So, you grew up watching Pepe chew out Joecito for listening to Rock and Roll? Or Abuela telling Carmencita that things were better in Cuba? You don't have to wait around for PBS to replay your favorite episode of Que Pasa U.S.A. You can buy the show’s entire series on DVD.
Watergate Burglar: Talk is Cheap
Cuban exile Rolando Martinez, who served time in prison for his role in the Watergate burglary that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, showed up at an event Thursday sponsored by Directorio Democratico Cubano, a federally-funded non-profit that documents human rights abuses on the island. Martinez, an anti-Castro militant, is still a top official in the once feared militant group Movimiento de Recuperacion Revolucionaria. "I admire the people that work for Cuba’s freedom," he said. "Not the ones who talk. We’ve become great at talking about the problem in Cuba, but not doing anything about it." Martinez, who served 15 months in prison, was the only Watergate burglar to be later pardoned by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.
Models of Anti-Castro Youth
Young, smart and political, Diane Cabrera, 22, and Veronica Nur Valdes, 21, may have been born in the U.S., but they refuse to turn a blind eye to Cuba. They talk big about the island and what they can do to help the situation. "We’ve woken up to our role in the history of Cuba," said Valdes. "There’s an injustice being committed in Cuba and we’ll do anything no matter how big or small to stop it." Cabrera adds: "We’re fighting for what’s right, to bring out the truth." Both work for Directorio Democratico Cubano, a federally-funded non-profit that documents human rights abuses on the island. They also belong to the anti-Castro youth group Raices de Esperanza. Cabrera, a Georgetown U. grad, has law-school ambitions. Are politics on her horizon? Valdes is an FIU student. Photo: Cabrera, left, Valdes, right.
FIU Prez: I Harbor No Info. Cuban Gov. Could Use
Florida International University President Modesto "Mitch'' Maidique says he's stumped by an FBI report that maintains two members of FIU's staff were spying on him and reporting the details to the Cuban government.
Maidique told The Miami Herald that he doesn't have any information that could be of value to the Cuban government.
FIU professor Carlos M. Alvarez and his wife, Elsa, an FIU counselor are both accused of being agents for Cuba for more than two decades.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Maidique said Tuesday.
An FBI affidavit said the Alvarezes gathered information about Maidique -- including a visit he made to the White House -- and provided it to Cuban intelligence handlers.
"Both Carlos and Elsa Alvarez reported on prominent university-level academics in South Florida," the affidavit said. "These targets included colleagues of the Alvarezes at FIU, and included Modesto Maidique. . . . This information has been verified by data taken from the home computer of the Alvarezes, which shows them reporting on the activities of President Maidique, including an invitation he received to attend a function at the White House."
Maidique has said very little publicly about the Alvarez case, referring questions from reporters mostly to written statements and university spokespeople. But on Tuesday, he played down the FBI's contention that he was being spied upon.
"There's nothing that I know that I believe would be of particular value to the Cuban government," Maidique said. ‘‘That's why the whole thing is so enigmatic to me."
Maidique answered a reporter's questions about the Alvarez case following a meeting with The Miami Herald's editorial board in which he focused on FIU's ambitions for a new medical school.
Maidique acknowledged that the Alvarezes were friends of his, but said they never probed him on politically sensitive issues.
"I don't remember them every questioning me on anything political, the White House, Cuba -- it was just not part of our relationship," Maidique said. "I'm not saying it didn't come up. I just don't recall it."
He added that FIU, by nature of its public status, harbors few sensitive secrets.
"I run an academic institution, which by definition is absolutely open," Maidique said. "There [are] virtually no secrets. Everything is done in the sunshine."
Traveling on a Budget
This is Ken Lundberg, press secretary for U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. Lundberg was in Miami last week for business, not that he didn't appreciate fleeing the DC winter for a few days. He's a low-maintenance kind of guy. He didn't stay at a Beach Hotel, opting instead for a budget hotel inland, he said. Oh, the sacrifices of government service! Lundberg says Martinez's top three priorities are offshore drilling, immigration and bringing more attention to Latin America. Does that mean Cuba too?
Relative of Repatriated Migrants Will Buck Republican Party
Mercedes and Aracelys Hernandez pose at the historic monument at Cuban Memorial Boulevard Tuesday. Mercedes, 42, and Aracelys, 31, are awaiting word on whether their niece, Elisabet Hernandez, will be allowed to leave Cuba to come to the United States. Elisabet was among the 15 Cubans the Coast Guard repatriated after they were found on an old bridge in the Florida Keys in January. A judge’s ruling has since found that they should not have been taken back to Cuba because the bridge is U.S. territory. Taking a political stance, Mercedes said she plans to switch her party registration from Republican to Democrat because, as she puts it, “the only people that have recognized us and seen us are the ones we went to see in Washington March 8.” Hernandez and Ramon Saul Sanchez met with Democrats Bob Menendez and Bill Nelson, Sanchez said. The U.S. government has helped the Cubans get visas to come to the United States. Sanchez didn’t want to touch the politics of it. “My position is that this is not a partisan issue, but a humane one.” Photo: sisters Mercedes and Aracelys Hernandez
TV Exec: Trial and Error in Miami Market has Worked
Omar Romay quietly entered Miami’s tumultuous media scene a few years ago as owner of Channel 41, America TeVe. Today, he says he’s enjoying some of the fruits of the station’s success. Photographed here at Diego’s Restaurant in Coral Gables, Romay, an Argentine, said the secret to his station's success is “trial and error…We are going through good times now.” Among the station's popular shows is A Mano Limpia, hosted by Oscar Haza.
