The Oppenheimer Report. Andres Oppenheimer. Published Sunday, April 9, 2000, in the Miami Herald
In more than two decades as a foreign correspondent and columnist, I don't recall receiving such an avalanche of responses -- and such passionate ones -- as for last week's column on young Cuban rafter Elian Gonzalez, the U.S. media and the Cuban exiles.
In a nutshell, I wrote that while I'm not Cuban, and I disagree with Cuban exile hard-liners on most issues, including the Elian case, I am appalled by the one-sided reporting by some of the biggest U.S. news organizations, which keep labeling Miami exiles as ``zealots,'' ``fanatics'' or
residents of a ``banana republic.''
I cited concrete examples of major U.S. news organizations that have been blatantly one-sided in their reporting of Cuba -- for instance, failing to report or giving only perfunctory notice of Cuban government
I don't recall receiving such an avalanche of responses.
forces' attack on a tugboat in which 63 unarmed people were trying to flee the island in 1994, resulting in the death of at least 12 children, as documented by all major international human rights groups.
I quoted Cuban exiles as asking where were the famous U.S. columnists who are so concerned about Elian when Cuban government forces killed 12 children? I concluded that unless we in the press do a better job reporting on the human and civil rights violations in Cuba, we have no right to label
anybody as partial or fanatic. What follows is a representative sample of some of the more than 100 e-mails and phone calls I got hours after the column appeared. While virtually all included their names, I will omit them to maintain their privacy.
``Elian's case has been masterly managed by Castro to push the American public opinion against the Cuban exiles. After four decades of living in this country, working hard and honestly, we are now the target of the criticism. Cubans in the United States have proven to be honest, law-abiding
citizens, distinguished professionals, successful business people and brilliant academicians. . . . However, for the first time we are all labeled with the same adjectives used by Castro: `zealots, Mafia, fanatics.' ''
``I came from Cuba five years ago. . . . Elian's tragedy was covered by the [American] media in the way that the government of Havana was expecting. My frustration found some relief in your article.''
``I am astounded at how Cuban exiles have become the punching bag . . . of the entire national media. . . . If this was happening to any other group, the mainstream America would be up in arms.''
``I am a Cuban American, among many, who does not condone the action of other Cuban Americans who interrupt traffic in order to get their point across. It hurts me to see that as a result of the Elian case, all Cubans in Miami have been labeled as fanatics.''
`You must have your reasons for disagreeing with hard-line Cuban exiles, and that is your right. Only, remember that most of them left behind fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, because a man named Fidel Castro does not allow families to leave Cuba together.''
``While I disagree with you on where Elian belongs, I deeply appreciate the article. . . . There is an obvious double standard in the American media in favor of Castro. Thank you for your words and your dedication to the truth.''
``Thanks for showing the other side of the coin. It is true that sometimes we [Cuban Americans] are very intransigent, but most of the time what is behind this attitude is not intransigence, but a big frustration at the way the press only looks at one side of the story.''
``This whole matter is not about keeping Elian away from his father, it's about sending a little boy back to a land where this dictator will simply parade him as his trophy. Castro doesn't care about Elian any more than he cared for those 12 innocent children he killed in his own waters in July
of 1994.''
``You have been able to articulate the reasons for the frustration that many of us feel regarding Castro's treatment by some of the media, and the tremendous influence he has on American public opinion.''
``Try a visit to planet Earth. Having lived here in Dade for 41 years, I have seen it all. What gives these [Cuban exile] people the right to assume a mantle of the master race? They are not.''
``I am a native non-Hispanic resident of Dade County. . . . If the exile community is angered, let them return to Cuba and fight the dictator that they themselves put in power in 1959.''
``There is so much ignorance and bigotry about us [Cuban Americans]. It has gotten worse over the past month. I dread going to work, where I have to endure a lot of stupid and uninformed remarks by co-workers. My mom tells me to just turn a deaf ear, but I'm getting tired of turning . . . ''
Over and over, Cuban Americans used the same word to express what they are going through: frustration. There is near-unanimous frustration over what they see as a double standard by the press when reporting about Cuba, and -- in some cases -- frustration over playing into Castro's hands.
Their only relief is that this drama, too, will pass. And in the end, history will be on their side, unless you believe communism has a future.
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