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The Miami Herald, April 26, 2002.
TAMPA -- Manatee County and the Cuban town of Manati are becoming sister
communities, an arrangement criticized by a powerful Cuban-American group as
diplomatic relations in disguise.
Under the ''Manatee to Manati'' plan, the two communities will create
cultural, educational, athletic and professional exchanges to foster better
relations between Cubans and Americans, said Steve Rupert, a Tampa mediator who
worked for the agreement.
''It's a cultural-exchange group, not a business group,'' Rupert told The
Tampa Tribune on Tuesday. "It's people to people. It's not about
governments.''
Mariela Ferretti, a spokeswoman for the Miami-based Cuban American National
Foundation, called the exchange program a "facade.''
''We are not against people-to-people contact, but these exchange programs
are fronts for diplomatic ties,'' said Ferretti. | 
