000 reporters and editors will descend on Fort Lauderdale in the next few days for the annual Hispanic journalists convention. And they won't just come to soak up sun at the beach and kick around Las Olas Boulevard.
The immigration debate dominating national discourse, the Cuba issue eating at Miami 's Cuban exile soul, and the future of the volatile news industry are three themes that promise to inject edge into the event.
The convention kicks off tonight when Columbia University professor and New York Times contributor Mirta Ojito is scheduled to interview Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's National Assembly, before an audience of several hundred. Alarcón will appear via satellite from CNN's Havana bureau, and the audience of journalists will be allowed to submit questions through Ojito, a Cuban exile.
''Coming to South Florida and not discussing Cuba and hearing about it would be ignoring the elephant in the room,'' said Ivan Roman, executive director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
A panel on Friday will feature New Mexico 's Gov. Bill Richardson, who is of Mexican descent, sitting opposite CNN's Lou Dobbs, who has become one of America's leading voices against illegal immigration from Mexico.
''We don't want this to be a sheltered convention,'' said association President Veronica Villafañe. ``We live in the real world, and we have to bring the real world to the people that cover it. We have to cover all these issues, so why not bring them to us?''
With such hot-button issues at the forefront, the convention was bound to ruffle some feathers. Raices de Esperanza, a group of young Cuban Americans educated at elite universities, wrote a letter urging the association to grill Alarcón on Cuba's ``systematic violation of human rights.''
The group plans to demonstrate outside the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, where the Alarcón interview is taking place, and hand out information on jailed journalists and dissidents on the island.
P. Anthony Ridder, chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder, also will appear on a panel Thursday titled Brave New World: The Challenges of the News Media's Uncertain Future
.
His appearance comes just days before the Knight Ridder name ceases to exist after its purchase by McClatchy, a sale that highlights the changing dynamics of the newspaper business. Knight Ridder is The Miami Herald's parent company.
Michele Salcedo, convention co-chair and national/foreign editor for The Sun-Sentinel, said this year's convention was among the strongest in the Hispanic association's history. This is the first time it's being held in Broward County.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau says the group is a $3 million boon to the area. From shopping at local malls, eating at waterfront restaurants, staying at the hotels, enjoying the South Florida night life and using transportation such as rental cars, taxis and cabs, Greater Fort Lauderdale will cash in on the convention.
All events will be in Broward -- including a town hall meeting on energy at Nova Southeastern University in Davie and a golf tournament at Bonaventure Country Club in Weston.
Miami-Dade is the Hispanic heart of South Florida , with 60 percent (about
1.4 million) of its population being Hispanic.
But the number of Hispanics in Broward has tripled from about 108,000 in 1990 (9 percent of the total population), to 368,000 (21 percent) in 2004.
''[This convention] reflects the growing Latino presence in Broward County ,'' Salcedo said.
Miami Herald staff writers Natalie P. McNeal, Jerry Berrios and Tim Henderson contributed to this report.
NOTE: This same article also appeared in the following newspapers:
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Biloxi Sun Herald, USA
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Duluth News Tribune, MN Charlotte Observer, NC
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA Belleville News-Democrat , IL
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Bradenton Herald, USA
A dissident youth leader in Cuba is released after a group of young Cuban Americans mounted a campaign to help him.
By Oscar Corral, The Miami Herald, May 17, 2006
Young Cuban Americans gathered around a telephone at Princeton University in April to hear Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina talk fervently from his home in Cuba, about growing discontent among the island's youths and their yearning for freedom.
Three days later, Cuban authorities arrested the dissident leader.
They held him until Friday. Rodriguez was released after Raices de Esperanza, the Cuban-American youth group that he addressed at Princeton, mounted an international campaign to denounce the Cuban government for oppressing political discourse and to demand that he be freed from prison.
Rodriguez, director of the Center for Alternative Studies for the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, delivered an impassioned speech to Raices in a conference call with his brother, Nestor, in late April.
"Freedom of expression, freedom of association, free access to sources of information, the right to investigate, to doubt, that is simply enough to motivate our struggle," Rodriguez told about 100 Raices members.
Raices, perhaps the largest group of 20-something, politically charged Cuban Americans, invited the Rodriguez brothers to address the group during its convention, which featured Gloria Estefan as keynote speaker. The group, whose name means "the roots of hope," listened intently to the brothers.
When Raices members heard of Rolando's arrest, they launched an e-mail and letter-writing campaign to international embassies in Cuba, and called on members and allies to contact the prison where Rodriguez was being held.
"The fact that he did speak to Raices, and the fact that he had just inspired all these young students, I think really helped us to get the momentum going," said Raices spokeswoman Joanna Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said Rodriguez faced inhumane treatment during the first days of his confinement, though that could not be independently verified by The Miami Herald. "He was in a room that was 104 degrees, completely enclosed with no windows, with a light bulb on 24 hours a day, full of mosquitoes, and the food was inedible," Gonzalez said.
Shortly after Raices mounted its campaign, Rodriguez was moved to a prison near Guantanamo Bay, where officials treated him better, Gonzalez said, and where his family visited him.
Rodriguez's arrest was first noted by Directorio Democratico Cubano, a federally funded nonprofit organization that monitors human rights abuses in Cuba.
The Cuban government released Rodriguez on Friday, Directorio noted. He blasted the Cuban government for his "kidnapping."
"Once again, I've been the victim of a political kidnapping," Directorio quoted Rodriguez as saying. "The authorities in Guantanamo with that characteristic criminal behavior and that limitless treachery, hatched a macabre trap, first by taking me to prison and impeding my civil rights activism, and later by trying in such a cowardly way to discredit my image by accusing me of illegal enrichment."
The Cuban Interests Section in Washington did not answer its phones last week, and section spokesman Lazaro Herrera did not respond to an e-mail for comment.
Gonzalez said she hoped that Raices' efforts and those of the international community and supporters in Cuba contributed to his release. "At this point, we are celebrating the fact that he is out, regardless of what did it," she said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Eric Watnik said Friday he had not heard about Rodriguez's detention but would look into it.
Directorio said Rodriguez expressed gratitude for the people who stood up for him.
"No greater wealth has existed for me than that of defending the civil rights of all Cubans," he told Directorio.
Four years ago, a few Cuban-American students from Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Florida, feeling disenfranchised from the Cuba discourse that dominates Miami, started a youth group to focus on the island's future.
The controversy surrounding the tug of war over Elián González, the little boy who was rescued at sea after his mother drowned escaping Cuba, was still fresh in the minds of several of the students. They felt many Americans throughout the country misunderstood Cuban Americans' strong feelings on the issue. Then, in early 2003, Cuba launched one of its biggest crackdowns on dissidents and independent journalists, arresting 75 and sentencing them to long prison terms after summary trials.
Today, Raices de Esperanza, perhaps the largest group of 20-something, politically charged Cuban Americans, is holding its third conference at Princeton University, featuring Gloria Estefan as the keynote speaker. The group, whose name means "the roots of hope," expects about 150 people at the conference, almost twice as many as the first one in 2003.
The group's rise and its message are a testament to the changing dynamics in the Cuban exile community.
Not that Raices' message is much different from that of their elders. They want freedom and democracy in Cuba. They want to focus on Cuba's human-rights abuses. And they criticize the communist government.
CONNECTED
However, Raices members stand out in two key ways: They talk democracy and politics with youth groups on the island, and they have successfully taken their message beyond Miami -- to the national and international stage. They have formed affiliate groups in foreign countries to hold protests and vigils abroad on key issues affecting Cuba.
"While our parents and grandparents had their own movimientos and organizations, we wanted to create something of our own to be able to enthuse our generation," said Joanna Gonzalez, 24, one of the group's founders who attended St. Brendan High School in Miami and later the University of Florida.
"A positive way to move forward is to empower the youth -- who are those that will be making decisions and influencing public opinion in the future -- to be educated on the issues going on in the island," she said. "We want the youth in Cuba and out of Cuba to see what life is like in each other's shoes."
Estefan said that, as a Cuban exile and a parent, it has been important for her to keep the Cuba issue alive with her children.
"They have gone beyond the talking phase to taking action," she said of Raices. ‘‘And it needs to be supported and applauded every chance we get because if any change will come in the future, it will come from the youth," Estefan said Friday. "That's the torch they need to carry: commitment to the issue."
Apathy about Cuba was one of the main reasons the students decided to get involved in late 2002. It started small, as an e-mail network of friends and contacts, Gonzalez said. Most of the members today are full-time students or have graduated and have day jobs.
It remains an informal group, with no annual dues, and no official membership list, Gonzalez said. Their most visible activity is the annual conference, which has headlined VIPs, such as former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
For some students from around the country, Raices has been a way to reconnect with cultural roots that have long been dormant. Kenneth Sinkovitz, a Princeton junior who has been involved in Raices for more than a year, said he was first drawn to Raices out of curiosity because he was curious about other Cuban Americans.
"Originally, I was most curious to see and meet other Cuban Americans on campus because growing up I never knew any," said Sinkovitz, whose mother is a Cuban exile, and whose father is Austrian- American.
"I'm looking forward to be able to objectively speak to some of these academics and professionals about Cuba, whether they are from the right or from the left."
Raices, which incorporated as a non-profit group this year, has no steady source of income. Donations to put together the conference come from various sources. One of them is Premier American Bank Chairman Carlos Saladrigas, who also leads the moderate Cuba Study Group in Miami.
To Saladrigas, Raices fills a vacuum in the discourse, now dominated by older exiles.
"It sends a powerful message for the future of Cuba," Saladrigas said. "I think they are going to be the bridge generation. They are going to play a very important role in Cuba's future."
Raices is not without its intrigue. One of the group's co-founders, who asked that his name not be used because he doesn't want to compromise his contacts in Cuba, said he communicates with young Cubans on the island regularly via telephone and e-mail. Raices has mounted launched anonymous letter-writing campaigns to young people in Cuba, for example.
"We want to inspire them to become authors of their own future," the co-founder said. "There is a lot of disillusionment there . . . We are trying to offer support and solidarity."
CROSS-CULTURAL
Not everyone in Raices is Cuban American. Cynthia Romero, 24, is a Princeton University graduate from Puerto Rico who now works for a non-profit in Miami. She became involved in Raices more than a year ago after a friend of hers told her about the group in Washington.
"There's definitely a reevaluation going on among the exile community of what is constructive criticism of the situation in Cuba, rather than destructive," Romero said. "And there's more talk about reconciliation, and a lot more talk about what's happening in Cuba not being a partisan issue, or a local issue, but a human-rights-abuse issue."
Alex Burgos, a graduate of Miami's Belen Jesuit Preparatory School and the University of Florida, is Raices' officer in charge of networking among young professionals. He said Raices also has members from many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Venezuela and Peru. Last year, for example in fact, Raices co-hosted the launch in Mexico City of the International Youth Committee for Democracy in Cuba, attended by
800 young people.
"When we left Miami and went to schools outside of Florida, we realized that nobody knows about the Cuba issue," Gonzalez said. ‘‘We are trying to get the word out of what s wrong, and what can be done to fix it."
American-born college students keep flames of Cuban protest burning By Madeline Baró Diaz The Sun-Sentinel
Miami Bureau
Wednesday June 28, 2006
Candice Balmori has never been to Cuba, but when the Davie resident is not attending classes or taking exams, she's working to bring change to the island.
At Harvard University, where Balmori is a senior, she and fellow activists once erected a life-size jail cell and hung a Cuban flag inside to let the campus know about the arrests of dozens of dissidents in Cuba. They have also held candlelight vigils, screened movies and discussed Cuba with visiting dignitaries, all in an effort to bring attention to the island's totalitarian system.
Balmori is part of the new generation of Cuban-American activists who are finding their own way to support Cuba's internal opposition. By doing so, they are steering away from the traditional issues of the older generation, such as the U.S. embargo of the island.
"I think every college kid has to have a cause," said Balmori, 21, president of Harvard's Cuban American Undergraduate Student Association, or CAUSA. "Everyone has to take up a banner of some sort."
That banner was handed to them by older exiles. The young Cuban-Americans, many born in the United States, grew up hearing stories from relatives who longed for their homeland. The youngsters learned to love Cuba, even if they had never visited it.
"I think most people who had to leave ... I think they all left being very proud of their country and loving everything about it," said Joanna González, who grew up in Miami and was one of the founders of Raíces de Esperanza, a national network of young Cuban-American activists.
"I heard about it constantly. I heard about absolutely everything, the culture and what happened to the country. You grow up not being able to be a part of that and that's how you become passionate about it," González said.
But González, 24, a University of Florida graduate, and others learned that not everyone shared that passion. When Balmori, a graduate of Western High School, arrived at Harvard she realized that not as many people kept up on the latest developments in Cuba.
"I came up to Boston and it never dawned on me that the newspaper wouldn't have something about Cuba in it every morning," Balmori said. "At home it's in the paper or on television every day."
Encountering fellow students who discussed Cuba as a vacation paradise or wore T-shirts of Che Guevara, who fought alongside Fidel Castro and whom many exiles regard as a killer, also awoke their activist spirits.
"I would say my parents are Cuban and they would say, ''Oh, I want to go to Cuba for spring break'' recalled Diane Cabrera, 23, a graduate of Georgetown University. "I would say, ''My cousin that lives in Cuba can't go to the same beach that you can go to".
Those encounters strengthened the resolve of the nascent activists.
At campuses around the country, they are handing out pamphlets, holding demonstrations and selling anti-Che Guevara T-shirts.
Their work is encouraged by older exiles. When Jóvenes por una Cuba Libre, or Youth for a Free Cuba, a group of University of Miami students, traveled to Washington, D.C., for a lobbying trip, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's office helped them meet other congressional staffers.
"I think they kind of were taken by the fact that we were younger," Jóvenes President Daniel Pedreira said of the meetings. "When you hear about Cuba, it's usually from the same people, it's older
Ros-Lehtinen, who was born in Cuba, welcomes the infusion of new blood.
"I think it's great to have young people involved because so often the media portrays this as a dinosaur cause," said Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami.
Cuban American National Foundation Executive Director Alfredo Mesa, 30, said their involvement lets young activists in Cuba know that the task of securing a peaceful transition to democracy in a post-Castro Cuba "is up to our generation."
