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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
2nd Torrijos vows closer ties to Cuba
The new president of
Panama, Martín Torrijos, said he
will work to increase the number of jobs,
improve ties to Cuba and widen the Canal.
By Eloy O. Aguilar, Associated
Press. Posted on Thu, Sep. 02, 2004.
PANAMA CITY, Panama - Martín Torrijos,
the son of a former dictator, took office
as Panama's president Wednesday, promising
jobs, better relations with Cuba and a referendum
on a proposed $8 billion expansion of the
Panama Canal.
Torrijos said Panamanians should decide
on the proposal to widen the canal for a
new generation of bigger ships because of
its high cost for this poor nation, where
40 percent of the people live in poverty.
He also promised an investor-friendly government
that is concerned for the poor. ''Doing
business in Panama has become a headache,''
he said.
Torrijos had tough words for his predecessor,
Mireya Moscoso, calling her term "five
years of wasted opportunities.''
''We receive a country full of youth without
hopes,'' he added.
He also criticized Moscoso for last week's
pardon of four Cuban exiles who had been
accused by the Cuban government of trying
to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro at
a summit in Panama in 2000.
''For me, there are not two classes of
terrorism, one that is condemned and another
that is pardoned. . . . It has to be fought
no matter what its origins,'' Torrijos said.
A Texas A&M graduate with a degree
in economics, Torrijos promised an austere,
honest government and said public finances
were "in a deplorable state whose magnitude
we have not yet begun to discover.''
He cautioned, however, that "we are
not going to satisfy all of the expectations
of the people immediately.''
The inauguration was attended by officials
from around the world, including Secretary
of State Colin Powell and Taiwanese President
Chen Shui Bian.
Torrijos' late father, Gen. Omar Torrijos,
signed a deal with then-President Carter
that led to the hand-over of the Panama
Canal from U.S. to Panamanian authority
and many Panamanians remember him fondly
for that achievement.
''He showed us that it was possible to
achieve independence with dignity and bravery,''
the new president said of his father.
Like his father, Torrijos faces key negotiations
with the United States, this time talks
on a free-trade agreement started by Moscoso.
He said he favored free trade but promised
to consult with groups worried they might
lose out in a treaty.
Torrijos said he would seek to improve
relations with both Cuba and Venezuela,
which were angered by Moscoso's pardon of
the Cuban exiles. Castro's government broke
off relations, and Venezuela recalled its
ambassador.
Moscoso said she pardoned the four to prevent
the new government from extraditing them
to Cuba or Venezuela, where she said they
would be killed.
Six Cuban migrants arrive in motorboat
By Charles Rabin and Tim
Chapman, crabin@herald.com. Posted on Wed,
Sep. 01, 2004.
Six Cubans who said they left the north
coast of Cuba on Saturday night in a small
motorboat were taken into custody Tuesday
after they came ashore at Key Biscayne's
Crandon Park Beach.
Sunbathers called authorities after spotting
the six -- three men, two women and a 3-year-old
boy -- about 12:30 p.m.
Robert Montemayor, a U.S. Border Patrol
spokesman, said they were taken to the agency's
Pembroke Pines office for processing.
The six told The Herald that they were
from Yaguajay Santi Spiritus, a small town
on Cuba's north coast. They said they left
Saturday in an 18-foot boat with a motor
and encountered calm seas during the entire
trip.
They said they came within sight of the
lights of Key Biscayne before dawn Tuesday,
but they started taking on water and the
motor quit. At daylight, they waved down
a passing boat, which took them to the beach
at Crandon.
Key Biscayne police gave them water and
ice, and Miami-Dade police talked with them
as they waited at the entrance to Bill Baggs
State Park for Border Patrol agents to arrive.
Montemayor said the migrants all appeared
to be in good health and would be sent to
the Krome detention center.
Push aims at luring Cuban voters
Democrats accelerated
the push for Cuban-American voters, hiring
Cuban American National Foundation executive
director Joe Garcia to spread the Democratic
agenda.
By Lesley Clark. lclark@herald.com.
Posted on Thu, Sep. 02, 2004.
Joe Garcia, the public face of one of the
most influential Cuban-American groups in
the country, is stepping down as executive
director of the Cuban American National
Foundation to lead South Florida recruitment
efforts for a Democratic organization.
The move comes as both parties step up
their efforts to court the massive Cuban-American
voting bloc that has the potential to sway
a close election in Florida.
President Bush is to share the stage tonight
at the Republican National Convention with
his former housing secretary, Mel Martinez,
who, if elected, would be the first Cuban-American
U.S. senator.
But Garcia and officials with the Washington,
D.C.-based New Democrat Network, said his
hiring underscores what polls show is an
emerging political division in a community
traditionally viewed as staunchly Republican.
The New Democrat Network is an independent
group that raises money in support of moderate
Democrats. In 2002 it launched a Hispanic
outreach effort to boost the party's standing
among the fastest-growing group of voters.
Garcia, who starts immediately, will serve
as a senior advisor to the group's president,
and will be responsible for developing a
strategy to lure more Cuban American and
other Hispanics to the Democratic ticket.
'SYMBOL' OF CHANGE
''This is a symbol of how the Cuban-American
community is changing. This is something
that a few years ago no one would have thought
possible,'' New Democrat Network President
Simon Rosenberg said. "We're putting
up competition for the Cuban vote.''
Garcia, executive director of CANF since
2000, is no stranger to politics. He lost
a County Commission race to Miguel Diaz
de la Portilla in 1993 and was appointed
to the Public Service Commission by Democratic
Gov. Lawton Chiles.
He said Wednesday that the community needs
to broaden its approach beyond the Republican
Party.
PARTY 'LISTENING'
''We should advocate for a better long-term
Cuba policy with anyone who will listen,''
Garcia said. "The Democrats are listening.''
Garcia's tenure at CANF included the defection
of more than a dozen members who split to
found the rival Cuban Liberty Council, an
unabashed hard-line organization that the
White House has sought to court.
But moderates say Garcia is credited with
making the foundation approachable to newer
waves of Cuban exiles, who are at times
at odds with the historic exile community.
FOUNDATION CHAIRMAN
Foundation chairman Jorge Mas Santos hailed
the move, suggesting it would benefit Cubans
to ensure they're represented by the Democratic
party.
''We don't want the extreme left of the
Democratic Party to guide the Cuba policy
or thinking on Cuba,'' Mas Santos said.
"It is important to keep all the bases
covered because we don't know who is going
to win in November and we can't be so irresponsible
as to put Cuba's fate in the hands of one
person or one party.''
A poll released in June by the New Democrat
Network suggests a widening gap and some
moderation in a community long viewed as
monolithic. According to the poll, Democratic
presidential nominee John Kerry enjoyed
a commanding lead over President Bush among
Cuban Americans born in the United States
and a decided edge among Cubans who arrived
in the country after 1980.
The poll, though, showed Bush crushing
Kerry among the largest -- and most politically
active and vocal -- group of Cuban-American
voters: those who arrived before the 1980
Mariel boatlift.
Those voters backed Bush by more than 80
percent and the president campaigned in
Miami last week to shore up their support
-- his first visit to Miami since he sought
to bolster his Cuban-American base by hardening
the U.S. line against Castro amid complaints
that he had failed to live up to his campaign
promises.
TOUGHER APPROACH
Bush's tougher approach on Cuba has endeared
the president to hard-liners who had all
but threatened to skip his reelection, but
has triggered a backlash from more moderate
Cuban Americans who want to be able to travel
and support relatives in Cuba.
Garcia and other Cuban-American leaders
have suggested that the new restrictions
-- which cut travel to Cuba back from yearly
to once every three years -- will only end
up hurting families.
Those are the voters Garcia will likely
pursue.
''There is no question that our job is
to make sure we have a credible agenda that
speaks to Hispanics,'' he said.
Republicans who pushed for the strict restrictions
questioned how Garcia can sell Kerry, who
has been accused of waffling on Cuba.
''Joe Garcia is going to have a very tough
time defending John Kerry's terrible record
on Cuba, particularly in comparison to President
Bush's proactive policies to hasten the
regime's change,'' said Rep. David Rivera,
a Miami Republican who recently proposed
getting even tougher on people who travel
to the island by taking away state benefits.
ANTI-CASTRO EFFORTS
Garcia said Bush hasn't been particularly
effective in helping to oust Castro.
''I think what you're going to find is
that we embrace a policy that promotes civil
society, that pushes for change,'' he said.
Herald staff writer Elaine de Valle
contributed to this report.
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