Monday, September 10, 2001.
The Miami Herald
Patroness of Cuba marks 40th anniversary here
La Virgen made her first appearance in Miami on Sept. 8, 1961.
By Eunice Ponce. eponce@herald.com. Published Sunday,
September 9, 2001
It was a night of prayer, faith -- and yearning -- for thousands of Cuban
exiles gathered at AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday night to celebrate the
40th anniversary of the feast of Our Lady of Charity, patroness of Cuba, in
South Florida.
About 10,000 people, young and old, attended the event in downtown Miami,
organizers said.
Many remembered a pre-1960s Cuba and hoped for a time when they could
celebrate the feast back on the island.
"We're praying not just as regular Catholics, but as Cuban exiles,''
said Efrain Infante of Hialeah.
"We're asking for her, through her son Jesus Christ, to restore
democracy and peace to Cuba. Not by anyone dying, but in the way that God wants
it to happen.''
Infante was referring to recent news reports speculating that Cuban
President Fidel Castro might be at the end of his years.
"We also pray for more strength, harmony and some measure of tolerance
for the exile community to help us survive this involuntary exodus,'' said
Infante, who said he and his wife, Teresa, attend the event nearly every year.
That message, a hope for a democratic Cuba, rang through a rosary prayer led
by the Rev. Luis Perez of St. Lazaro Catholic Church of Hialeah. He peppered the
prayers with exclamations of "Virgin of Charity: Save Cuba,'' which the
audience also chanted.
Meanwhile, the image of the Virgin made its way from La Ermita de la
Caridad, its national shrine near Mercy Hospital, on one of four small
motorboats that traveled along Biscayne Bay to the arena.
Live video of the image's progress along Biscayne Bay flashed across
overhead screens at the arena.
The statue was enclosed in a pyramid-shaped plexiglass cover on a base
covered with yellow roses.
It was a solemn event for many of those attending Saturday night's
celebration. Some would walk into the arena asking, "Is she here yet?''
As the Virgin was brought inside the arena, the overhead screens depicted
footage from the first time the feast was celebrated in Miami on Sept. 8, 1961,
at Bobby Maduro Stadium, after the statue had been brought from Cuba to Miami
through Panama. More than 30,000 exiles attended that celebration.
The faithful watched footage from the next 39 celebrations of the feast as
they stood and waved small Cuban flags and handkerchiefs in white and yellow to
welcome La Virgen de la Caridad.
The ceremony ended with a Mass presided over by Archbishop John Favalora.
Religious leaders say not only Cubans, but Hispanics from all over Latin
America visit the Ermita each year to pay tribute to the Virgin of Charity.
"She is the symbol of the opening up of the American Catholic Church to
the Hispanic presence here,'' said Rogelio Zelada of the Archdiocese of Miami.
Cuba uses Internet to 'transmit our truths, messages'
By Anita Snow. Associated Press. Published Sunday,
September 9, 2001
HAVANA -- The discovery of the Internet's potential hit Fidel Castro's
government like an electrical surge in an ungrounded socket during last year's
custody battle over Elián González.
Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of new hits appeared daily on the website of
the Communist Party newspaper Granma as the curious scrolled stories in Spanish
and English about government demands that the boy be repatriated from the United
States.
Granma editors were stunned at least twice during the seven-month custody
battle when the weekly number of visitors passed two million. For perhaps the
first time, the island isolated for more than 40 years by U.S. trade sanctions
was offering unedited views directly to Americans and others outside Cuba who
didn't even think about Cuba before the fight over the motherless 6-year-old
boy.
NEW TOOL
Castro himself has praised the benefits of the Internet as an instant link
between continents. "We are glad about that so we can also transmit out
truths and our messages,'' Castro said during his trip to Venezuela last month.
An Internet latecomer, Havana now deftly uses the facility to spread its
political message by subverting the information curtain that has surrounded the
island since a trade embargo was imposed four decades ago.
Foreigners can now visit more than 200 government sites that explain
communist Cuba's view of the battle over Elián, the U.S. trade embargo,
and Washington's crackdown on Americans who break the law to travel to the
island.
Havana also has discovered an important side benefit to its Web presence:
potential revenue from services and products advertised on those pages.
By diverting payments through third-country banks not affected by American
trade sanctions, people outside Cuba are using credit cards -- even ones issued
by U.S. banks -- to pay for things ranging from hotel rooms to gifts for
relatives on the island.
Generating income while "publishing the truth about Cuba in the world''
are two main goals of Cuba's Internet program, said Melchor Gil Morell, vice
minister of informatics and communications.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY
"It is not legal for American citizens to purchase Cuban items from
these sites,'' said Tasia Scolinos, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Treasury
Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Because the practice is new, there are no statistics on how many people, if
any, have been prosecuted for such purchases. "But any enforcement would be
targeted at the people buying, not the companies selling,'' Scolinos said.
For those seeking free information about the island, there are numerous
links to sites about Cuban history, politics and government, arts and music, all
of the state-operated newspapers, even a calendar of upcoming events.
One site, www.cubavsbloqueo.cu, presents communist Cuba's arguments for
eliminating the U.S. trade embargo.
The government's main website, www.cubaweb.cu, a service called Quick Cash
lets people use their Visa, MasterCard or American Express to send money to a
Cuban bank account within 24 hours. The payment is diverted through a bank in
Canada -- which has no embargo with the island.
The state tourism company Cubanacan, meanwhile, has a site --
www.cubancan.cu -- that allows online shoppers to buy gifts, from television
sets to bottles of rum for people in Cuba.
For a short message to loved ones on the island, a service called "e-scriba''
-- a play on the Spanish word for "write'' -- allows anyone with a credit
card to send a note of up to 800 words or 80 lines to anyone in Cuba. Each
message costs $1 and is delivered as a letter by the Cuban postal service.
Foreign entrepreneurs such as the British travel agency T&M
International Marketing Ltd., operate similar Cuba sites. T&M
International's GoCuba site claims to be the first to provide an Internet
payment system for travelers visiting the island, beginning in 1998.
The company recently launched cubagiftstore.com, which lets consumers use
credit cards to buy gifts for people in Cuba. Payments are made through banks in
the British Virgin Islands.
Other independent sites focus on Cuba's world famous cigars. The
Canada-based www.clubhavana.com, promises it can ship Cuban stogies to anywhere
in the world -- presumably including the United States.
Using a credit card, an online consumer can order a box of Montecristo No. 2
cigars for $600 or a box of Super Partagas for $250.
Herald staff writer Nancy San Martin contributed to
this report.
Boy, 6, taken by mom to Cuba readjusting to life back home
By Elaine De Valle. edevalle@herald.com. Monday, September
10, 2001.
Young Jonathon Colombini is relearning English and reacquainting himself
with American relatives almost a month after returning from Cuba where his
mother took him without his father's permission, sparking an international
custody battle.
"I'm ecstatic,'' Jon Colombini, Jonathon's father, said about having
his son back. "I've got everybody who loves me, everybody that I love,
close to me. It's the way it should be.''
The shy 6-year-old boy appeared happy Sunday as he and dad watched the heavy
rain at their home in Homestead. They were waiting for it to stop so they could
go outside and play.
Life seems good, as Jonathon readjusts to being home in South Florida after
living in Cuba for nine months. The boy's mother, Arletis Blanco, went to the
island with her boyfriend and two children, unbeknownst to Jonathon's dad. He
turned 6 there in May.
Colombini, who won custody of his son upon his wife's return and arrest, has
his own date in court: Friday, he will appear before a family court judge to
seek permission to move out of state so he can start a new life.
Blanco and the boy returned Aug. 16. Federal agents arrested Blanco, 29, of
Key Largo, shortly after she stepped off the flight from Cuba with her
boyfriend, Agustín Lemus, 37, and their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Jessica.
A lawyer hired by Colombini had negotiated Jonathon's return, but Blanco
insisted that she, her boyfriend and their toddler daughter be part of the deal
as well. She knew she faced arrest upon her return to the United States.
In Cuba, she reportedly told the press that she wanted her son to have a
better life and that she had uncovered an anti-Castro plot developed by her
boss. She has been accused of embezzling more than $150,000 from that same
employer.
Blanco remains in jail in Monroe County on charges of grand theft and
forgery. She also has been charged with international parental child kidnapping.
TALKED TO MOM
The boy talked with his mother last week for the first time since returning,
after she made a collect call to Colombini's house.
"He was a little upset at first. But he was fine 10 minutes later,''
his father said.
Colombini wants to move out of state because he has two jobs, one with a
flooring company and another with a package delivery service, lined up. Both are
in Alabama, where his second wife's family owns 140 acres just south of
Montgomery, in a place called Hope Hull.
"Has a nice ring to it,'' said Colombini, 32. He hopes to move there
with wife Marcy, Jonathon, his other two children -- Austin, 2 1/2, and Jordan,
6 months -- and their two dogs, Mia and Hunter.
"I just want what's best for our family. The cost of living here is so
high,'' said Colombini.
"Plus we got four-wheelers down there,'' he said, nudging Jonathon.
"Yeah,'' the boy said excitedly.
"And go-carts and motorcycles,'' his father egged him on.
"Four-wheelers and three-wheelers and two-wheelers.''
Peals of laughter.
"And cows,'' Dad said.
"Moooooooo.''
More laughter.
Jonathon has already been to Hope Hull. He went to visit relatives in Ohio
and Alabama as soon as he came home from Cuba. In Ohio, he visited the Columbus
Zoo and Paramount's Kings Island, an amusement park near Cincinnati.
He's being home-schooled for now because of the plans to move.
DAD PROTECTIVE
Colombini is very protective of his son. He asks a reporter not to ask
Jonathon anything about his mother. Questions about Blanco are asked out of the
boy's earshot.
"He knows about everything, but he doesn't need to have it pushed in
his face,'' Colombini said. "He's dealt with it and come out of this
situation really, really well.''
Jonathon is just starting to speak English again after forgetting much of it
during his stay in Cuba. He speaks it with a distinct Spanish accent, however.
His father is not fluent but understands Spanish.
SPELLING PROBLEMS
"When he came back, there was no English whatsoever being spoken by
him. If he had been gone much longer, there might have been a serious problem,''
his father said. "But there's no psychological effect. There's been a lot
of damage done to the information he has learned. He forgot how to spell his
name. He forgot his ABCs. Stuff like that.
"So we've been working on it with him.''
Marcy Colombini is relishing her happy family -- now whole.
"Jon is a lot happier, a lot more content with life. It's like he's
regained hope. I don't even know how to describe it,'' she said. "There
were times when we lost a lot of hope. We just had a real hard time. Now it's
like we almost regained faith in humanity.''
Jonathon doesn't speak much to strangers. The boy has grown even more shy
since he returned, his father says.
The boy barely talks about life in Cuba or asks for his mother, Colombini
said. But when a stranger asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he
said a truck driver.
"I want to work at the same thing my mommy worked that last time,'' he
said, referring to a time Blanco drove a truck with Lemus, her boyfriend.
"He's my friend,'' the boy said.
WANTS CONTACT
Colombini, who had the boy on weekends before the journey to Cuba, does not
want to cut Jonathon's mother out of the boy's life. He expects Blanco -- after
she resolves her legal issues -- to have visitation with their son.
"I always want his mother to be a part of his life, but I need to do
what's good for my family, for him and the rest of my family,'' Colombini said
about moving to Alabama.
Exiles: We had right to make voyage
Say they will fight charges
Sara Olkon. solkon@herald.com. Published Friday, September
7, 2001
Cuban exile leader Ramón Saúl Sánchez, flanked by a
self-proclaimed "Freedom of Speech Team'' of prominent attorneys, vowed
Thursday to fight conspiracy charges for illegally entering Cuban waters.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced that Sánchez and
two other members of the Democracy Movement had been indicted for illegally
entering Cuban waters in July -- the first time anyone has been criminally
charged for violating the South Florida security zone.
Sánchez, 47, and Miami residents Alberto Pérez, 58, and Pablo
Rodríguez, 48, are scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Hugh Morgan
in Key West next week.
CIVIL RIGHTS FIGURES
Invoking the name of civil rights figure Rosa Parks, Sánchez said he
would challenge a presidential proclamation signed by Bill Clinton in 1996 that
was designed to prevent Americans from causing a confrontation with the Cuban
government in its territorial waters.
"The right to own slaves? To prevent black people from sitting in the
front of the bus?'' said Sánchez, calling the proclamation "infamy.''
The group spoke at a packed news conference at Democracy Movement
headquarters in West Miami-Dade County. Afterward, the group drove to the Bay of
Pigs Monument in Little Havana to await a summons for the hearing.
Sánchez placed six white roses in the chain-link fence surrounding
the memorial to Cuban exiles killed during the 1961 invasion.
Pérez, meanwhile, stood silently nearby, his rose held against his
chest.
"I came here because I wasn't a free man,'' said the truck driver, who
left the island during the Mariel exodus. "I am ready to go to prison.''
Rodríguez, a land surveyor who lives in the Redland, called the
current situation "uncomfortable.''
"You are being indicted for something you think is your right,'' he
said. "This is a matter of conscience. I believe we have the right to
return to our homeland.''
Sánchez said the flowers were "our weapons,'' symbolic of José
Martí's poem La Rosa Blanca.
KINDNESS TO ENEMY
In it, Martí writes of nonviolence and kindness toward the enemy: "And
for the cruel one who tears out the heart with which I live . . . I grow the
white rose.''
"This is a classic case of selective prosecution,'' Sánchez's
lawyer, Kendall Coffey, said, referring to the fact that since 1996, the Coast
Guard has issued more than 3,000 permits to leave the security zone of U.S.
waters for Cuba.
The only three that were declined by the Coast Guard were from Democracy
Movement members.
"They say 'yes' except to those who say 'no' to Castro,'' Coffey said.
The three defendants, who allegedly ignored a Coast Guard warning to return
to international waters during a flotilla protest in Cuban territorial waters on
July 14, face up to 10 years in prison, fines and forfeiture of their boat.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami said this was the first time anyone has
been charged with violating the Florida security zone -- covering all of the
Sunshine State except parts of the Panhandle -- since it was established in
1996.
In Havana on Thursday, the daily Granma, official newspaper of the Communist
Party of Cuba, reported the indictment of Sánchez and his two companions
factually and with little comment.
The newspaper cited unidentified Cuban "observers'' as saying, "The
judicial process . . . will have a strong dose of politicization,'' and the
outcome will be "presumably favorable to the people who violated the laws
of both countries.
"While ruling out the possibility of real sanctions against the
defendants, other analysts stress that the principal significance of the charges
is a confirmation that the American authorities are aware of the anti-Cuban
activities of those groups that reside in [U.S.] territory,'' the report said.
A spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington was less subdued,
calling the indictment "good news for both countries.''
'FACE THE CHARGES'
"This man violated national water laws, thus he committed a crime,''
said Frank Vazquez. "The Coast Guard had warned him against being a
provocateur. Now he has to face the charges.''
As for the exile leader's contention that he had a right to return as a
Cuban citizen, Vazquez said Sánchez could always apply for permission
through the Cuban Interests Section.
Would he be allowed to stage a flotilla?
"If he wanted to do something negative? No country would allow it.''
Herald translator Renato Pérez contributed to
this report.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
