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The Miami
Herald
Memorial honors victims of Cuban tugboat sinking
By Nick Spangler. Nspangler@herald.com. Posted on Sun, Jul.
14, 2002.
There was Eliecer Plasencia grinning broadly, hair parted to the side but
spiking stubbornly up in front. There was Caridad Tacoronte fingering the
ruffles on her dress, baby lips slightly parted. And there was Jose Anay, almond
eyes questioning someone off-camera.
They would still be children today.
Their pictures and a dozen more of the dead sat in front of the pews at the
Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami Saturday night. A crowd of 200 stamped
off the rain and filed past into the pews to mourn those killed when Cuban
patrol boats sank the 13 de Marzo tugboat as it steamed out of Havana Bay on
July 13, 1994, bound for the United States.
There were 72 people in all who tried to escape that night; 41 of them lost
their lives when the patrol boats rammed the tugboat and blasted it with water.
The boat was eight miles out to sea then. It took three minutes to sink. The
survivors treaded water for more than an hour before Cuban boats picked them up.
Almost 20 of the survivors attended the annual memorial service Saturday,
some of them well into middle age, some still young, and they stood in the front
two pews as the crowd called out a roster of the dead. ''Presente!'' came the
response after each name.
A prayer was said for the victims, fingertips made the sign of the cross. A
man broke the quiet several times, standing and handing out leaflets calling for
the release of Cuban political prisoners.
The rain had been coming down in sheets before, but the sky was clear when
the chapel emptied out.
On the steps, a girl held a cage of butterflies, each one representing a
victim's soul. She shook the cage and they fluttered up, weak-winged and
hesitant before the wind off the water caught and reinvigorated them.
Miguel Alejandro, one of those at the service, translated for a survivor,
Jorge L. Cuba, as he recalled the day of tragedy: "The weather was good,
except the night was darker than normal. There was no moon. They were
frightened, but they were sure they would make it.''
When the boat was rammed, Cuba said he didn't feel anything at first, so he
wasn't frightened. But his fear grew as they waited for rescue.
Cuba eventually made it to the United States in 1995.
The memorial was sponsored by the Cuban exile group Democracy Movement. The
organization usually sends a flotilla off the island's coast. But this year, it
decided not to do so as a protest against the U.S. government's refusal to grant
it a permit to leave a ''security zone'' in the Florida Straits.
Related links
July 13, 1994 - A Call for
Justice
Personal Testimony: The
sinking of the 13 de Marzo tugboat
Castro's massacre of
children / Agustin Blazquez
Largo Viaje Hacia la
Libertad
Victims
of the tugboat "13 de marzo" vs. Cuba
July 13, 1994: A
Massacre of Innocents
The Sinking of the "13
De Marzo" Tugboat on 13 July 1994 / Amnesty International Report
ABC News's Ted Koppel
interviews survivors of this massacre
"13 of March"
Tugboat Massacre Memorial
Nightline Transcript: July 13,
1994 Massacre - January 20, 1998
An unthinkable
slaughter
13 de Marzo
Cuba's Hemingway: Mojitos, daiquiris, legend of 'Papa' beckon tourists
Herald Staff Report.. July 15, 2002.
HAVANA -- Forty-one years after he shot himself to death, Ernest Hemingway
lives on as a thriving, quirky industry in Cuba -- his name and bearded visage
adorning cigarette lighters and even a billfish tournament.
As visible a trademark as Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara or Fidel Castro, at times
''Papa'' gets better T-shirt and postcard play than the country's national hero,
José Martí.
''It's a fascination with the enemy,'' said Alejandro Rios, who directs the
Cuban cinema series at Miami-Dade Community College. "Hemingway is the god
of American writers. He is America.''
In Old Havana, tour guides with paddles form tourists into lines outside La
Bodeguita del Medio, a popular restaurant and bar riddled with graffiti on its
walls. It was here, tourist-book legend has it, that Hemingway was a regular, a
fact not lost on its marketers.
Printed on brown paper place mats are the scribe's famous words about his
favorite places for two favorite drinks: "Mi mojito en La Bodeguita, mi
daiquiri en El Floridita.''
'ABOUT EXPERIENCE'
''Tourism is all about experience,'' said Carolyn Feimster, a tourism and
marketing consultant in Hollywood. "People want to go back and relive what
the famous have done.''
In this case, to drink Papa's drink. La Bodeguita is quick to oblige, with a
long row of mojitos lined up on the bar.
''The secret is its history,'' said bartender Jorge A. Alvarez, surrounded
by walls of autographed photos of dignitaries. "We have maintained the
spirit. Writers and personalities still come in.''
Despite its high stature in Hemingway tour lore, at least one expert says
the author never set foot in the place. Norberto Fuentes, author of Hemingway in
Cuba, insists a Cuban writer made up the phrase about the drinks.
However, tourist books and tour guides don't reflect Fuentes' belief, always
hawking the spot as authentic Hemingway.
True Papa haunt or not, the open-air restaurant, founded in 1942, now has
branches in Mexico City, the Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta and Paris.
Nearby, at El Floridita on Obispo Street, Hemingway's roots are historically
established. Indeed, there are framed photos of the writer imbibing with famous
pals, such as Gary Cooper. Moreover, its fame predates modern tour shtick: In
1953, Esquire magazine named it one of the best bars in the world.
'ABOUT HEMINGWAY'
Here, at the reputed ''birthplace of the daiquiri,'' it's all about
Hemingway, with a bronze bust of the author, framed photos on the wall, and a
Hemingway-style fish fillet (with steamed vegetables and dressed in a seafood
salsa) for $18.
Maitre d' Pedro Tejeda Torres estimates that 10 percent of tourists find
their way into the Floridita.
One, a German tourist named Joerg, ordered a $6 daiquiri at the long, dark
mahogany bar and inquired about sitting in Papa's old stool, now chained off.
The bartender just glared. He wouldn't dignify the request with words. The
tourist found another seat.
'This will never be a 'spring break' destination,'' said Tejeda, referring
to the establishment's regal aura. "In Mexico, they would permit it. We
would never allow that kind of craziness.''
But author Fuentes said the market is the real arbiter of taste on the
island.
''Cuba does what the Americans want,'' he said. "I don't think
Hemingway would approve, but how would he feel about the Hemingway look-alike
contest in Key West or the unfinished books that his family published after his
death?
"If you sell the sun and the beach, why not sell Hemingway?''
Indeed, Fuentes said the author's former home is a more popular spot than
the exalted Museum of the Revolution.
Situated about 10 miles outside Havana near San Francisco de Paula, Finca
Vigía is run by the Ministry of Culture.
NO VISITORS ALLOWED
Unlike its cousin to the north -- the Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West
-- La Finca allows no visitors to wander about inside. The best view, a baby
step inside the entryway, goes for $5, which includes permission to snap one
photo.
Visitors make the most of the dusty window views, peeking at Hemingway's
size 11 infantry boots lined up in his closet and African safari trophies.
Hemingway also slept here, in a modest room at the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Old
Havana. For $2, tourists take a jet-black steel elevator up to Room 511, where
Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Those who like their Hemingway in one big package hop on a tour bus and for
$40 go on a half-day excursion. It includes not only La Finca, but also the
fishing village of Cojimar, the setting for The Old Man and the Sea, and lunch
at La Terraza, a restaurant where Ernesto, as he was known here, ate.
The author's fascination with the island began in the late 1920s, after
marlin-fishing trips from his home base in Key West. After the Spanish Civil
War, he moved into a room at Ambos Mundos. He bought Finca Vigía -- his
third wife Martha Gelhorn's idea -- in 1940 for $18,500. His widow, Mary Welsh
Hemingway, willed it to the people after his suicide on July 2, 1961.
'FAVORITE AUTHOR'
Hemingway's political feelings for Cuba are subject to debate. He died
before Castro declared himself a communist.
And while Castro has called Hemingway his ''favorite author,'' the two met
only once -- at a marlin-fishing tournament near Havana in May 1960, as the
author handed out trophies.
A photo of the pair taken that day, showing them standing side by side, has
been well circulated. One hangs prominently at El Floridita.
Why does Cuba choose to sell the Hemingway franchise?
''You go with what you've got,'' said Erik Gordon, a marketing professor at
the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
"You have an economy that needs hard cash and has some history of tourism.
It's not a dumb thing to do.
"It won't get droves and droves of people. For that, you have to open a
casino.''
Evidence shows anti-Cuban attitude at INS, group says
By Ketty Rodriguez, El Nuevo Herald. Posted on Sat, Jul.
13, 2002 .
The legal watchdog group Judicial Watch presented Friday what it called
evidence of ''anti-Cuban and anti-Hispanic'' attitudes in the Miami offices of
the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service during the days preceding Elián
González's removal from the home of his Miami relatives.
The group also showed the media evidence that it plans to introduce at the
September trial of a lawsuit brought by Ray Ramírez, a Mexican-American
immigration agent who sued the agency for alleged civil rights violations.
Ramírez is represented by Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch's chairman
and general counsel.
In his suit, Ramírez claims the INS retaliated against him for saying
that anti-Cuban and anti-Hispanic sentiment in the agency led to its use of
''excessive force'' in the raid on the Little Havana home of the Cuban boy's
relatives on April 22, 2000.
Videotaped statements by several Cuban employees of the INS, many of whom
are no longer with the agency, tell of ''insulting'' comments and writings that
turned the INS district office into a ''hostile'' workplace, Klayman said
Friday.
Several of those employees were fired or transferred by the INS as a form of
reprisal, he said.
Rebeca Sánchez Roig, an assistant attorney for the INS, said in one
tape shown Friday to reporters that she had been ordered to destroy an
electronic memo that mentioned the intention of Elián's father, Juan
Miguel González, to remain in the United States.
The order, she said, came from then-INS Commissioner Doris Meissner. But Sánchez
said she did not heed Meissner's directive.
''I never gave an order to destroy evidence. That's something that cannot be
done in government work,'' Meissner said in a telephone interview Friday.
Given the ''sensitivity'' that existed during the Elián case,
''communications within the INS were handled in a confidential manner,''
Meissner said.
Referring to the e-mail, Meissner said she ordered "that it not be
disseminated, not that it be destroyed.''
Sánchez, who is of Cuban origin, said she reached a point "where
I could no longer listen to any more negative comments.''
"My boss spoke constantly about organizations he described as
extremist. He referred to José Basulto and the organizations Brothers to
the Rescue and the Cuban American National Foundation.''
INS spokesmen in Washington and Miami declined to comment on the allegations
Friday.
Klayman gave reporters a copy of a poster titled ''Cuban cowards'' that, he
said, had been hanging on a wall in the office of then-INS Director Robert
Wallis and was later distributed to other offices.
The poster -- whose source was unattributed and which contains numerous
grammatical errors -- says, in part:
• "The Cuban mentality is hypocritically quick to talk about
democracy and freedom, but is willing to walk over the U.S. Constitution and its
laws.
• "The same mentality that raises the American Flag in corrupt
election ballots or use it an excuse to block roads and abuse hard working men
and women of Miami.
• "The same mentality that raises and hides behind the American
Flag but cannot even speak english and don't know the name of the First American
President.
• "The same mentality that will abuse an innocent child and deny a
father his rights.''
Ana Cruz, a personnel staffing specialist at the Miami INS office at the
time, wrote to her boss, Yolanda Sheely, saying she saw the poster in the office
of another supervisor. A copy of her letter was given to reporters Friday.
''It is inappropriate and unprofessional for an employee that serves as
acting supervisor to display such an insulting article in a government office,''
Cruz wrote.
David Wallace, a former INS agent who is not of Cuban origin, on Friday said
the INS denied Spanish-speaking agents participation in the operation to seize
Elián, thus creating the "risk of having a lot of people killed.'' | 
