The same filmmakers who brought us the premier of White Elephant last week, the documentary about the entangled existence of Miami Stadium (aka Bobby Maduro Stadium), are working on a Celia Cruz documentary called 
Celia the Queen, expected in theaters sometime early next year. Kids in Exile Films featured a trailer before the premier of White Elephant Saturday night.
From the New York Post:
April 16, 2007 -- A group of Manhattan public high-school students and a history teacher with a soft spot for Cuba flouted federal travel restrictions by taking a spring-break field trip to the communist nation - and now face up to $65,000 apiece in fines, The Post has learned.
From the Miami Herald's Casey Woods:
With their fealty to Ché Guevara, their revolutionary discourses peppered with ''proletariat'' and ''comrade,'' and their ''Read Lenin'' and ''Burn Your Bra!'' T-shirts, the Bolívarian Youth seem almost retro, a throwback to a more, well, unwashed time.
But these young people, like generations of students before them, believe they can change the world -- and they say their message is getting through in Miami, home to hundreds of thousands of exiles from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, homelands they fled because of political repression they blame on leftist governments.
''What we are doing is important, because people see us and know that they're not alone,'' said Sonja Swanson, 20, a Florida International University student.
``We are growing slowly but surely, moving more and more people here to dedicating themselves to something bigger than the individual person.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/16576176.htm
Here we go again.
One crisis and we Cubans set upon each other like a pack of rabid dogs, scratching and snarling to the amusement of the few outsiders who still give a damn about Cuba.
Forty-seven years and what have we learned? Our history demanded the difficult work of self-reflection. Instead, we've poured our many talents into the business of self-destruction.
Three journalists were fired from El Nuevo Herald. It was sad. They were fired too quickly and their bosses were left unscathed. Fine. Anywhere else it might have been just a controversial personnel issue. But no, here in Miami it becomes part of a worldwide communist conspiracy, complete with Castro agents, dark plots and wild accusations. Anyone who dares agree with the dismissals is not just wrong: he's a degenerate, communist puppet of the evil and malevolent prince of darkness.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/ana_menendez/15536684.htm
By ANA MENENDEZ, Miami Herald Columnist
Last week, two reporters and a freelancer were fired from El Nuevo Herald after The Miami Herald's Oscar Corral reported they were paid for pearances on Radio and TV Martí.
The dismissals have invigorated the opinion industry and subjected the people of this town to higher than usual doses of hypocrisy. The most amusing response comes, as usual, from Cuba, where the official press has been gloating about proof that the ''Miami Mafia'' and its journalists are bought and paid for by the U.S. government. It would be a compelling argument, except for the fact that in Cuba, government hacks are the rule, not the exception. Of the small group of Cuban journalists who don't draw a government salary, many are, sadly, polishing their prose in jail.
The El Nuevo three were fired for entering into the sort of arrangement that defines journalism in a totalitarian state. Which brings us to more hypocrites: all the exile patriots who attack Corral for reporting the truth while simultaneously defending El Nuevo Herald's journalists for taking money from propagandists.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/ana_menendez/15504456.htm
Joe Cardona, owner of KIE (Kids in Exile) Films started a documentary on Celia Cruz 8 years ago, when she was still alive. He is wrapping it up with co-director Mario De Varona, and is excited about its release prospects. Cardona, maker of the documentaries Cafe Con Leche I & II, Jose Marti, and others, and the feature films Bro and Water, Mud and Factories, is becoming Miami's Woody Allen, capturing the city's quirks with a deep sense of understanding and irony.
Lamberto Rojas aka "Tico Mojitos" wooed so many with his lime-green Cuban elixirs that he branched out on his own as a freelance bartender/mojito expert. I sampled a few of them Saturday at a private party: 1. the traditional; 2. the mojito martini 3. the sour apple raspberry mojito (which won a recent award). He's got a repertoire of more than a dozen variations on the Cuban drink made famous by Ernest Hemingway. He says the best mojitos available in Miami for public consumption are at Ortanique on the Mile, a swanky spot on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. The ones at Lario's on the Beach are a not-too-distant second.
Tico Mojito: 305-305-3989; ticomojito@yahoo.com
For a simple mojito recipe:
The Cuban American National Foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. In the last decade, after the death of founder Jorge Mas Canosa, the foundation’s role and its image have shifted. A splinter group, the Cuban Liberty Council, broke away because they felt CANF was going soft on Castro. CANF continues to reach across party lines to identify candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties that will support the free Cuba cause. A generation after CANF was founded, Mas Canosa’s son, Jorge Mas Santos, continues trying to keep its cause alive. What does CANF represent to the Cuban American community today?
Jose Fuentes is on his way to Tallahassee to become the media relations director for the incoming speaker of the House, Marco Rubio. Fuentes, like Rubio, is a Cuban-American from Miami. He brings almost a decade of Washington experience to the job, having worked three years in the White House planning events for Vice President Dick Cheney, and later working as a spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development. After a brief stint in Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez’s administration, where he led the intergovernmental team, Fuentes decided to take the gig with Rubio, who he sees as a rising star in Florida politics. Fuentes, 31, is a graduate of Christopher Columbus High School.
Miami Cuban-American Daniel Garcia, 32, joined the Peace Corps after college and took a post in Nepal, as part of his Quest for Truth. "I never found it," he said. But he discovered that nightlife in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, was incredible. "It's a city where east meets west,'' Garcia said. "It's wild." Today, Garcia, who seems to have snapped out of the transcendental mood, is seeking an MBA in New York. I ran into him at the Gator alumni party in Merrick Village Saturday.
No, this was not an event to raise awareness of the dangers of petting alligators in the wild. Although three deadly alligator attacks in one week in Florida are worth noting.
But it's definitely consistent with the gator theme. Saturday night, the third annual Gator Guayabera Guateque packed em in at Merrick Village. There must have been more than 1,000 people there. The planners had to turn away proud University of Florida alums who were eager to sport guayaberas and chant "two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar, all for the Gators, stand up and holler!"
The University president rumbled into the Merrick Village square on a motorcycle. A great Cuban band cranked out mambo and salsa. At one point, someone at the mike proclaimed "this crowd is too quiet. You obviously haven't had enough to drink." Typical crazy gator antics. As an alum, I can only say that I inhabited the swamp for 4 years and lived to tell the story. However, much of it is inappropriate for a blog linked to a family newspaper.
The event was planned by Ignacio Abella, and included high-profile businessmen, politicians and bloggers. Go Gators! 2006 National Basketball Champions.
Adrian Arredondo and Tony Laurencio, double trouble in Miami's music scene. Laurencio plays keyboard and guitar for the Grammy-winning band, Bacilos. A Miami Cuban-American, he's been touring the Americas and Europe with Bacilos, a Miami-born and bred pan-Latin rock band. He also plays for Suenalo Sound System. Catch them Saturday nights at Jazid.
Susan Caraballo, executive director of Miami's Artemis; and Elizabeth Cerejido, curator at FIU's Frost museum, went political this week by signing up with ENCASA, a group of Cuban American scholars and artists who have united to call for the United States to lift the embargo of Cuba.
Special Request: "Oscar, how about a tribute to the "stuff I miss from the 70s and 80s Miami?" Stuff I personally miss: the putt-putt golf that had that big orange dinosaur, Castle Park, Polar Palace in Hialeah, Westchester Cinema, Plitt Gables, Dadeland Triple, Charlie's Pizza (super-greasy, but awesome) and (I know this is far from politically correct, so I apologize) Sambo's in Coral Gables."
Is Hot Wheels still around? There's probably a condo where Six Flags used to be. And remember the trippy merry-go-round at the Omni. Belks; Piggly Wiggly; Evelio my barbero on 37 Ave across from Coliseum; And the cobra from the Serpentarium? And my favorite: Planet Ocean, with the iceberg chunk.
What do you miss most about Miami from the 70s and 80s?
Lucrecia Diaz Hudson writes: "A pin pan pun is what substitutes for a guest bed in non-Cuban households. However, unlike other guest beds, when entering the land of "pin pan pun" one needs to expect pain, torture and agony in the form of back pain, etc. No stories here, I've been able to avoid sleeping in one most of my life, but saw many a cousin crippled in one fast night on the "pin pan pun". For the non-Cuban reader the fast answer is that a "pin pan pun" is a trundle bed."
I've had a special request for another translation: veevaporoo. Some clues: abuela swore by it; it usually included slimy tissues on the chest; and you reeked of a toxic menthol plant. Best veevaporoo story in comments gets posted on the blog.
Para chivar un poco, voy a escribir algo en el idioma de la isla. A mi me da igual si comentan en ingles o espanol en este blog. Esta pagina de internet no tiene reglas que prohibe otro idioma. Hay muchos estados en este pais que quieren pasar leyes que prohibe el espanol, pero aqui, pueden escribir lo que quieran, en el idioma que prefieran. Si prefieren comentar en espanol para no tener que debatir con gente ofensiva, haganlo sin pena. Hoy hay un articulo en el periodico de intelectuales que quieren acabar con el embargo y abrir el turismo y el comercio con Cuba. Que piensan ustedes de eso? Aqui esta bienvenido el ingles, espanol, aleman, frances, hebreo, farsi. LO QUE LES SALGA!
Someone just asked me what a pin pan pun is. If you don't know, here are some clues: inconvenience is a prerequisite; discomfort is innate; and you always get stuck with a Chiche "the Chainsaw" snoring beside you.
Test your Cubiche trivia. The best pin pan pun story in the comments section gets posted on the blog.
Val Prieto, creator of Babalu Blog, also came up with mancamp, a space in the home just for men. It's enough to make you want to kick back with a "llave", some pals and watch whatever game is playing on TV. See it here:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/classifieds/real_estate/14397788.htm
In recognition of the unofficial "marijuana users holiday," which happened to be Thursday, I thought I'd throw out some factoids about Cuban Americans and pot use:
-Authors of a University of Michigan study last year discovered that the percentage of Mexican American, Puerto Rican and Cuban American adolescents who have used marijuana or cocaine in the prior year has been higher than the percentage of adoloscents of "other Latin American" heritage (primarily Central and South American)
-From the same Michigan study: among all Hispanic groups in the U.S., only Cuban girls were as likely to smoke pot as Cuban boys. In the rest of groups, boys were much more likely than girls to toke.
-Spanish speaking Hispanics were less likely to use pot than English speaking. The only exceptions were Cubans and Puerto Ricans, whose language preference didn't affect marijuana use.
-marijuana use was less likely to occur among Puerto Rican and Cuban adolescents whose parents had a higher education level.
For more on the study:
http://monitoringthefuture.org/pressreleases/05Hispanic.pdf
It just so happens that Thursday, April 20, The Food and Drug Administration said "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists.
- Hispanic criminal groups and gangs control most wholesale and retail marijuana distribution in Miami; however, Haitian, African American, and Cuban American criminal groups and independent cultivators often run indoor cultivation operations and distribute the marijuana that they produce. (from the Department of Justice National Drug Threat Assessment 2005 Summary Report)
Photographed is a busted Florida marijuana farm run by a Cuban American
http://www.fhp.state.fl.us/PhotoGallery/PG080803.htm
So should they legalize it or not?
Cynthia Romero, 24, just moved to Miami three months ago. "From the outside, you see Miami as very homogenous, where everyone's yelling 'down with Fidel!'," Romero said. "But in Miami, there's a lot more discourse than you imagine. I think there's more of an effort to rethink the image of the exile community." Another shocker for Romero: "When I got here, I was surprised because there were no young people working on the Cuba issue." Romero, a Princeton University grad, is Puerto Rican and works for a non-profit in Little Havana. She is also part of the young professional group Raices De Esperanza, which focuses on human rights abuses in Cuba.
Gloria Estefan is heading to Princeton to be keynote speaker this weekend at the third annual Raices de Esperanza conference, where young Hispanics, mostly Cuban-Americans, will get together to discuss human rights abuses in Cuba. The group is trying to combat what they see as rampant apathy among young Cuban Americans on the Cuba issue.
45 years later, these Cuban exiles don't want the younger generations to forget that they invaded Cuba in 1961 in an attempt to take back Cuba from Fidel Castro. They were mostly in their teens and 20s back then. Of the 1,500 exiles who invaded, outnumbered and outgunned against a 70,000-plus strong Castro army, about 100 were killed and 1,300 were captured. They were released in an amnesty later.
For all you readers out there in your teens, 20s and 30s: would you take up arms today to liberate your homeland -- wherever that may be -- if a revolutionary claiming to be a democrat turned instead into a communist dictator?
When Castro was in his early 30s, he fought off the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, allowing him to consolidate power. He was young and handsome then, and captivated much of the world media with his idealistic rhetoric. He could have steered his nation in any direction. He chose communism and alliance with the Soviet Union. Because of Castro, an entire generation of Cubans met in exile, married, and had American-born children. Castro turns 80 this year. For all you readers out there in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, when's the last time you let an 80-year-old run your life?
Jessica Lavariega Monforti, a political science professor from the University of Texas Pan American, is deep into her research of Miami's Cuban exile community. Lavariega, a 30-year-old Cuban-American who was raised in New York's Long Island, said she has spent the last several weeks interviewing local politicians, activists and members of the media. She's trying to crack the code that presidential candidates have sought for years: "We want to know what is really driving political behavior among Cubans...what it means to be a Republican is defined very differently here than anywhere else in the country." Lavariega said her experience has been interesting. One local politico even joked: "If you write something we don't like, we'll come looking for you in Texas." She declined to identify the person. Besides interviewing people, she's also conducting polls and crunching numbers. If she makes any groundbreaking discoveries, which she plans to publish in a book next year, political consultants will definitely come looking for her. For some, cracking Miami's political code, particularly among Cuban Americans, is the holy grail of national politics.
Ramon Branger, a Venezuelan-American raised among Cuban exiles, is now the president of Ad2 Miami, an affiliate of the Greater Miami Advertising Federation and a Vice President of The Alten Group. With a pregnant wife and a new job, he’s buying a house in Miami’s insane real estate market. “It’s been nuts.We have been looking for a while. We originally wanted to buy a nice condo on Miami Beach, but the prices were way too crazy for us! Then we found out that my wife was pregnant so we decided to purchase a bigger home instead.” Branger’s boss, Total Support Inc. principal Otto Ortega, and him go back a long way, having graduated together from Miami’s Belen Jesuit Preparatory. Ad2 Miami is currently sponsoring the free ad campaign for Amigos For Kids, a local charity run by Jorge Plasencia.“My parents and my entire family is Venezuelan, I was born in Hillsdale, Michigan. But I feel like an adopted Cuban since my wife is half Cuban and most of my friends are of Cuban descent,” Branger said.
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.
A Mano Limpia, one of the most popular shows among Cuban exiles in Miami, is the brainchild not only of Oscar Haza, the show’s host, but of two behind-the-scenes producers: Miguel Cossio and Diego Bas. Cossio, 42, is a Cuban exile who lived in Mexico for several years before coming to Miami. He was the news director of A Mano Limpia for a couple of years, before advancing to be the news director for all of Channel 41. Bas, 35, who is an Argentine, has been living in Miami since 2001, and is now the producer of Oscar Haza, as well as a new show called Arrebatados on the same station. “Politics flows in the blood of Cubans,” Cossio said. “We try to find the center and balance, not that we always achieve it. We’ve been criticized from both sides. But our show gives people new information, and that’s why they watch it.” Photos: Cossio on the left, Bas on the right.
Former Diplomat Ana Navarro, 34, feels the Cuba issue closely and is becoming a quiet, behind the scenes player. As a former ambassador from Nicaragua to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Navarro said she saw first hand how Cuban diplomats bullied the commission into leniency in Switzerland. She called them “thugs.” Her boyfriend, Biltmore Hotel owner Gene Prescott, and her have made the Biltmore the home headquarters of Cuba talk recently. At least five Cuba-related events have been held there in the last few weeks. Navarro is a member of the deep-pocketed US Cuba Democracy PAC. She says she also corners officials and diplomats from outside Miami who stay at the Biltmore. “There is not one that doesn’t come here that doesn’t get a dose of Western Hemisphere and Cuba issues.” Prescott is a Democrat and Navarro is a Republican, so they play both sides of the coin.
Nilda Pedrosa, who heads U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’ Miami office, accompanied Martinez Friday to a meeting on immigration at the Biltmore Hotel. Pedrosa, a Miami native and a graduate of Lourdes Academy High School, is one of the Senator’s point people on Cuba. Her experience includes a stint at the State Department in Washington. Pedrosa is photographed here with the Senator.
Jessica Lavariega Monforti, a political science professor at University of Texas, Panamerican, has just completed a poll on Miami’s Cuban exile community. The 30-year-old researcher is working on a book about Miami. Monforti, a Cuban American, grew up outside Miami, and hopes that will give her a different perspective on Miami’s Cuban exile community. In terms of ethnic relations, Monforti says Miami Cubans who were polled said they feel they have good or excellent relations with other ethnic groups. The problem is, Monforti says, some of the other groups don’t reciprocate the enthusiasm. She wants to figure out why. “Cubans are saying we still feel a connection with immigrants and Hispanic groups. Hispanics and other groups say they've been discriminated against by Cubans.”
Alex Burgos, 26, visited Miami Monday as part of U.S. Rep. Tom Reynolds' visit to promote Republican candidates in the midterm elections. Burgos, a Miami native and graduate of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, is deputy press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee. His close pals are Carlos Curbelo and Danny Lopez (see previous entry in Generation X-ile category). As is a tradition among Belen grads, they may or may not be plotting a world takeover. Included among the schools alums is Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Burgos is also a founding member of the national youth group, Raices de Esperanza, which works to increase awareness of human rights abuses in Cuba.
Jose "Pepe" Diaz, a Miami lawyer, sat opposite the Trump man himself -- and didn't make the cut. He was one of the lucky ones to make it onto NBC's The Apprentice out of a pool of a million applicants. But he was the third of 18 contestants fired. He was legally allowed to break his silence Tuesday, after the show aired his firing. The 26-year-old graduate of Miami's St. Brendan's High School said the two-month plus stay at Trump Towers in Manhattan was tension-filled but fun. He became known as the Cuban American guy who made Cuban coffee in his suite for his fellow contestants using an old-school cafetera. Read more about it in the Herald the next few days.
Two young Cuban-American turks are taking Miamis political scene by storm. Carlos Curbelo and Danny Lopez, founders of Capitol Gains political consulting firm, say they have landed Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart as major clients. Theyre also working with the Republican Party of Florida, they said, doing mostly fundraising and some other political consulting. Curbelo and Lopez, both 26, are graduates of Miamis Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. They planned and organized the fundraiser the Diaz-Balarts hosted at the Biltmore Hotel last month with U.S. Sen. John McCain. We want to help provide more Hispanics access to the political process, they said.
