Pro-Castro Columnist Compares Black Exiled Dissident to Maid

Andres Gomez, the leader of the pro-Castro group Antonio Maceo Brigade who lives in Miami, writes in a Cuban government publication that anti-revolutionary activity is undergoing a renaissance of sorts in the United States. He singles out for ridicule  Bibliotecas Independientes, or

Independent Libraries, a group that promotes literacy and the development of civil society in Cuba.

   Writing in cubadebate.cu, a Cuban government web site, Gomez uses the race of Ramon Colas, the group's leader, as part of his criticism. "This organization, whose only visible member includes a little Negro who travels a lot, whose style and mannerisms remind me of maids in Cuba before 1959, always dressed in their white uniforms -- seems to ignore, just like his masters, that in Cuba, for example, during the last 15 years, they celebrate annually a national book fair."

   Colas said it's the only time he has felt any "racism'' since he came to Miami about 5 years ago from Cuba. "He is using a series of offensive and racists words against me that you would never get away with using against African Americans," Colas said of Gomez.

   Colas' group recently launched a children's magazine, Limon Partido, that his group is trying to distribute through independent libraries, mostly run out of homes on the island. Gomez said in an interview that he is not racist and his column should not be considered such.

   "It's not racist, really, it's an estimation of mine of what he is," Gomez said Wednesday. "It's not racist in the least. He is like that. And I maintain what I said. In any case, he'd be a shame to his race."