Recent article calls Cuban Americans "terrorists"
By Agustin Blazquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton.
© 2001 ABIP
After the September 11 terrorist attacks on America, some reprehensible
hate-crimes were directed against the Arab and Muslim American population in
this country. Our government as well as all intelligent and decent Americans
promptly condemned those actions and with the cooperation of the U.S. media, a
concerted effort and a campaign began to eliminate this abhorrence.
But on September 25, 2001, on page A10, The Washington Post published an
article by staff writer Sue Anne Pressley, titled Among Miami's Cuban Americans,
Terrorism Is a Familiar Story. Tactics Used by - and Against - Castro Still Stir
Debate in Exile Community.
As we find ourselves in a period of deep emotions calling for introspection
and extended concern for others, we inexplicably find The Washington Post with
an article written by a prominent staffer that seems to be attempting to foster
distrust, division, and hatred against the patriotic and law-abiding Cuban
Americans. I wish I could convey here the level of concern displayed by the
Cuban Americans I have been seeing about the September 11 attacks –
concerns and feelings they share with all Americans. But The Post has other
concerns.
During the Elian affair, this type of defamatory campaign was perpetrated -
with the cooperation of The Washington Post – apparently to neutralize the
viewpoints of the Cuban Americans. Now, in the midst of our national crisis, the
effort continues for the same purpose. And that is that the information Cuban
Americans have (first-hand, including from high-ranking defectors) on Castro's
connection to terrorism and biological and chemical weapons be discarded after
being subjected to character assassination. It appears that The Washington Post
is cooperating once more with a long-time Castro scheme.
Character assassination is a favorite technique of communists and Fascists
as well. It seems odd and out of place in a civilized, democratic and lawful
society such as ours.
The Washington Post’s Pressley opens her
September
25 piece, "Some among them have received training from the CIA to fight
a communist foe. The most extreme among them have been accused of committing
atrocities for what they believe is a righteous cause."
Ileana Fuentes, an author, cultural critic, feminist and human rights
activist from Miami says, this "is a blatant misrepresentation." As
true atrocities she cites "the genocide in the Balkans; the Jewish
Holocaust; three hundred years of slavery; the soviet gulag; the murder of
innocent women and children aboard the ‘13 de marzo’ tugboat by Cuban
authorities; the murder of four Cuban Americans aboard two unarmed rescue
planes, also by Cuban authorities." And that atrocity is "what we
witnessed on September 11th."
Pressley’s article is constructed around a Miami conference attended by
"100 people" on September 22, 2001, "sponsored by a coalition of
lesser-known exile groups who denounce what they view as the use of terrorism in
U.S. policy against Cuba." According to this article, "one panel
discussion was titled ‘The use of terrorism and sabotage in Washington's
policy of aggression against Cuba and its effects in Cuba and in Miami.’"
Obviously a decidedly anti-American group of Cuban "exiles."
Miami is a place easily infiltrated by Castro’s provocateurs and spies.
Miami groups that are anti-American or pro-Castro must therefore be viewed with
guarded skepticism.
Joaquin J. Coello an attorney in Georgia points out that it is a well-known
fact "that some Cubans in Miami are following this line. Castro has
infiltrated the community organizations with sympathizers and sleepers to be
activated at a moment’s notice. Mr. [Arthur] Buonamia, a Democratic Party
official, and others who participated at the conference are only following the
official line of dictator Fidel Castro."
The Post article raises the issue of Orlando Bosch, referring to him as an "anti-Castro
militant." He "was held in a Venezuelan jail for more than a decade on
charges that he masterminded the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed
all 73 people aboard." But, she admits that he was "released in 1988
without being convicted." As Fuentes points out, the fact that he was
accused is "made irrelevant when she ads that he was released ‘without
being convicted.’" And "no bombing that ever occurred in Miami
has ever been proven - by investigation or legal proceedings - as having been
perpetrated by exiles. What kind of reporting is this that makes unsubstantiated
hearsay pivotal to a story?"
Coello said, "Her reference to Orlando Bosch indicates he sat in a
prison in Venezuela but was never convicted, yet her article makes the innuendo
he was guilty."
Of Pressley’s description of Miami as "the site of numerous
bombings during the past 40 years," Fuentes points out that, since the
bombing actually stopped more than 10 years ago, Pressley’s statement takes
liberties that would not be permitted. Would the same liberty be taken by a
mainstream newspaper to describe Liberty City as a ‘site of numerous riots’
or Mobile [Alabama] as a ‘site of numerous lynchings?’"
The Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby’s Un Unpardonable Act, published on
September 6, 1999, says of the 16 Puerto Rican terrorists Bill Clinton pardoned,
that they "were responsible, along with their comrades, for some 130
bombing attacks between 1974 and 1983 [in the U.S.]. At least six people were
killed and more than 80 were wounded in those attacks, and property owners
sustained millions of dollars in damages. In Puerto Rico itself, they wrought
even more bloody mayhem, beginning with the murder of a police officer in 1978.
In December 1979, they ambushed a Navy vehicle in Sabana Seca, killing two of
the 17 passengers and badly wounding nine. In January 1981, they bombed the Air
National Guard base in Carolina and destroyed nine fighter jets." The cost
of the nine jets was $45 million.
With that in mind, Fuentes continues that Puerto Rican terrorists associated
with seeking independence from the U.S. have made many more bombings in San
Juan, Puerto Rico in the last four decades than in any other city in the U.S.,
yet The Washington Post wouldn’t "dare describe San Juan as ‘the
site of numerous bombings.’ The Puerto Rican community "would scream ‘Prejudice!’
and ‘Political profiling!’" She says that they will run up and
down the halls of Congress protesting, "and rightly so."
As Fuentes says, "Ten, twenty, even a hundred people does not
constitute the ‘American community’" that Pressley tries to
create in her article. And she adds, "It is time that American journalists
stop foaming at the mouth with hatred for Cuban Americans and start showing us
the decency and fairness all other ethnic groups enjoy and deserve."
This article presents Rev. Francisco Santana, "a priest at Our Lady of
Charity Shrine and an organizer of the prayer service" for this conference
saying, "Back in the '60s, some Cubans were trained like bin Laden, trained
by the CIA to fight during the Cold War against what was perceived as the evil
empire."
Coello says Pressley’s "article comparing Cubans to bin Laden is
an insult to all of us Americans of Cuban heritage." Cubans never had the
goal to kill innocent Americans. What an abhorrent accusation.
Alba Herrera-Rohdes of New Jersey said, "Shame on her for her egregious
attack on the Cuban-American community! As a Cuban, and as an American who has
been personally touched by the savage terrorist attack which took place in New
York City and Washington, I was highly offended and insulted that Sue Anne
Pressley, would see fit to publish such a slanderous report labeling an entire
ethnic community as terrorists.
"Not only was her report libelous and defamatory, it was full of
inaccuracies and lies."
She faults Pressley for calling the Cuban exiles in this country "terrorists
for struggling for over 42 years to bring about democracy, freedom, and liberty
to Cuba." She points out that Cuban Americans have been warning the U.S. of
everything from "the eminent threat looming 90 miles south of our shores,
to Osama bin Laden, who is bent on destroying America and everything it stands
for." And that calling Cuban Americans "terrorists’’ is "to
say the least, despicable."
Susan Wright of Georgia says of The Post, "It's time they start
reporting on the real terrorists on the Cuba-U.S. circuit and stop slandering
Cuban Americans - something they wouldn't dream of doing to the African
Americans or Jews. But if they are insisting on doing it, then prove it!
"Ninety miles from our borders lies the most deceptive among the
terrorist nations. In fact, that is [Castro’s] major strength: his ability
to deceive the US mainstream media that he [Castro] is not a major threat, even
as he swears that his ‘ultimate purpose’ is to destroy the ‘imperialist
nation [U.S.]’". Wright recommends that the U.S. media "Read his
speeches in Granma! Wake up!"
Pressley’s article quotes Max Lesnik, the leader of the Alianza
Martiana, one of the conference sponsoring groups, ending her article with this
outrageous statement, "The fight against terrorism should start in Miami,
here at home. They don't have to go to Afghanistan to find terrorists."
Cubans who lived the pre-1959 days, remember Lesnik’s unwavering
support for Castro’s criminal terrorist bombings of schools, restaurants,
department stores, movie houses, night clubs, etc., where innocent civilian men,
women and children were maimed or killed. According to a source in England,
Lesnik was "applauding and supporting" Castro until he was supposedly "expelled"
from Cuba. In Miami, Lesnik got involved in "anti-Castro activities."
Mysteriously, Lesnik had a change of heart and now is involved with other "exiles"
in sponsoring Castro’s goals in the U.S. It appears that there are some
skeletons in the closets of these "exiles" that deserve a closer look
than Pressley is affording.
Fuentes says, "Interviewing Max Lesnik - could go unnoticed, were it
not for Mr. Lesnik's dictum that the U.S. government need not go to Afghanistan
‘to find terrorists.’ Mr. Lesnik, who is unknown to the majority of
Cuban Americans today, and despised by the few still alive who do know of him,
undermines and mocks the gravity of the current tragedy with his statement. A
statement, by the way, that is incomprehensible coming from a Jew who should be
taking this tragedy very personally."
Lesnik, as well as others used as sources in this article, are Castro's
agents whose ongoing purpose is to discredit the Cuban American community. If
the Miami Cubans are "terrorists" as this article claims, why has
Miami been so well penetrated by Castro's agents and spies for decades, people
who are making a living there while conducting all kind of anti-U.S. and
anti-Cuban American activities?
For example, Francisco Aruca, a well-known Castro’s provocateur agent
with a daily talk show in Spanish and English on Miami’s Radio Progreso.
Aruca is participating in this campaign by also calling the Cuban exiles "terrorists."
He posted on his website a letter to President Bush with the same accusation and
requested that others join in. People like Aruca and others are alive and well,
living in the exile community. This alone should destroy the premise of this
misleading article.
Mario Ramirez in New York City says "Although Ms. Pressley tries to
show that some Miami Cubans are ‘moderate,’ in the end people will
overlook this and instead they will focus on the negative aspects listed in the
article. Call it a form of subliminal character assassination; that's exactly
what the propaganda folks in Havana, and anti-Cuban American organizations, like
those ‘free-speech and civil liberties advocates’ listed in the
article want.
"How silly to quote Max Lesnik, the leader of the Alianza Martiana.
That is an obvious front group. Of course, they are going to call us terrorists.
The Washington Post is the guilty party here for publishing this garbage,"
says an unidentified Cuban American.
Ramirez adds, "It's amazing that in the current atmosphere of calling
for tolerance and non violence against Arab and Muslim Americans, that a
supposedly responsible institution like The Post would allow another minority
group (Cuban Americans) to be maligned and slandered. It's as if Ms. Pressley
was saying, ‘It's politically incorrect to bash Arab Americans, but OK to
take it out on those crazy Miami Cubans - who happen to be terrorists, by the
way!’"
"I suggest to Ms. Pressley," says Herrera-Rohdes, "if she
wants to look for terrorists and a terrorist harboring country, look no further
than 90 miles south of Key West. She would be surprised, what a haven for
terrorists the ‘paradise’ island actually is. While she is there, she
might want to ask Castro to return the Black Panther terrorist, Joanne Chesimard
[also known as Assata Shakur], to us, so that she may finish her sentence for
murdering a New Jersey State Trooper back in the 70's."
Coello says, "Make no mistake Castro is no friend of the US and we
should not continue to make him look as a benign aging man with an ideal, for he
has and continues to harbor, train and support terrorism and was the only
country in Latin America not to sign a declaration against terrorism."
Herrera-Rohdes says, "At a time when America is bending over backwards
asking its citizens not to seek vengeance against the Muslims in this country,
or to blame them for the actions of a few extremists, I find extremely
irresponsible and reprehensible of The Washington Post to single out the Cuban
American community as a scapegoat for the attacks taken against our country. Do
we not deserve the same respect and consideration? Or is it open season on Cuban
Americans in this country?"
Clara Fuentes says, "There is too much garbage in the media here, and
those whose livelihood consists of attacking the integrity of others, have none
themselves. Much less professionalism.
"At a time when the survival of a nation and the free world depends on
unity, those attacking others for no reason and with lies are as enemies of
America, its values, and integrity as the terrorists themselves. Those causing
division and promoting hatred are as much an enemy of this country as any
terrorist could be. So, who are the real terrorists here?
"As long as they [U.S. media] use freedom irresponsibly to undermine
integrity and promote bigotry, they are also enemies of freedom."
George, an American says, "The Washington Post is full of far leftists
and Sue Ann Pressley must be one of them." Another American, Audrey, says, "It
is hard to understand that Americans have such little understanding of Cuban
Americans."
The Post would not consider such a hate-piece against blacks, Jews, Arabs,
Puerto Ricans, Mexicans or any other minority in this country - regardless of
the source of the information. If any of them had been maligned by The Post as
often as Cuban Americans, there would be a continuous outcry. And The Post would
have to apologize, and the reporter would be fired.
Perhaps the extreme animosity The Washington Post has demonstrated through
the years against Cuban Americans is because they cannot fool us with their
misinformation about our own country, as they do the average American.
This is not the first time and probably not the last that The Washington
Post has published insensitive and offensive articles, as well as cartoons –
such as the April 19, 21 and 28, 2000 by Herblock - against Cuban Americans
reminiscent of the Nazi propaganda against the Jews. During the Elian affair
Cuban Americans were attacked by Post staff writers like Judy Mann on January 4
and July 12, 2000. Mann is not an unbiased reporter; she visited Cuba in her
student years and apparently became pro-Castro.
Among the Post attackers are Michael Leahy, Hank Stuever, Mary McGrory, and
Donna Britt as well as Sue Anne Pressley alone and in close collaboration with
Karen DeYoung in many misleading articles.
Ramirez comments, "Havana says: Why defame Cuban Americans ourselves,
when we can have American journalists do it for us? And thanks to Ms. Pressley,
a bearded man in Havana probably smiles tonight."
© 2001 ABIP
Agustin Blazquez, Producer/Director of the
documentaries: COVERING CUBA, COVERING CUBA 2: The New Generation and the
upcoming COVERING CUBA 3: Elian. And author of the book with Carlos Wotzkow
COVERING AND DISCOVERING | 
