Cuban dissidents ask U.S. to lift travel, aid limits
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
Four of Cuba's most prominent dissident groups are calling on the Bush administration to lift at least some restrictions on travel to the island and direct U.S. aid to pro-democracy groups there, saying the restrictions "in no way help" their struggle.
The dissidents' statement was intended to support the Miami organizations that handle some of the U.S. aid but wound up causing a stir, particularly among hard-line exile groups that support the travel restrictions. It also raised a question of whether the administration would still push its plan for an extra $80 million to aid an opposition that disagrees with its principal policies.
The six-paragraph statement released over the weekend comes in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report that questioned oversight and spending in $65 million by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for Cuba democracy programs.
The report showed that some agencies in Miami which send goods such as medicine to dissidents also made questionable expenditures on items such as Godiva chocolates or Gameboys for dissidents' kids.
"We deem it very important to achieve a greater efficiency in the use of said [USAID] funds," the statement said. "We believe that one possible way to achieve this would be the elimination of a series of existing restrictions on the shipment of aid and travel to Cuba, which in no way help the struggle for democracy we wage inside our country.
"We hope that the errors committed will be corrected and that a greater amount of aid will reach the pro-democracy activists, so we may advance with greater speed toward the economic, political and social freedom of our motherland."
The statement was signed by prominent opposition leaders Martha Beatriz Roque, of the Assembly To Promote Civilian Society, Gisela Delgado Sabión, of the Independent Libraries Project, Elizardo Sánchez, who heads the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, and Vladimiro Roca, of the Social Democratic Party of Cuba and spokesman for All United.
Roque's signature was by far the most surprising because of her long-standing support for travel restrictions. Roque is controversial even among Cuban dissidents, particularly for her hard-line stances and close relationship with Cuban-American legislators.
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, a strong supporter of Bush's Cuba policies, noted that Roque has sent several letters to Congress supporting the 2004 regulations that tightened travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans to the island.
"I have questions to ask about this statement," he said. "It's confusing."
Roque acknowledged that the statement was an about-face for her, but said she signed it because overall it supports continuing the USAID assistance. Other dissident groups oppose the help, saying it gives the Cuban government a way to portray them as hired guns.
Sending U.S. government cash directly to dissidents is currently banned. Seventy- five dissidents were jailed three years ago in a roundup of what the Cuban government considered "mercenaries."
"Sometimes you have to take a position, because the other positions are worse," Roque said by phone from Havana. "This is not my position. I signed it, because the people signing it are the closest to my position."
The signers were unclear as to whether they were calling for lifting all the travel restrictions -- which also ban all U.S. tourist trips -- or just the tighter restrictions introduced in 2004 that cut back Cuban-American family reunification visits from once a year to once every three years.
Delgado, whose husband is a political prisoner, said she wants the entire ban on both U.S. tourism and family reunification visits lifted.
"We live in a closed society and we don't think the doors should be closed even more," she said in a phone interview. ‘‘What we need is an opening."
Roca agreed: "The travel restrictions have not provided results. They have hurt the opposition more than the government."
Sánchez said he believed that the group's intention was to oppose the 2004 limitations, not the ban on U.S. tourism. He said lifting the 2004 restrictions would help dissidents because more Cuban-American travelers could bring suitcases filled with medicine and food, rather than waste U.S. taxpayer money on expensive shipping.
A recent Miami Herald investigation found agencies spent large parts of their funding on expensive shipping fees.
The opposition groups' statement puzzled even Juan Carlos Acosta, their representative in Miami, whose spending was criticized in the GAO report.
"Originally the idea was to speak the truth of our efforts for many years," Acosta said. ‘‘. . . But the way it was put together, any member of the press would read it as they want to lift the embargo and any American should be able to travel to Cuba."
The U.S. Interests Section in Havana said they had no reaction to the statement.
"They don't make the policy," said spokeswoman Demitra Pappas. "That is determined elsewhere, and our policy hasn't changed."
Miami Herald translator Renato Pérez contributed to this report.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
Cuban-American storms Miami Herald
Posted on Fri, Nov. 24, 2006
Miami Herald
Man arrested after long standoff at Miami Herald building
By DAVID OVALLE AND MARTIN MERZER
dovalle@MiamiHerald.com
After a 3 ½-hour standoff at The Miami Herald building, Miami police this afternoon arrested a man who claimed to be armed and had barricaded himself in the office of the top editor of El Nuevo Herald.
The standoff ended at about 2:20 p.m. and apparently without violence, police said.
Employees identified the man as El Nuevo Herald cartoonist Jose Varela.
They said the incident began around 11 a.m., with Varela appearing agitated and demanding to see El Nuevo Herald's executive editor, Humberto Castelló. Varela appeared to be armed with a handgun, employees said, but it was not known if the gun was real.
Castelló, who was not in the building as the incident began, told police that Varela apparently took over his office and trashed it, including a cartoon of the executive editor that Varela had drawn.
El Nuevo Herald is a Spanish-language newspaper published by The Miami Herald Media Co. Its newsroom is located on the sixth floor of The Miami Herald's main building along Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami.
Most employees were evacuated from the building, though some staffers remained in the Miami Herald's fifth floor newsroom to cover the story.
Shortly after the incident began, several people who work on the sixth floor heard police knocking on doors, telling everyone to leave.
''I was in the bathroom,'' said Pamela Vinson. ``I ran outside and saw that everyone had left. I left my purse, my phone, my keys. I couldn't even go home if I wanted to.''
Said another employee: ``I thought it was a joke.''
People with company identification badges were allowed to return to work around 3 p.m.
Varela's motive was not clear.
During a brief interview with a Miami Herald reporter, Varela threatened to commit violence. Some of what he said seemed confusing and disjointed.
''You are speaking with the new director of the newspaper and I'm here to unmask the true conflicts in the newspaper,'' Varela told the reporter. ``They laugh at exiles here. There are problems with payment.''
Tensions have flared in recent weeks between the two newsrooms and between some members of the Cuban American community and the Miami Herald, but it was unclear if those issues played a role in Friday's event.
While barricaded in the office, Varela twice telephoned Miami attorney Joe Garcia, who had represented him in a condominium dispute several months ago. Garcia said that Varela declared his intention to take control of the newspaper.
Garcia said Varela told him in Spanish that, ``Now they're going to have to deal with the truth.''
Garcia also said that Varela told him he had a gun, but said that he didn't intend to hurt anyone nor himself.
When Varela called and said that he would demand that editor Castelló be fired and that he was the new editor in charge of the newsroom, Garcia said he thought that the cartoonist was joking.
''He's really a comedian, so I figured he was putting me on,'' Garcia said.
The first call was relatively brief, Garcia said. The second lasted more than 15 minutes in which Varela sounded distraught about recent events at the newspaper and he said he believed that Cuban exiles were not treated sympathetically.
Many members of South Florida's Cuban American community and some staffers of El Nuevo Herald have been angered by recent Miami Herald coverage of Radio and TV Martí, U.S. government broadcasting operations that seek an end the communist regime of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Some of those stories have focused on payments received by several El Nuevo staffers and freelancers for work they conducted for Radio and TV Martí.
Garcia quoted Varela asking, ''How is it Cubans must suffer all the time?'' But it was not clear to what extent -- if any -- the recent tensions played into the incident.
Another employee said Varela walked in and started talking to employees. Then he began ordering women out ''for their own security,'' the employee said.
About 12 to 15 workers inside the newsroom were present, employees said. El Nuevo Herald employees have been instructed not to talk to other reporters.
Hundreds of Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald employees were milling in the newspaper's parking lot as a steady stream of workers left the building. Many were speaking on cellphones, reassuring loved ones that they were all right.
In July of 2005, The Miami Herald building was the scene of another highly publicized incident involving a distraught man and a gun.
Arthur Teele Jr., a former Miami city commissioner facing a fraud trial and upset over reports about his personal life that appeared in another publication, shot himself to death in the lobby of the building shared by the newspapers.
Herald staff writers Noah Bierman, Elinor J. Brecher, Susannah A. Nesmith and Nicole White contributed to this report.
Miami Herald
Man arrested after long standoff at Miami Herald building
By DAVID OVALLE AND MARTIN MERZER
dovalle@MiamiHerald.com
After a 3 ½-hour standoff at The Miami Herald building, Miami police this afternoon arrested a man who claimed to be armed and had barricaded himself in the office of the top editor of El Nuevo Herald.
The standoff ended at about 2:20 p.m. and apparently without violence, police said.
Employees identified the man as El Nuevo Herald cartoonist Jose Varela.
They said the incident began around 11 a.m., with Varela appearing agitated and demanding to see El Nuevo Herald's executive editor, Humberto Castelló. Varela appeared to be armed with a handgun, employees said, but it was not known if the gun was real.
Castelló, who was not in the building as the incident began, told police that Varela apparently took over his office and trashed it, including a cartoon of the executive editor that Varela had drawn.
El Nuevo Herald is a Spanish-language newspaper published by The Miami Herald Media Co. Its newsroom is located on the sixth floor of The Miami Herald's main building along Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami.
Most employees were evacuated from the building, though some staffers remained in the Miami Herald's fifth floor newsroom to cover the story.
Shortly after the incident began, several people who work on the sixth floor heard police knocking on doors, telling everyone to leave.
''I was in the bathroom,'' said Pamela Vinson. ``I ran outside and saw that everyone had left. I left my purse, my phone, my keys. I couldn't even go home if I wanted to.''
Said another employee: ``I thought it was a joke.''
People with company identification badges were allowed to return to work around 3 p.m.
Varela's motive was not clear.
During a brief interview with a Miami Herald reporter, Varela threatened to commit violence. Some of what he said seemed confusing and disjointed.
''You are speaking with the new director of the newspaper and I'm here to unmask the true conflicts in the newspaper,'' Varela told the reporter. ``They laugh at exiles here. There are problems with payment.''
Tensions have flared in recent weeks between the two newsrooms and between some members of the Cuban American community and the Miami Herald, but it was unclear if those issues played a role in Friday's event.
While barricaded in the office, Varela twice telephoned Miami attorney Joe Garcia, who had represented him in a condominium dispute several months ago. Garcia said that Varela declared his intention to take control of the newspaper.
Garcia said Varela told him in Spanish that, ``Now they're going to have to deal with the truth.''
Garcia also said that Varela told him he had a gun, but said that he didn't intend to hurt anyone nor himself.
When Varela called and said that he would demand that editor Castelló be fired and that he was the new editor in charge of the newsroom, Garcia said he thought that the cartoonist was joking.
''He's really a comedian, so I figured he was putting me on,'' Garcia said.
The first call was relatively brief, Garcia said. The second lasted more than 15 minutes in which Varela sounded distraught about recent events at the newspaper and he said he believed that Cuban exiles were not treated sympathetically.
Many members of South Florida's Cuban American community and some staffers of El Nuevo Herald have been angered by recent Miami Herald coverage of Radio and TV Martí, U.S. government broadcasting operations that seek an end the communist regime of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Some of those stories have focused on payments received by several El Nuevo staffers and freelancers for work they conducted for Radio and TV Martí.
Garcia quoted Varela asking, ''How is it Cubans must suffer all the time?'' But it was not clear to what extent -- if any -- the recent tensions played into the incident.
Another employee said Varela walked in and started talking to employees. Then he began ordering women out ''for their own security,'' the employee said.
About 12 to 15 workers inside the newsroom were present, employees said. El Nuevo Herald employees have been instructed not to talk to other reporters.
Hundreds of Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald employees were milling in the newspaper's parking lot as a steady stream of workers left the building. Many were speaking on cellphones, reassuring loved ones that they were all right.
In July of 2005, The Miami Herald building was the scene of another highly publicized incident involving a distraught man and a gun.
Arthur Teele Jr., a former Miami city commissioner facing a fraud trial and upset over reports about his personal life that appeared in another publication, shot himself to death in the lobby of the building shared by the newspapers.
Herald staff writers Noah Bierman, Elinor J. Brecher, Susannah A. Nesmith and Nicole White contributed to this report.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Battle over Cuban songs ends on a flat note
Battle over Cuban songs ends on a flat note
A legal dispute failed to determine who owns the song rights from Cuba's golden age of music.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
A U.S. music company lost its bid for rights to more than a dozen songs from the golden age of Cuban music, ending a six-year legal battle against the island's government in a London court.
After a protracted legal dispute that included moving the entire trial to Havana for a few days to take testimony there, a British judge decided last week not to give New Jersey-based Peer Music rights to 14 songs -- but he didn't give the rights to the Cuban government music publishing company either. The litigation was considered a critical test case that could have affected up to 600 of Cuba's most cherished oldies.
Having successfully fought off Peer's claim, the Cuban music publishers declared themselves winners in the case. It is likely to result in more litigation, since it is still unclear who has full rights to each song.
''We didn't get the brass ring,'' said Peter Jaegerman, senior vice president of Peer Music USA.
Peer Music signed up scores of Cuban artists in the 1930s and '40s, but the Cuban government canceled the contracts after Fidel Castro took power. For years, the U.S. embargo prevented the music company from paying royalties, and the money sat in bank accounts.
With the success of the Buena Vista Social Club, interest in the Cuban classics swelled and everyone from the Cuban government to music companies rushed to dust off aging contracts and royalty deals.
In 2000, Peer sued the German company Termidor, which had registered hundreds of Cuban songs in England on behalf of the Cuban state music company, Editora Musical de Cuba, known as EMC.
Peer argued that its contracts dating back to the '30s and '40s should be honored and that Termidor and EMC had illegally registered the 14 disputed songs. It asked the judge to declare Peer the rightful owners.
The first phase of the trial determined that Cuba could not unilaterally cancel Peer's contracts. Once that was decided, EMC sought to void the contracts, arguing that Peer misled the musicians by getting them to sign unfair deals over a few ``pesos and a bottle of rum.''
TESTIMONY IN CUBA
The case wound up moving to Cuba for a few days last year to get the testimony from elderly composers and their heirs. The case exposed the messy complications that result when dollars are at stake, memories are fuzzy and the average monthly wage hovers at about $15.
One witness testified that her signature on a Peer contract must have been copied because it said she was composer Manuel Corona's widow -- even though that would have made her 120 years old. She was actually his niece. Others said they signed papers they did not read, and one witness said he was a composer's only heir when in fact there were 10.
An 87-year-old composer testified that he never got a dime -- until they showed him canceled checks he signed, court records show.
Peer's representative in Cuba wound up accused of collaborating with an American company against the interests of the Cuban government. Former Peer rep Isabel Cordova, a Cuban lawyer who specialized in copyright issues, fled Cuba in 2002 to avoid a prison sentence and now lives in Miami.
''These composers were going hungry. Not one of them had a color TV or a refrigerator less than 50 years old,'' Cordova told the Miami Herald. ``I feel extraordinarily satisfied with the work I did. If I have one regret, it's that I should have dedicated every minute of my life to helping them more.''
She said the charges that Peer cheated the composers were taken out of context, considering the cost of living 60 years ago when the deals were signed.
Ultimately, the judge agreed, saying Peer's deals were standard for the time period and the company in fact paid $2.5 million in royalties to the artists once the U.S. embargo against Cuba was amended to allow it.
NO DECLARED WINNER
But the judge said he was unwilling to declare anyone the rightful owner of the songs because he feared setting a precedent in a case where so many more songs were potentially at stake, Peer's Jaegerman said.
''It was disappointing, but at the same time, it was an enormous vindication of the company,'' he said. 'Now they will never win on this `two drinks and a peso' folklore. We were really fighting a government here. They really wanted that money.''
EMC lawyer Graham Shear declined to comment.
A legal dispute failed to determine who owns the song rights from Cuba's golden age of music.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
A U.S. music company lost its bid for rights to more than a dozen songs from the golden age of Cuban music, ending a six-year legal battle against the island's government in a London court.
After a protracted legal dispute that included moving the entire trial to Havana for a few days to take testimony there, a British judge decided last week not to give New Jersey-based Peer Music rights to 14 songs -- but he didn't give the rights to the Cuban government music publishing company either. The litigation was considered a critical test case that could have affected up to 600 of Cuba's most cherished oldies.
Having successfully fought off Peer's claim, the Cuban music publishers declared themselves winners in the case. It is likely to result in more litigation, since it is still unclear who has full rights to each song.
''We didn't get the brass ring,'' said Peter Jaegerman, senior vice president of Peer Music USA.
Peer Music signed up scores of Cuban artists in the 1930s and '40s, but the Cuban government canceled the contracts after Fidel Castro took power. For years, the U.S. embargo prevented the music company from paying royalties, and the money sat in bank accounts.
With the success of the Buena Vista Social Club, interest in the Cuban classics swelled and everyone from the Cuban government to music companies rushed to dust off aging contracts and royalty deals.
In 2000, Peer sued the German company Termidor, which had registered hundreds of Cuban songs in England on behalf of the Cuban state music company, Editora Musical de Cuba, known as EMC.
Peer argued that its contracts dating back to the '30s and '40s should be honored and that Termidor and EMC had illegally registered the 14 disputed songs. It asked the judge to declare Peer the rightful owners.
The first phase of the trial determined that Cuba could not unilaterally cancel Peer's contracts. Once that was decided, EMC sought to void the contracts, arguing that Peer misled the musicians by getting them to sign unfair deals over a few ``pesos and a bottle of rum.''
TESTIMONY IN CUBA
The case wound up moving to Cuba for a few days last year to get the testimony from elderly composers and their heirs. The case exposed the messy complications that result when dollars are at stake, memories are fuzzy and the average monthly wage hovers at about $15.
One witness testified that her signature on a Peer contract must have been copied because it said she was composer Manuel Corona's widow -- even though that would have made her 120 years old. She was actually his niece. Others said they signed papers they did not read, and one witness said he was a composer's only heir when in fact there were 10.
An 87-year-old composer testified that he never got a dime -- until they showed him canceled checks he signed, court records show.
Peer's representative in Cuba wound up accused of collaborating with an American company against the interests of the Cuban government. Former Peer rep Isabel Cordova, a Cuban lawyer who specialized in copyright issues, fled Cuba in 2002 to avoid a prison sentence and now lives in Miami.
''These composers were going hungry. Not one of them had a color TV or a refrigerator less than 50 years old,'' Cordova told the Miami Herald. ``I feel extraordinarily satisfied with the work I did. If I have one regret, it's that I should have dedicated every minute of my life to helping them more.''
She said the charges that Peer cheated the composers were taken out of context, considering the cost of living 60 years ago when the deals were signed.
Ultimately, the judge agreed, saying Peer's deals were standard for the time period and the company in fact paid $2.5 million in royalties to the artists once the U.S. embargo against Cuba was amended to allow it.
NO DECLARED WINNER
But the judge said he was unwilling to declare anyone the rightful owner of the songs because he feared setting a precedent in a case where so many more songs were potentially at stake, Peer's Jaegerman said.
''It was disappointing, but at the same time, it was an enormous vindication of the company,'' he said. 'Now they will never win on this `two drinks and a peso' folklore. We were really fighting a government here. They really wanted that money.''
EMC lawyer Graham Shear declined to comment.
More Fallout from Herald Marti story
Fiedler: Reporter “Blood” Libeled By Sister Paper
Filed under: Uncategorized
More shake-out from the Marti story, the recently published Hoyt Report , and Oscar Corral’s recent series on USAID’s Cuban missions. Miami Herald Editor Tom Fiedler informed his staff today that today’s El Nuevo Herald, which is published in the same building and owned by the same McClatchy company as the Miami Herald, libeled reporter Oscar Corral, who broke the story in August.
In an e-mail to the entire newsroom with the subject line “Truth to power,” Fiedler wrote that a freelance columnist committed a “blood libel” against Corral in today’s version of the Spanish-language newspaper. He wrote that he’s investigating who the columnist is and how “how such an outrageous character defamation” was allowed to occur.
I have found the column in question on the El Nuevo Herald web site, but am not sure if it has been altered since Fiedler’s e-mail was sent. The writer is Nicolas Perez Diaz-Arguelles.
UPDATED: Here is the pertinent passage from the Diaz-Arguelles column as translated by New Times receptionist Julia Hallon:
It is also suspicious that Oscar Corral appears to be the bad guy in the picture again. And the question is if Max Lesnick and his friends from [Cuban intelligence agency] DGI of the Cuban government are behind Oscar Corral, which could be or not be true? Who is the highest ranking Miami Herald executive that is behind Oscar Corral? A second foolish question. What are the MacClatchy Company owners waiting for to put out the fire that the Miami Herald provoked in the Cuban Exiles?
So the slightly shaded allegation in El Nuevo Herald is that Corral is a Cuban spy (and it might be noted that McClatchy is misspelled — not a very smooth move considering it’s the newspaper’s owner). And there is an inference that a high executive at the Herald is also working for Cuba. With tripe like that published under the company’s own banner, it’s easy to see why Fiedler would be so steamed.
The entire Fiedler e-mail comes after the jump.
From: Fiedler, Tom
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 12:09 PM
To: .MIA Newsroom
Subject: Truth to power
Importance: High
Oscar Corral’s stories questioning the spending of public dollars in programs here under the guise of restoring freedom to Cuba have struck the nerves — and threatened the wallets — of powerful people in this community who have access to the Spanish-language media, including, sadly, the opinion page of El Nuevo Herald. Today a freelance columnist, in an attempt to justify allowing these businesses to feed at the public trough, committed a blood libel against Oscar directly and this newsroom indirectly.
I don’t know at this point who this columnist is or how such an outrageous character defamation was allowed; I will get back to you if and when I have something to share. But I do know that we will respond in the best traditions of journalism — by supporting Oscar in continuing to report this story wherever it leads and by publishing our findings in the columns of The Miami Herald.
Tom
3:49 pm
Comments »
That’s a poor and incomplete translation. I think this is better:
It’s also suspicious that Oscar Corral should reappear in the role of the bad guy. And the point of all this is not to wonder whether Max Lesnick and his friends at the Cuban government’s DGI are behind Oscar Corral, which may or may not be true, but rather, what high-ranking executive at the Miami Herald is behind Oscar Corral? Another stupid question: How long do the owners of the McClatchy Company think El Nuevo Herald can keep putting out the fires caused by The Miami Herald in the Cuban exile community?
Filed under: Uncategorized
More shake-out from the Marti story, the recently published Hoyt Report , and Oscar Corral’s recent series on USAID’s Cuban missions. Miami Herald Editor Tom Fiedler informed his staff today that today’s El Nuevo Herald, which is published in the same building and owned by the same McClatchy company as the Miami Herald, libeled reporter Oscar Corral, who broke the story in August.
In an e-mail to the entire newsroom with the subject line “Truth to power,” Fiedler wrote that a freelance columnist committed a “blood libel” against Corral in today’s version of the Spanish-language newspaper. He wrote that he’s investigating who the columnist is and how “how such an outrageous character defamation” was allowed to occur.
I have found the column in question on the El Nuevo Herald web site, but am not sure if it has been altered since Fiedler’s e-mail was sent. The writer is Nicolas Perez Diaz-Arguelles.
UPDATED: Here is the pertinent passage from the Diaz-Arguelles column as translated by New Times receptionist Julia Hallon:
It is also suspicious that Oscar Corral appears to be the bad guy in the picture again. And the question is if Max Lesnick and his friends from [Cuban intelligence agency] DGI of the Cuban government are behind Oscar Corral, which could be or not be true? Who is the highest ranking Miami Herald executive that is behind Oscar Corral? A second foolish question. What are the MacClatchy Company owners waiting for to put out the fire that the Miami Herald provoked in the Cuban Exiles?
So the slightly shaded allegation in El Nuevo Herald is that Corral is a Cuban spy (and it might be noted that McClatchy is misspelled — not a very smooth move considering it’s the newspaper’s owner). And there is an inference that a high executive at the Herald is also working for Cuba. With tripe like that published under the company’s own banner, it’s easy to see why Fiedler would be so steamed.
The entire Fiedler e-mail comes after the jump.
From: Fiedler, Tom
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 12:09 PM
To: .MIA Newsroom
Subject: Truth to power
Importance: High
Oscar Corral’s stories questioning the spending of public dollars in programs here under the guise of restoring freedom to Cuba have struck the nerves — and threatened the wallets — of powerful people in this community who have access to the Spanish-language media, including, sadly, the opinion page of El Nuevo Herald. Today a freelance columnist, in an attempt to justify allowing these businesses to feed at the public trough, committed a blood libel against Oscar directly and this newsroom indirectly.
I don’t know at this point who this columnist is or how such an outrageous character defamation was allowed; I will get back to you if and when I have something to share. But I do know that we will respond in the best traditions of journalism — by supporting Oscar in continuing to report this story wherever it leads and by publishing our findings in the columns of The Miami Herald.
Tom
3:49 pm
Comments »
That’s a poor and incomplete translation. I think this is better:
It’s also suspicious that Oscar Corral should reappear in the role of the bad guy. And the point of all this is not to wonder whether Max Lesnick and his friends at the Cuban government’s DGI are behind Oscar Corral, which may or may not be true, but rather, what high-ranking executive at the Miami Herald is behind Oscar Corral? Another stupid question: How long do the owners of the McClatchy Company think El Nuevo Herald can keep putting out the fires caused by The Miami Herald in the Cuban exile community?
Cubans still getting used to Fidel's silence
Cubans still getting used to Fidel's silence
Reuters
By Jeff FranksWed Nov 22, 2:05 PM ET
A silence has settled over Cuban political life that ordinary Cubans find at once disconcerting and a big relief.
After decades of delivering long and frequent speeches, Cuban leader Fidel Castro has virtually disappeared while recovering from surgery and been replaced by his much more reticent brother Raul.
Now Castro's diatribes no longer interrupt regular programming on Cuban television and he does not hold center stage in the national limelight.
Castro, 80, has not been seen except for a few photographs and videos since announcing on July 31 that he had an intestinal operation and put Raul temporarily in control of the communist country he has run since a 1959 revolution.
Cubans say they are not sure what to make of it.
"He was the person who defined everything for us. Now nobody is saying anything, which makes me wonder what is going to happen next," said security guard Ernesto Valdares, 34.
"There are no speeches, nothing. It's very different," said a woman who would only give her first name, Dora.
Many people in Cuba quickly tell a visitor that they are "Fidelistas," or Fidel Castro supporters. But in the same breath they deny any interest in politics. They vow eternal support for Fidel Castro and say Raul does not inspire the same passion because he lacks charisma.
'IT'S A RELIEF'
But even some Fidelistas admit that Castro's silence has its good side.
"To tell you the truth, it's a relief not to have him talking so much. He was on television all the time," said Dora.
In contrast, Raul Castro has kept a low profile, only occasionally showing up at public events and keeping his comments, if any, brief.
Analysts speculate that Raul Castro, 75, is staying in the shadows out of deference to his brother and because he is a behind-the-scenes technocrat by nature. He has been Cuba's defense minister since 1959 and is credited with building the military into one of the country's most efficient institutions.
What follows this period of peace and quiet is the question of the hour in Cuba.
A clerk in a Havana clothing store, who gave only Ernesto as his name, said he expects everything to go on as before, whether Fidel Castro dies or recovers.
"The people on top don't want anything to change. They're doing well," he said.
But Valdares said he thinks a new government will be compelled to do something to improve Cuba's creaking economy, where the average Cuban makes the equivalent of just $15 a month and needs government food rations to get by.
"I'm very proud to be a Cuban and I'm happy with the way things are, but we need more money. If Raul takes over for Fidel, he'll have to make some changes," he said.
Reuters
By Jeff FranksWed Nov 22, 2:05 PM ET
A silence has settled over Cuban political life that ordinary Cubans find at once disconcerting and a big relief.
After decades of delivering long and frequent speeches, Cuban leader Fidel Castro has virtually disappeared while recovering from surgery and been replaced by his much more reticent brother Raul.
Now Castro's diatribes no longer interrupt regular programming on Cuban television and he does not hold center stage in the national limelight.
Castro, 80, has not been seen except for a few photographs and videos since announcing on July 31 that he had an intestinal operation and put Raul temporarily in control of the communist country he has run since a 1959 revolution.
Cubans say they are not sure what to make of it.
"He was the person who defined everything for us. Now nobody is saying anything, which makes me wonder what is going to happen next," said security guard Ernesto Valdares, 34.
"There are no speeches, nothing. It's very different," said a woman who would only give her first name, Dora.
Many people in Cuba quickly tell a visitor that they are "Fidelistas," or Fidel Castro supporters. But in the same breath they deny any interest in politics. They vow eternal support for Fidel Castro and say Raul does not inspire the same passion because he lacks charisma.
'IT'S A RELIEF'
But even some Fidelistas admit that Castro's silence has its good side.
"To tell you the truth, it's a relief not to have him talking so much. He was on television all the time," said Dora.
In contrast, Raul Castro has kept a low profile, only occasionally showing up at public events and keeping his comments, if any, brief.
Analysts speculate that Raul Castro, 75, is staying in the shadows out of deference to his brother and because he is a behind-the-scenes technocrat by nature. He has been Cuba's defense minister since 1959 and is credited with building the military into one of the country's most efficient institutions.
What follows this period of peace and quiet is the question of the hour in Cuba.
A clerk in a Havana clothing store, who gave only Ernesto as his name, said he expects everything to go on as before, whether Fidel Castro dies or recovers.
"The people on top don't want anything to change. They're doing well," he said.
But Valdares said he thinks a new government will be compelled to do something to improve Cuba's creaking economy, where the average Cuban makes the equivalent of just $15 a month and needs government food rations to get by.
"I'm very proud to be a Cuban and I'm happy with the way things are, but we need more money. If Raul takes over for Fidel, he'll have to make some changes," he said.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
TV Martí Executive Indicted
Miami Herald - Posted on Sat, Nov. 18, 2006
COURTS
TV Martí executive indicted
A senior TV Martí executive was accused of receiving $100,000 from a company that does business with the federally financed broadcaster.
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com
A federal grand jury indicted a senior TV Martí executive, accusing him of taking more than $100,000 in kickbacks from a company that was doing business with the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees the Martí operation, prosecutors said Friday.
Jose M. Miranda, nicknamed ''Chema,'' received the money from Perfect Image Film and Video Productions, a vendor that was doing business with TV Martí, according to a federal statement.
''Miranda was accepting these monies during the same time that he approved requisitions and invoices for services rendered by Perfect Image to TV Martí,'' U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said.
Miranda said in Spanish Friday night ``I haven't even talked to my lawyer. I can't say anything.''
Miranda is also charged with ``making false representations to the U.S. government, in that he falsely reported no outside income in financial disclosure reports.''
OCB Director Pedro Roig, who has run the radio and television operation since, could not comment.
Jorge de Cardenas, a marketing consultant for OCB, said Friday night Roig ``discovered [the scheme] and an investigation began. There are other people involved.''
The four-count indictment alleges Miranda falsified financial disclosure forms in 2002, 2003, and 2004. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison per count.
''In each of these financial disclosure reports, the defendant represented that he had no sources of income other than his United States government salary, when in fact he had received income from Perfect Image during those years,'' prosecutors said.
Joe O'Connell, a spokesman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees OCB, said Miranda had been placed on administrative leave and faced suspension without pay until the case is resolved.
Miranda earns $103,000 yearly at OCB, federal records show.
O'Connell described Miranda as a ''high ranking'' official at OCB who had worked there since 1992, and said OCB ''developed information about Miranda's activities'' in 2005 and referred the matter to the board that oversees the Martí operation. The board alerted the Inspector General, who turned the matter over to the Justice Department, O'Connell said.
According to federal records obtained earlier this year by The Miami Herald through a Freedom of Information Act request, the OCB paid at least $239,000 to Perfect Image from 2001 to 2006.
Perfect Image is among dozens of companies that have been contracted by the OCB over the past few years to provide services ranging from production to journalism content, federal records obtained show.
Since 2001, OCB has paid at least $3.3 million to outside vendors.
Corporate records show Perfect Image Video Production is located in the Doral area and names Antonio Perez as its president. Perez could not be reached Friday night.
Herminio San Roman, who ran OCB from 1997 to 2001, said he did not know of the alleged scheme.
''If there's much more corruption inside Radio and TV Martí, they should go after everyone,'' San Roman said. ``The mission [at TV Martí] is a pure mission, providing information to an enslaved country. But within that mission you have people. And once you have people, you have good people, and people who turn out not to be so good.''
Herald staff writers Alfonso Chardy and Dani McClain contributed to this report.
COURTS
TV Martí executive indicted
A senior TV Martí executive was accused of receiving $100,000 from a company that does business with the federally financed broadcaster.
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com
A federal grand jury indicted a senior TV Martí executive, accusing him of taking more than $100,000 in kickbacks from a company that was doing business with the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees the Martí operation, prosecutors said Friday.
Jose M. Miranda, nicknamed ''Chema,'' received the money from Perfect Image Film and Video Productions, a vendor that was doing business with TV Martí, according to a federal statement.
''Miranda was accepting these monies during the same time that he approved requisitions and invoices for services rendered by Perfect Image to TV Martí,'' U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said.
Miranda said in Spanish Friday night ``I haven't even talked to my lawyer. I can't say anything.''
Miranda is also charged with ``making false representations to the U.S. government, in that he falsely reported no outside income in financial disclosure reports.''
OCB Director Pedro Roig, who has run the radio and television operation since, could not comment.
Jorge de Cardenas, a marketing consultant for OCB, said Friday night Roig ``discovered [the scheme] and an investigation began. There are other people involved.''
The four-count indictment alleges Miranda falsified financial disclosure forms in 2002, 2003, and 2004. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison per count.
''In each of these financial disclosure reports, the defendant represented that he had no sources of income other than his United States government salary, when in fact he had received income from Perfect Image during those years,'' prosecutors said.
Joe O'Connell, a spokesman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees OCB, said Miranda had been placed on administrative leave and faced suspension without pay until the case is resolved.
Miranda earns $103,000 yearly at OCB, federal records show.
O'Connell described Miranda as a ''high ranking'' official at OCB who had worked there since 1992, and said OCB ''developed information about Miranda's activities'' in 2005 and referred the matter to the board that oversees the Martí operation. The board alerted the Inspector General, who turned the matter over to the Justice Department, O'Connell said.
According to federal records obtained earlier this year by The Miami Herald through a Freedom of Information Act request, the OCB paid at least $239,000 to Perfect Image from 2001 to 2006.
Perfect Image is among dozens of companies that have been contracted by the OCB over the past few years to provide services ranging from production to journalism content, federal records obtained show.
Since 2001, OCB has paid at least $3.3 million to outside vendors.
Corporate records show Perfect Image Video Production is located in the Doral area and names Antonio Perez as its president. Perez could not be reached Friday night.
Herminio San Roman, who ran OCB from 1997 to 2001, said he did not know of the alleged scheme.
''If there's much more corruption inside Radio and TV Martí, they should go after everyone,'' San Roman said. ``The mission [at TV Martí] is a pure mission, providing information to an enslaved country. But within that mission you have people. And once you have people, you have good people, and people who turn out not to be so good.''
Herald staff writers Alfonso Chardy and Dani McClain contributed to this report.
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