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Cuban National Assembly
president to speak in Fort Lauderdale via
satellite
By Madeline Baró Diaz, Miami Bureau.
Sun-Sentinel,
FL, June 2 2006.
Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's
National Assembly, will be the guest speaker
at the kickoff for the National Association
of Hispanic Journalists' convention this
month in Fort Lauderdale, organizers said
Thursday.
Alarcón, a controversial figure
for South Florida's predominantly anti-Castro,
Cuban-American community, will appear via
satellite from Havana during the convention's
opening session on June 14 to take questions
from journalists. Cuban-born Mirta Ojito,
a New York Times contributor and Columbia
University journalism professor, will interview
him, and audience members will submit written
questions.
"In South Florida, anything that has
to do with Cuba is going to be controversial,
and we know that," said NAHJ Executive
Director Iván Román. "As
journalists, we don't shy away from controversy
or controversial figures."
More than 2,000 journalists from the United
States and abroad are expected to attend
the 24th annual convention, which will be
June 14-17 at the Broward County Convention
Center. Former Vice President Al Gore, Mexican
President Vicente Fox, and U.S. Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., have been guest
speakers at past conventions. President
Bush also attended when he was governor
of Texas.
A panel about immigration reform will feature
Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services; New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson, and CNN television personality
Lou Dobbs.
The conversation format of the Alarcón
session has been used in past conventions
with other notable figures, Román
said.
In Havana, Alarcón adviser Miguel
Alvarez said Thursday that officials have
not determined what Alarcón would
discuss at the conference. He downplayed
the significance of a discussion with journalists
in the United States. "We don't have
any agenda," Alvarez said.
Alarcón, one of the most powerful
men in Cuba's communist government, has
occasionally given interviews to the U.S.
news media. In 2003, on ABC's This Week
with George Stephanopoulos, he said that
Cuban-Americans in Miami and Gov. Jeb Bush
were pushing for a U.S. invasion of Cuba.
The decision to invite Alarcón was
expected to draw criticism from some in
South Florida's Cuban-American community,
but Cuban American National Foundation Executive
Director Alfredo Mesa said he welcomed Alarcón's
participation.
Mesa said he wished Alarcón would
attend in person to experience firsthand
what it was like to have his views challenged.
Mesa said journalists should ask Alarcón
questions about the Cuban government's restrictions
on free speech and a free press, and its
jailing of journalists.
"I think it's a great opportunity
to ask Ricardo Alarcón why he participates
in a forum where everyone else has to play
by the rules of free speech and freedom
of the press and once the forum is over
his government is unwilling to offer the
people of Cuba that same opportunity,"
he said.
Cuban activist Ninoska Pérez Castellón
said she hopes journalists challenge Alarcón
when he gives untruthful answers.
"I hope the journalists there have
the integrity to ask him the questions that
need to be asked," she said. "Every
time we see Alarcón interviewed ...
he gives a ridiculous answer and they just
sit there and take it."
Román said NAHJ is not taking a
position on any Cuban issues by inviting
Alarcón. He said the interview format
means the journalists will be directing
the session to a large degree.
NAHJ was founded in 1984 to encourage Hispanic
journalists to pursue opportunities in the
news media and to foster fair coverage of
Hispanic communities. It is one of four
minority journalism associations in the
United States. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
is among the convention's major sponsors.
Staff Writer Ian Katz contributed to
this report from Havana.
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