CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

44 Cuban artists plan asylum bid

Cuban performers who defected in Las Vegas said they were forced to do so by Castro regime officials who told them they would not be allowed to perform again in Cuba if they returned.

By Elaine De Valle, edevalle@herald.com. Posted on Tue, Nov. 16, 2004.

The cast of the Havana Night Club show -- which presents a history of Cuban music from jungle rhythms to 1940s showgirls to contemporary street rap -- toured 16 countries over five years, performing to sold-out audiences in Europe and Asia.

Still, the Cuban troupe remained relatively unknown until the group got its first gig this summer in Las Vegas -- at the Wayne Newton Theatre at the Stardust Resort and Casino, presented by Siegfried and Roy.

The troupe was under pressure from the Cuban government not to come. The U.S. rejected its first visa request. But the performers persisted and, after lobbying by members of the Cuban American National Foundation and Florida Republican leader Al Cardenas, they got their visas.

Monday, saying they can't go home again, 43 of the performers applied for political asylum in the United States. They said they feared they would be jailed or -- at best -- prohibited from performing again if they returned.

''I love my country. I am in love with its culture. I lament having to make this decision in order to be free as a musician and artist. But there was no choice,'' said Puro Hernández, the troupe's musical director, in a telephone interview after his afternoon rehearsal.

"The only thing we wanted was to take our art to the highest level. The only thing we want now is for our families not to suffer the consequences of our decision.''

It was the largest mass defection from Cuba to the United States since Fidel Castro took power in 1959. And members of the troupe are the first performers to be granted visas since the U.S. clamped down on letting in artists from Cuba a year ago.

Three of the performers intend to return to Cuba, said Margaret Baroncelli, the show's promoter. ''They wanted to go back to their families,'' she said.

Seven other members had already asked for asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Baroncelli and a state department official said. They were expected to join their colleagues in time for tonight's opening show in Las Vegas.

None of the 13 musicians, 10 singers and 30 dancers in the cast had thought about staying in the U.S. until the Cuban government objected to their performance here, they said.

''They were threatened that if they came back there would be severe consequences and they and their relatives would be considered dissidents,'' Baroncelli said.

When it was first invited to perform in Las Vegas, the troupe got caught in a wave of rising tension between Washington and Havana.

Before November 2003, artists from Cuba easily obtained visas to perform in the U.S., said a State Department source, who spoke on the condition that his name not be used. ''But the conclusion we came to after having done this for a number of years is that, in most cases, these individuals ended up acting as Cuban government employees and the vast majority of the proceeds of their performances went to the government,'' he said.

Cuban artists are generally not paid directly. Paychecks go to the Cuban ministry of culture or artists' union, which gives the artists only a portion of the money. Based on that, the U.S. denied visas to Havana Night Club performers in February, just as it had denied visas to other Cuban performers.

''We were just trying to put on a show and we got dragged into a political battle,'' Baroncelli said.

So the group set out to prove it was different. It provided documentation -- wage scales and pay stubs from previous shows -- that it was not a state-sanctioned organization.

''This is the first and only group of artists who have been able to establish that they are authentically independent of the Cuban government,'' the State Department official said.

Havana Night Club performances began July 31 at the casino but with less than half its cast as the Cuban government blocked performers from leaving the island, said Nicole Durr, creator and director of the theatrical production.

Individually or in small groups, all were eventually allowed to leave Cuba, and the show was hired for another run through Jan. 11.

Nobody at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington D.C. returned a call from the Herald Monday. But Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto told the Associated Press in July that the government's concern was about the troupe having ''miraculously received visas'' that were originally denied once it distanced itself from the Cuban artists' union.

Hernández said that tonight's debut with the full cast will be a milestone for him.

"We are living our dreams by bringing our art to the best stage in the world and we are very glad to be able to be part of the shows in Las Vegas. Any artist in Cuba dreams of coming here.

"Even artists in the U.S. dream of performing here.''

Prominent defections from Cuba

Associated Press. Posted on Mon, Nov. 15, 2004.

Some of the prominent Cuban defections to the United States

1960: Former Cuban Agriculture Minister, Raul Chibas, flees with his wife in a motorboat. Chibas was a close associate of Fidel Castro.

1965: Castro's sister Juanita leaves by plane.

1987: Former senior Cuban military officer, Brig. Gen. Rafael del Pino Diaz, defects in a small plane with his wife and three children.

1990: Former high-ranking Cuban official in Moscow, Ramon Gonzalez Vergara, took on the position to abandon from Cuba with his family in 1990.

1993: Castro's daughter Alina Fernandez Revuelta defects.

1995: Baseball pitcher Orlando Hernandez flees and becomes star pitcher with the New York Yankees, flees.

1996: Boxers Joel Casamayor and Ramon Garbey defect just before the start of the Olympics.

1996: Baseball pitcher Rolando Arrojo departs and signs with the New York Yankees.

1997: Former Cuban Olympic wrestler Alexis Vila Perdoma flees.

2002: Former Cuban ambassador to the United Nations Alcibiades Hidalgo defects. He is one of the highest-ranking officials to bolt.

2003: Cuban pop star Carlos Miguel and his mother remain in Mexico City after he performs a concert there.

2003: Dancers Cervilio Amador and Adiarys Almeida flee Cuba's national troupe, join the Cincinnati ballet.

2003: Three Cuban athletes Janerky De La Pena, Michel Brito Ferrer, and Charles Leon Tamayo defect at the World Gymnastics Championships.

2004: Forty-three members of Cuban dance troupe performing at a Las Vegas casino ask for asylum in the United States in one of the biggest mass defections of entertainers from the communist country.

Daughter recalls pilot killed in Cuba

A woman whose father was a CIA pilot executed during the Bay of Pigs invasion testified Monday in her lawsuit seeking damages from Cuba.

Associated Press. Posted on Tue, Nov. 16, 2004.

The daughter of a CIA pilot shot down and executed by the Cuban government during the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion repeatedly broke into tears Monday as she described her loving father and her 18-year crusade that began when she was 6 to recover his body.

Janet Weininger was testifying in her Miami-Dade Circuit Court lawsuit seeking damages from the Cuban government for her father's execution and for displaying his frozen body in a glass case at a morgue. She is suing under a federal anti-terrorism law that allows the families of victims executed by state sponsors of terrorism to seek damages.

LETTERS TO CASTRO

Weininger said she wrote more than 200 letters and telegrams to Cuban President Fidel Castro trying to recover the body of her father, Alabama National Guard pilot Thomas ''Pete'' Ray.

''You don't get an answer back, and you know this person has the keys to your life. He's holding your life hostage,'' Weininger said. "You don't understand how can someone be so evil they can't tell you.''

Circuit Judge Ronald Dresnick was hearing the case without a jury and as he observed, ''I noticed that there's nobody on the other side.'' As in other similar lawsuits, the Cuban government offers no defense. Damages are awarded, but the potential for recovery is limited.

In the Bay of Pigs invasion, about 1,500 exiles trained by the CIA in Guatemala charged the island in April 1961 in an attempt to overthrow Castro's 2-year-old communist government. The three-day invasion ended in debacle and more than 1,000 invaders were captured and about 100 were killed.

Weininger's father trained six dozen pilots for invasion flights from Nicaragua to Cuba. His B-26 was shot down less than 48 hours after the first landing in what Weininger thought was a rescue mission, and he died of a contact gunshot wound to the right temple. She obtained a photograph of Castro inspecting her father's plane, identifiable by its tail number.

Despite attempts by the U.S. government and the Ray family to retrieve his body, it wasn't flown north until 1979. Weininger emitted a gulping sob when she identified a gruesome photograph of his head showing a gaping eye socket, blackened flesh and protruding teeth.

''I just love him so much and to see what [Castro has] done to him. No humane person does that to someone,'' said Weininger, who learned to tie her shoes by practicing on her father's flight boots. She holds Castro personally responsible for the treatment of her father's body.

From the time her father disappeared without an official explanation, she quizzed relatives and began hanging out at the library to track down the names of people who served with her father. By college, she was flying to Miami to spend her free time looking for Bay of Pigs veterans who might know what had happened to her father.

KNOWN IN CONGRESS

As an Air Force wife living in Germany, she became known in Congress and had back-channel dealings with the Czech Embassy before meeting a historian who gave her photographs of the bodies of her father and his co-pilot Leo Baker.

After a 1985 Miami radio interview, two Cuban men came forward to say her father had been shot in a medical unit that served as Castro's military headquarters during the invasion.

In an unrelated trial last year, the widow and four children of an American businessman executed by a Cuban firing squad at the time of the 1961 invasion won a $67 million award against the Cuban government.

Cubans rush on last day to skip dollar fee

Sunday was the last day for Cubans to change U.S dollars into local currency without paying a 10 percent surcharge. And many lined up to do so.

By Vanessa Arrington, Associated Press. Posted on Mon, Nov. 15, 2004.

HAVANA - Cubans and tourists lined up to change U.S. dollars into local currency Sunday, the last day to do so without paying a 10 percent surcharge that is part of a government measure to eliminate the dollar from circulation on this communist-run island.

As of last week, dollars no longer were accepted at Cuban stores, restaurants, hotels or other businesses. The 10 percent surcharge taking effect Monday is meant to further discourage people from bringing currency from Cuba's No. 1 enemy to the island.

President Fidel Castro has said the widespread use of the American money was being halted to guarantee Cuba's economic independence.

''I was given this [dollar] last night, so I had to come here today -- tomorrow it will be worth only 90 cents,'' Pedro Michelena, 82, said at a Havana cash exchange, holding the single greenback he received from a group of foreigners for guarding their parked car.

The retired Cuban said last week he changed the other $26 he possessed to get the Cuban convertible peso -- the local currency tied to the dollar and now the dominant legal tender on the island.

For a decade, the dollar was Cuba's dominant currency and was used to buy everything from shampoo and canned food to furniture. Cubans as well as tourists visiting the island now must use the convertible peso.

No figures have been provided on how many dollars have been exchanged or deposited since the currency switch was announced Oct. 25.

Cubans, who can still hold the American currency, are believed to have been hoarding several hundred million dollars at home, most of it money received from relatives in the United States.

Some independent analysts believe many with savings will continue to maintain a dollar stash, though smaller.

The new measure was a bit confusing for tourist Marc Aupers of the Netherlands, who believed that, despite the changes, American dollars were still accepted on the island. Arriving Saturday, he was told otherwise and on Sunday he lined up to get rid of his dollars.

''It's not inconvenient -- in any country you need to change your money into the local currency,'' Aupers said.

Martinez says goal as senator is a free Cuba

Mel Martinez, who will be the first Cuban American in the U.S. Senate, said he hopes to bring his vision of a free Cuba to the highest circles of government.

By Oscar Corral, ocorral@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Nov. 15, 2004.

In a wide-ranging interview on U.S.-Cuba policy, Senator-elect Mel Martinez told The Herald that he hopes to become a leading voice for the cause of a free Cuba, promoting ideas that include changing the so-called wet foot/dry foot policy and aggressively planning for a post-Castro Cuba.

''I view it as a really historic opportunity,'' said Martinez, who will be the first Cuban American in the U.S. Senate. "It will give me a great opportunity to plead with people to better understand the Cuba problem and have a tough attitude on Cuba.''

Martinez, a former U.S. housing secretary, brings a unique perspective to the Senate.

He still has family members in Cuba -- an aunt, an uncle and cousins -- who receive regular remittances from Martinez's mother. He says that having close family members on the island gives him an understanding of people's struggles there. They have visited him in Orlando to seek medical help, and they communicate with him and his family regularly.

Martinez said the remittances his mother sends were not affected by the new limits imposed by the Bush administration because they don't exceed the new monthly legal limit of $100.

Martinez, like thousands of Cuban exiles, says he longs to return to his homeland. Except for a visit to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, he hasn't been there since he was 15.

''I'm dying to go back,'' Martinez said. "I understand that the people in Cuba are hurting badly. The cause of the hurt is not us here, it's their ruler. And I'd do anything in the world to see Cuba have the opportunity to do better.''

During a 40-minute interview, he mentioned Fidel Castro's name only once, when talking about the ''searing'' experience of living under his rule as a young man.

While he said he takes pride in having helped President Bush shape policy toward Cuba, Martinez said he looks forward to playing a larger role in legislating future U.S. attitudes and positions toward a post-Castro Cuba.

''The question is how do we utilize the resources of the U.S. government,'' such as the offices of Historic Preservation, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, he said. "A very important component is the reconstruction aspect.''

WET FOOT/DRY FOOT

He also wants to see a change in the controversial wet foot/dry foot policy, which has been a cornerstone of U.S.-Cuba immigration relations since the Clinton administration. The policy allows Cuban immigrants who make it to U.S. shores to remain, but mandates that most of those picked up as sea be repatriated.

While Martinez has already decided that he wants to change the policy, he has not yet decided what should take its place. His feelings on the issue of Cuban migration are mixed.

He said he feels that many Cubans fleeing the island do not qualify for political refugee status, and that they don't reasonably fear political persecution upon return.

''I know that the interviews [with Cubans at sea] very often yield responses from people that would not qualify them for political refugee status,'' he said.

But at the same time, he said he believes that Cubans found at sea "should be at the very minimum allowed to come to the U.S., where they can remain in land and where they can make a case.''

''The presumption should be that they should stay,'' he said of Cuban immigrants. "I would err on the side of people being allowed to stay.''

Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, Cuban migrants who arrive at U.S. shores eventually can apply for residence.

In reference to dissident groups on the island, Martinez expressed overall support for the movements. But regarding one dissident, Oswaldo Payá, who is asking for basic civil and human rights without replacement of the island's entire communist Constitution, Martinez was a bit more skeptical.

Payá's movement, known as the Varela Project, has ignited wide debate in South Florida.

U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, for example, does not support Payá because Payá does not explicitly call for the legalization of political parties.

During a speech in October 2002, when Martinez was housing secretary, he praised Payá's Varela Project, which gathered thousands of petition signatures for a referendum on civil liberties and presented the petition to the Cuban government.

''Earlier this year, more than 11,000 brave Cubans petitioned their government for a referendum on basic freedoms,'' he said then. "Such a thing, on such a massive scale, had never happened in Cuba. It frightened Castro enough that he felt compelled to stage a counterpetition -- a response that effectively drove home the point of Project Varela.''

In last week's telephone interview, Martinez said he disagrees with Payá because his petition movement does not explicitly call for a complete change from the communist Constitution. He said he is more inclined to support dissidents who want a total change in the government.

'I LIVED UNDER CASTRO'

Still, he expressed admiration for Payá's efforts.

''I support any sincere dissident in Cuba that is attempting to do something to change the dynamics in Cuba,'' he said. "I lived under Castro. I know enough about the system to know that you don't dare to challenge the system without paying an incredible price. Anyone who sincerely does that has my respect.''

When Martinez was HUD secretary, Bush tapped him to co-chair a special commission to come up with ways to strengthen U.S. policy on Cuba. Martinez served on the commission for only a few months before resigning to run for the Senate.

He said his role was important in two ways. First, he said, he encouraged the formation of the commission. Second, he said, he ''did play a role in setting the parameters,'' which included pushing for U.S. policy to broaden its scope and include a detailed approach to a transition and a comprehensive plan to reconstruct and aid a post-Castro Cuba.

He said that there may be forces with the Cuban government that want a different approach, and that true change must come from within the island. He said he has met with heads of state and high-level government official from throughout Latin America and Europe to muster international support for pressuring the government to change.

''There are forces in Cuba, within the power structure there, who understand that they are mistaken, that they are going in the wrong path and who, given an opportunity, will seek change,'' he said, declining to give specific examples.

When asked how he would be different from others in the fight for a free Cuba, Martinez said the differences would be subtle but the goal remains the same.

''I like my style and intend to live by it,'' Martinez said.

"I'm deliberative and thoughtful and definite. I know where I am going, and I am going to get there in my own way.''

Daughter of downed pilot seeks damages from Cuba

A woman whose father was shot down at the Bay of Pigs, killed and then kept in a Havana morgue for 18 years seeks damages from Cuba's government in a trial that opens today.

By Michael Hibblen, mhibblen@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Nov. 15, 2004.

Janet Ray Weininger was only 6 years old when her father -- piloting a CIA plane during the Bay of Pigs invasion -- was shot down on April 19, 1961, and then killed.

Thomas ''Pete'' Ray's body was frozen and kept in a Havana morgue for 18 years before it was shipped home to his family.

This week, Ray Weininger, of Palmetto Bay, is hoping to win ''justice'' for her father. A trial begins today in Miami-Dade County in a wrongful-death lawsuit she filed against Cuban President Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl and the Republic of Cuba.

''I think Fidel Castro has to answer,'' Ray Weininger said. "My father was never given the opportunity to go into a court of law. I've given the Cuban government and Fidel Castro and Raúl the opportunity to come into a court of law. I just want to meet on an equal playing field.''

Avenging her father's death has been a personal mission for Ray Weininger, who says in court papers that instead of dressing up in her mother's clothes as a young child, she would raid her daddy's flight gear.

"To me he was my world. We always had a very special bond and when he left on this mission and the day my mom told me he wouldn't be coming back, my world imploded.''

Ray's plane was heavily damaged during the invasion, but he survived the crash landing, the suit says. "His plane went down near Fidel Castro's headquarters. He made it out of the plane alive, was injured in a gun battle and then executed at point blank range.''

ORDERS FROM ABOVE?

The court complaint says that as Ray was being treated by Cuban doctors for his initial wounds, the army carried out the orders of the Castro brothers and killed Ray with a single shot to his right temple.

''Unknown to us, he was kept and his body was desecrated for 18 years,'' Ray Weininger said.

The body was kicked, spit on and displayed for political purposes over that period, the suit says.

Notified of his death, the family was told only that he had died in the Caribbean Sea, with no other details.

Ray Weininger began her search for information as a child, researching the Bay of Pigs in the library until late at night, questioning members of the Alabama National Guard who had served with her father, and writing letters monthly to Fidel Castro.

He never answered. But in 1978, he admitted that he had the body of an American pilot killed in the 1961 invasion.

In December 1979, after the remains had been identified through dental records as those of Thomas Willard Ray, they were shipped home to the United States.

An autopsy report then said the cause of death was shock and hemorrhage due to multiple gunshot wounds.

The lawsuit uses the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which allows victims of designated terrorist states -- including Cuba -- to sue for damages.

Ray Weininger's attorneys say it's unlikely that Cuba will be represented in court. Attempts to reach the Cuban Interests Section in Washington were unsuccessful.

Lawsuits on similar grounds have been successful in recent years, most notably when a federal judge ordered Cuba to pay $187 million to relatives of three Brothers to the Rescue fliers who had been shot down by the Cuban air force over the Florida Straits in 1996.

But one legal expert insists that the case has no merit.

University of Miami law professor David Abraham said, "You cannot invade a foreign country and expect a warm welcome. And if you're captured or imprisoned, you can also be sentenced to death by execution.''

But Ray Weininger counters that "Cuba was part of the Geneva Convention. You do not execute a wounded man.''

OTHER TRIALS

In the other trials, millions of dollars have come from frozen Cuban assets or were diverted from telephone payments to the island.

But more important, Ray Weininger said, is the symbolism of a victory.

"Over the years, I realized that it was time to seek justice. And yes, it's been many years, but Fidel Castro is still in power, and I want justice for my father.''

Exile group gets new leader

At the fulcrum of exile politics, the Cuban American National Foundation is getting a new leader in turbulent times.

By Lesley Clark. lclark@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Nov. 15, 2004.

A young aide to outgoing Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas today will be named executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, a prominent advocacy group that is at the center of seismic changes in the county's exile politics.

Alfredo Mesa, 29, a senior advisor who began working for Penelas 12 years ago as a high school intern, will head the foundation, which was formed in 1981 by the late Jorge Mas Canosa to push for U.S. policies aimed at undermining Fidel Castro's rule in Cuba.

Mesa replaces Joe Garcia, a controversial figure in the traditionally Republican-leaning community, who had accused President Bush of failing Cuba and left the post in August to campaign against the Republican president.

Mesa, the youngest of five children of exile parents, has never been to Cuba but said he understands the passion that fuels exiles from Little Havana to the halls of the U.S. Capitol. His three brothers were born in Cuba; he and his sister were born in Miami.

''I know and love Cuba through the eyes and hearts of my parents and grandparents,'' he said.

In his new post, Mesa faces a challenge at a time that the foundation is a prime target for radio talk show hosts and other critics in the Cuban-American community who accuse Garcia and the group's current leader, Jorge Mas Santos, son of the founder, of softening its traditionally hard-line approach.

Mesa said part of his strategy will be to bridge the generations and remind the community that it shares a singular hope: ridding Cuba of Castro.

''For me, a goal is to reach out to all generations without excluding any generation,'' Mesa said. "We are burying too many here in exile. We are losing too many fleeing in the Florida Straits. My generation needs to step up today for the Cuban people.''

The foundation suffered a major setback when Mas Canosa died in 1997 and disillusioned members launched a splinter group. Called the Cuban Liberty Council, the group is closely aligned with the Bush administration.

The differing approaches reflect a generational shift in Cuban-American politics. Many Cuban-born exiles support stiff sanctions against the Castro government. Some newly arrived immigrants and some born in the United States advocate more contact with dissident groups in Cuba and suggest that harsh travel restrictions only harm families here and on the island.

Polls show that in the presidential race, Bush's tough new restrictions on travel and money that can be sent to relatives in Cuba may have cost him points among Cuban-American voters.

ELECTORAL ROLE

Garcia, Mesa's predecessor at the foundation, took a leading role in urging voters to abandon the president. He worked as a strategist for the New Democrat Network, which raised millions of dollars to target Hispanic voters in Florida and other states.

In the final week of the campaign, Garcia appeared in a controversial television ad, telling Cuban Americans that ''enough is enough,'' referring to their loyalty to the Republican Party.

Mesa has worked for Penelas, a Democrat, but county observers said he is not particularly partisan. Mesa, who is single, said he is registered as an independent.

''I like to see myself as a consensus builder,'' he said. "The freedom of Cuba doesn't belong to any one party.''

Garcia said the foundation under Mesa will seek to prepare the community for Castro's demise by establishing stronger connections between dissidents on the island and Cubans American in Miami.

He said that with Bush promising a veto of any attempt to remove the embargo, and Mel Martinez, a child of Operation Pedro Pan, becoming a U.S. senator, the community's interests are well represented. Pedro Pan brought unaccompanied Cuban children to Florida in the 1960s.

''The challenge now is to bring in the Cuban-American community, the opposition on the island in communion with each other,'' Garcia said. "The life span of the dictatorship is reaching its biological finale, and there will be an opportunity for Cubans to share in the benefits of freedom.''

MAYOR'S ASSESSMENT

Penelas, who hired Mesa as a teenager, said the native of Miami is uniquely qualified to bridge divides in the community after successfully weathering the politics of Miami-Dade County government. A graduate of Westchester's Christopher Columbus High School, Mesa is pursuing a bachelor's degree in public administration at Florida International University.

''He's all about bringing people together,'' Penelas said. "He's dealt with hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals, some who like the mayor's office, some who flat out dislike the mayor's office, but Alfredo has always been able to create consensus.''

PRINTER FRIENDLY