Exiles Want to Expand U.S.-Cuba Relations

[kskiska]

Source: NYT

MIAMI — The leading organization for Cuban exiles here is calling on the White House to expand relations with Cuba’s government, and funnel much more public and private American money to the Cuban people.

A 14-page proposal from the group, the Cuban American National Foundation, lays out what the document calls “a break from the past” that would “chart a new direction for U.S.-Cuba policy.”

It is the basis of a continuing discussion with the Obama administration, White House and foundation officials said, and it amounts to the group’s most significant rejection of a national approach to Cuba that it helped shape and that has been defined by hostility and limited contact with the island.

(snip)

The foundation will also probably face opposition from Florida’s four Cuban-American Republican members of Congress — Senator Mel Martinez and Representatives Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. All have historically opposed engagement with Cuba unless the government meets strict conditions. None returned telephone calls or responded to e-mail seeking comment.

Mr. Hernandez, however, said the foundation would not be intimidated by the old guard to which it once belonged.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/politics/09cuba.html?hp

[FrenchieCat]

1. Knock me with a feather!

That's a true total 180 if I ever saw one! :wow:

Guess our President had quite an impact as a Candidate!

His speech back in May of 2008!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrhWTZoBP8&feature=related

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FrenchieCat]

4. So we should do nothing with Cuba?

:shrug: Jeeze!

[EFerrari]

6. No, sweetie. We should be very careful how we examine

what this terrorism funding group is up to. :shrug:

[EFerrari]

2. These people are vampires. Check this out, it's code:

"It advocates an increase in private aid for pro-democracy groups and a plan for “permitting Cuban-Americans and others, under license, to send cash, building materials, agricultural implements and provide services to independent, private entrepreneurs."

"Pro democracy groups" is code for funding groups to destabilize the government.

Looks like the CANF exporters of terror want to be able to get into Cuba more easily. They smell blood in the water re the recent transition in Cuba.

[FrenchieCat]

7. It is a proposal from them.....and nothing more.

The actual policy will be Obama's.
Last I checked, he's wasn't born yesterday!

[EFerrari]

8. You may not know this but it's the equivalent of al Qaida saying

they just want to be friends.

What Obama does with it is his challenge, that's right.

[EFerrari]

9. Speak of the devil! Look at this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3822960&mesg_id=3822960

lol

:)

[Judi Lynn]

10. They are jockeying for position, nothing more. The organization's founder,

who fortunately died several years ago, ruled over the Cuban "exile" community in Miami with an iron fist, he dictated our country's policy on Cuba with Reagan, Bush, and Clinton before he died. His death from cancer cut short his belief he would be able to get the U.S. to take Cuba in time, and he would become the Cuban President himself.

The CANF controlled Miami so tightly, they were able to get laws ennacted, like a law forbidding Cuban musicians, singers, dancers, etc., from appearing anywhere in Miami and the surrounding area. This law was finally overturned by the ACLU.

Artistic Groups Challenge Miami-Dade's "Cuba Ordinance"
Miami Light Project et. al. v.
Miami-Dade County (Case # 00-1281)

April 5, 2000

Several Miami artistic and cultural groups today filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging the County's controversial "Cuba Ordinance." The lawsuit was filed by ACLU Cooperating Attorneys Bruce Rogow and Beverly Pohl on behalf of the Miami Light Project, GableStage, the Cuban Cultural Group, and concert promoters Debra Ohanian and Hugo Cancio.

The suit challenges the constitutionality of the County's "Cuba Restrictions," and the "Cuba Affidavit," which is required of all groups wishing to apply for County cultural grants or seeking to use County facilities.

The lawsuit alleges that the "Cuba Affidavit" improperly infringes on First Amendment rights and violates the federal government's exclusive authority in foreign affairs, foreign policy, and foreign commerce, in violation of federal law. "In effect, Miami-Dade County has adopted its own foreign policy toward Cuba in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States," said ACLU Cooperating Attorney Bruce Rogow.

More:
http://www.aclufl.org/news_events/archive/2000/cubaordinance-release0400.cfm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Human Rights Watch pointed to Miami as a place with human rights problems during the reign of terror by the CANF founder, Jorge Mas Canosa:

"I can tell you that the United States Constitution does not exist in Miami," says Francisco Aruca, a left-leaning radio personality in Miami. "There is an unwritten law in Miami: If you are expressing views against the anti-Castro industry, you are going to pay a price."
Aruca has paid that price more than once. The Cuban immigrant has long been a thorn in the side of virulently anti-Communist exiles who make up the Cuban community's business and political elite in South Florida. He first aroused their ire in the late 1970s, when he founded Marazul Charters, a travel agency that arranges tours to Cuba. But what really made him a traitor in the eyes of the anti-Castro lobby was his creation of Radio Progreso, which features Spanish-language programs in which Aruca attacks both the economic embargo of Havana and what he describes as the political intolerance of the chief exile groups. His programs, which air weekdays on WOCN 1450-AM, also carry entertainment from Cuba's state-run radio.

Exile groups regularly brand Aruca an agent of Castro's government, a charge he laughs off. The 59-year-old immigrant points out that he spent time in a Cuban prison in the 1960s for anti-Castro activity. But he doesn't laugh off some of the other tactics used against him, like the noisy demonstrations outside the station's offices or the broken windows or frequent death threats.
In February 1992, a few weeks after the militant exile group Alpha 66 demonstrated outside the radio station, three men broke into the building late on a Sunday night, looking for Aruca. Informed he wasn't there, they beat and tied up the operations manager and ransacked the station. Terrorists have also firebombed Marazul Charters--in 1989 and again in 1996--attacks that Aruca says were directed at his radio program. No one was arrested in any of the incidents and police never accused Alpha 66 of a link to the beatings at the station. "We have constant pressure on us," says Aruca. "We are a well-listened-to program, but companies cannot advertise with us. They are afraid."

Aruca is not the only journalist who has been targeted in Miami. Emilio Milian, the general manager of another Miami radio station, WWFE 550-AM, has sharply criticized anti-Castro terrorism. He lost both legs when his car was blown up in 1976.
Human Rights Watch/Americas issued reports in 1992 and 1994 that condemned the perils to free expression in Miami and warned that right-wing radio stations were inciting groups to violence. "Only a narrow range of speech is acceptable, and views that go beyond these boundaries may be dangerous to the speaker," said the 1994 report, the last study the group made of the region.

More:
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=766

During that time,

[EFerrari]

5. Luis Posada Carriles´ Sinister Links with the CIA (Prensa Latina)

Luis Posada Carriles´ Sinister Links with the CIA

Washington, May 12 (Prensa Latina) From bombings and assassination plots to sabotage actions, notorious terrorist of Cuban origin Luis Posada Carriles boasts a long record of dirty works for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Clear evidence of this is provided in documents released by the FBI and the CIA itself, made available as of this week on the Internet by the George Washington University National Security Archive at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/index.html.

In particular, these files corroborate that the so-called expert in demolition, who is currently seeking political asylum from the government of George W. Bush, "was directly involved in planning the bombing of a Cuban civil plane that killed all 73 people on board."

The texts also confirm that Posada Carriles was involved in planning a Coup d'Etat in Guatemala, and from the early 60s maintained links with Jorge Mas Canosa, the man who later led the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) created under then President Ronald Reagan.

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={6014D073-FA20-4870-9446-592D6DF3C6C6}&language=EN

[Mika]

12. The CANF is doing an about face in light of the evidence that will come to light...

.. during a Posada trial.

Its all very ugly terrorism.

[No Elephants]

11. Another reason to eliminate the anachronistic electoral vote. A special interest group in a purple

state with as many electoral votes as Florida has is going to have disproportionate power. Between that and lobbyists, individual voters are screwn.