Miami's Cuban Connection

Cubans face treacherous journey from DR to PR

The Herald's Frances Robles reports on a new trend in Cuban migration: a treacherous passage between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico has a US-owned island that qualifies as dry-foot.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/14127767.htm

Sunday Mass to Observe Crackdown

On Sunday, March 19, a mass will be held at Our Lady of Charity shrine in Coconut Grove to ask for the release of dissidents and independent journalists jailed in a crackdown against opposition groups in Cuba in 2003. Organizers want people who attend the 8 p.m. mass to dress in white to show solidarity with the Cuban civil rights group Damas en Blanco (Ladies in White.)

Lincoln: A Proper Raul Castro Transition Could be Acceptable

Herald Washington Correspondent Pablo Bachelet reports "[Lincoln] Díaz-Balart says he favors paring the conditions for lifting the embargo to three: Cuba must free all political prisoners and allow exiles to return, opposition political parties must be legalized, and the government must declare it will hold democratic elections `in six months, one year, two years, three years.' And what about the rest of Helms-Burton, including the clause that bars Fidel or Raúl Castro from heading a transition government? Díaz-Balart makes it clear that if Raúl met the three conditions, he would deal with Raúl. 'That's what I call static,' Díaz-Balart said. `I don't care what the name is. The [real] name is legitimacy.'''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/14127797.htm

Cuban Pianist in Action in Miami

Cuban-born Pianist Santiago Alvarez, an Avery Fisher Prize Winner, will be performing a concert Saturday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the St. Martha Church, 9301 Biscayne Blvd. in Miami Shores. The performance is part of the St. Martha - Yamaha 2005-2006 Concert Series, Rodriguez, Rachmaninoff & More. Meet the artists at the after-concert reception in the atrium, included with the ticket. $10 general admission, $20 blue circle. For tickets, visit tix.com or call 800-595-4849. TotalBank and its Chairman Adrienne Arsht are sponsors.

Celia Cruz Widower Gravely Ill

The Miami Herald's Lydia Martin reports: "Pedro Knight, husband of the late Celia Cruz, was in critical condition Friday at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, Calif. near Los Angeles after suffering a series of strokes, said family friend Luis Falcon."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14124146.htm

Reviewer: Photos of Cuban Countryside a Must-See

The Miami Herald's art critic, Elisa Turner reviews Clyde Butcher's photo exhibit on nature in Cuba: "Orchestrating shades that range from velvet black to silvery pewter to egret-feather white, Florida photographer Clyde Butcher bucks the bias for color photography by shooting grand views in black and white."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/14101997.htm

Coast Guard: 5 Cubans May Have Died at Sea

Five Cuban migrants may have died in the past two weeks trying to make it to U.S. shores, and the Coast Guard said today it repatriated to Cuba 44 migrants picked up at sea in the last few days. Here's the link to the full story in the Miami Herald:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14114117.htm

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."

   

Brian Latell: Raul Castro Succession Could Lead to Democracy

Dr. Brian Latell, a well-know former Cuba analyst for the CIA and author on the subject, now working as a Senior Research Associate at UM's Institute for Cuban And Cuban American Studies, published his first electronic report this week. Here are some excerpts:

"Youthful unrest is already so endemic that the regime’s half-hearted and disorganized mobilizations are unlikely to have much lasting effect. They may well turn out to be counterproductive. Few of the youths inducted will be converted into fidelista revolutionaries and most are likely instead to grow more cynical and estranged from the system. Aware of the dictator’s failing health, younger Cubans in overwhelming numbers are likely to continue hoping that a sweeping dismantling of the fidelista system will occur within the next few years...

"Thus, even if Raul does follow his brother in power as planned, many of the policies Fidel Castro so tenaciously holds today are almost certain to be abandoned or diluted. He cannot have many illusions about this, knowing that a raulista succession is the most likely short term future after his death but also that a raulista regime would not faithfully duplicate the fidelista one.

"In the mid 1990’s Raul dispatched senior military officers abroad to study modern business and management techniques. In that era he more than once spoke on the record of the virtues of supply and demand, a concept that remains anathema to his brother. Considerable evidence indicates that Raul favors limited market-oriented economic reforms, though not a political opening. He has put out feelers to the American military, given active and retired senior officers the green light to run a wide range of capitalist enterprises, while allowing the impression that he would generally be more flexible.

"A raulista succession may not endure long and could unintentionally pave the way for a genuine democratic transition. But during whatever period of time Raul and the raulistas might be able to govern Cuba on their own, Fidel knows that many of his most cherished policies will likely be discarded. Fearing and guarding against betrayal nearly all of his life, he now worries about the worst of all possibilities: that his successors will posthumously betray him. If so, tensions between the regime’s most hard-line zealots and more moderate military and civilian officials may now be reaching a higher crescendo than at any time before in the revolution’s history."

Read "Castro's Comeback" in Newsweek

Newsweek has a piece online this week on Fidel Castro. Titled "Castro's Comeback" the article, by Joseph Contreras, says "Fidel has more fans in the region than he's had in years. But is the hype, like the resurgence of Latin America's left, more style than substance?" He concludes: "As an icon for the left, Fidel Castro is enjoying a rare moment in the sun. The same can hardly be said about the society he created, or the appeal it retains beyond the shores of his native land."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11786649/site/newsweek/