By Laurie Goering. Tribune Staff Writer. April 26, 2000
MIAMI -- Parking lots were empty, shops shuttered and school classrooms half-full Tuesday in Little Havana as Cuban-Americans stayed home to protest the seizure of Elian Gonzalez by federal agents.
But the "Dead Tuesday" campaign failed to completely shut down the city as Miami International Airport and the port functioned normally and public schools and offices remained open.
Calle Ocho and other main avenues of the normally bustling Little Havana neighborhood were deserted except for bands of street-corner protesters waving Cuban flags. At least half of the city's downtown businesses were closed and eight members of the Florida Marlins and visiting San Francisco
Giants as well as four Marlins coaches skipped an evening baseball game.
"People are still very angry. I hope this gets a message across, that the violence was totally unnecessary," said Mayra Lorie, who with her husband closed the family's alarm company Tuesday and gave their 15 employees the day off.
Lorie, who was standing watch near the Gonzalez home early Saturday and was doused with pepper spray by agents during the raid, said she and others will not let the incident pass without further protest.
"I've never been very politically inclined," she said. "But you know what? I want my voice to be heard on this."
On the streets of Little Havana, and to a lesser extent in neighboring communities from Coral Gables to Ft. Lauderdale, shop windows displayed "Closed for Elian" signs and smiling portraits of the boy.
Some stores also sported black ribbons and a few added campaign posters for George W. Bush. Republican and Democratic Party offices reported dozens of voters renouncing their membership in the Democratic Party.
"I don't think Gore has any future here," Lorie said of Vice President Al Gore, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. "His little switch there in the middle of the whole thing, I think, was too little, too late."
Major grocery stores, funeral homes, restaurants, bridal shops and even a McDonald's also shut down. A few shoppers wandered the streets, trying locked doors and peering into shops.
Vivian Darias, a kindergarten teacher at Comstock Elementary School, part of the Dade County public system, said 22 teachers out of a total of 110 staff at her school had stayed home Tuesday--including herself. At Miami High School, 68 teachers out of 200 staff members were absent, she said, and
the cafeteria crew failed to show.
Many Miami employers agreed to give protesters leave Tuesday, with or without pay. Federal, state and county workers were allowed to take vacation time to protest, but essential workers were ordered to show up and most did, with only about 10 percent of Miami-Dade County employees staying home.
Organizers of the protest claimed at least 1,000 businesses were shuttered.
The protest was aimed in part at emphasizing the economic clout of Cuban-Americans in Miami, according to organizers. But while there were no immediate estimates of dollar losses from the protest, it was not evident that businesses ignoring the protest suffered.
At the huge Dadeland Mall in Kendall, parking lots were jammed, and restaurants and stores appeared to be doing a thriving business even as schoolgirls stood on nearby street corners, hoisting placards urging drivers to "Honk 4 Elian."
"Cuban-Americans haven't been particularly good at forging alliances with other sectors of the community," said Damien Fernandez, an international relations expert at Florida International University.
Chanting protesters also gathered outside the downtown office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
While many passersby honked in support, a few heckled protesters, urging them to "Go back to Cuba!" |