CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Cuba's grip on Web is sophisticated

Cuba's efforts to control the Internet focus on selective access, not censorship. A reporter found that she could visit any site, even The Miami Herald's, but things changed when her e-mail mentioned dissidents.

By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Fri, Oct. 20, 2006.

On a monthlong assignment to Cuba, the French journalist hopped from Internet cafe to cafe on a hunt: determine to what extent the government censored the Net.

The results were surprising: her report, released Thursday by Reporters Without Borders, says Internet cafes at hotels and the post office allowed mostly unfettered access to websites, even those considered ''subversive.'' But prices were excessive and security warnings popped up when the names of well-known Cuban dissidents appeared on the screen.

''I was surprised I could visit all websites,'' the journalist -- who used the pseudonym of Claire Voeux to write the report so she would be able to return to Cuba -- said in a telephone interview from France.

''But then when I opened an e-mail that had the names of dissidents on it, this pop-up warning came on saying the program would switch off in a few seconds,'' she added. "I thought, 'No way!'

"It was like a spy movie.''

She said she quickly bolted from the Internet cafe, in case anyone came after her.

With just 2 percent of its 11 million people online, Cuba has one of the lowest Internet usage rates in the world, according to Reporters Without Borders. Thursday's report said Cuba has 1/13th the Internet usage of Costa Rica, ranking it alongside countries such as Uganda and Sri Lanka.

Computer ownership is 3.3 per 100 inhabitants, the same as Togo, the report added, citing the International Telecommunication Union.

The Cuban government argues that the U.S. trade embargo keeps the nation from purchasing the fiber optic cables it needs to offer broader access to the Web. Cuba currently depends on satellites, which offer spotty and slow service to privileged Cubans who have access at work or have the $4.50 an hour it costs at post office Internet facilities.

The price amounts to several weeks' pay and is an effective method of controlling Internet access, said Julien Pain, head of Reporters Without Borders' Internet Freedom program. The French media advocacy organization considers Cuba one of the "15 Enemies of the Internet.''

But even Reporters Without Borders was surprised to learn that the Cuban government does not block websites it considers hostile, such as The Miami Herald's. Only once during her monthlong stay did Voeux find a site -- a Mexican page about a post-Castro Cuba -- blocked.

''I was expecting many things would be censored online, for example the Reporters Without Borders page,'' Pain said. "They are controlling the Web in a different way. It's about surveillance and controlling access, not censorship.''

Internet is widely available in hotels, but Cubans are prohibited from entering tourist hotels. At the post office, two services were available: a national ''intranet'' service which provided e-mail access and cost $1.50 an hour, and an unrestricted international web that cost $4.50.

Reporters Without Borders sent Voeux an e-mail with the names of known government opponents, but added punctuation marks between the letters in hopes that security filters would not spot them. But the e-mail was detected, and the journalist got a warning flash on the Internet cafe computer, saying it would shut down for "national security reasons.''

The same message appeared when she wrote a news story on a computer at an Internet cafe at the Parque Central Hotel. She was not even on the Web at the time, but apparently she used one of the trigger words and a warning appeared on her screen.

''I have never heard of that anywhere in the world,'' Pain said. "I don't even know how they do that. They scare people off the Web.''

Cuban author Amir Valle: I'm not defecting

Cuban writer Amir Valle says he's stranded in Europe because he lacks papers from his own government allowing him to return.

By Anita Snow, Associated Press. Posted on Sat, Oct. 21, 2006

HAVANA - A celebrated Cuban writer whose book tour in Europe has turned into a yearlong stay outside his homeland insisted he has not defected but said he will return to the communist-run island only on his own terms.

Amir Valle, now living in Berlin with his wife and their 5-year-old son, said he planned to return to Cuba in a few months when he left the island last fall for a book tour in Europe.

Despite differences with his government, ''I had decided to remain in Cuba because I feel that from there my way of thinking and acting is most valid,'' Valle said.

'My intention has not been to 'stay' in the classic sense,'' Valle wrote in an e-mail exchange with The Associated Press, referring to Cubans who use supposedly short trips abroad to leave the island for good.

But a year later, the 40-year-old author said he lacks papers from his own government allowing him to return. Citing national security concerns, Cuba is among few countries requiring citizens to obtain government ''exit permits'' to leave, both for temporary stays abroad and to emigrate. For those planning to return, the permit includes a specific period of time they are allowed to be gone. Overstaying those periods risks being denied reentry.

Valle blames his problem on official displeasure with his book about prostitution, Jineteras, recently published by Planeta of Spain. And after months of confusion, Valle now says that if he is allowed back in Cuba, he will return only on his own terms and timing.

''Many Cuban intellectuals have spent years asking for this absurd regulation for entering and departing the country to be annulled,'' Valle wrote from Berlin. 'We have not received any answer, except for the classic, 'It's under discussion.' ''

Valle said he agreed to be interviewed in hopes of clarifying his position and dispelling recent reports that he defected. He said comments earlier this month at the Frankfurt Book Fair were misquoted, leading some to believe he was seeking exile.

Rather, Valle said, he demands "my right to return to Cuba when I deem it convenient in accord with my current international commitments.''

It is not uncommon for Cubans to overstay exit permits, creating problems with authorities back home that can take years to resolve. Valle said he applied in time to extend his permit, but the government never contacted him with a response.

The Cuban government has not officially commented on Valle's case, but a woman in the official Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, which handled the paperwork for Valle's trip abroad, disputed his story this week.

Declining to give her name, she insisted that Valle's exit permit was extended in March and the documents delivered to the Cuban Embassy in Madrid. She offered no details.

Valle's dark novels describing prostitutes, drug dealers, black market vendors and others on the margins of Cuban society have received official acclaim and won national awards in Cuba.

But Jineteras is about real people and includes extensive interviews with some involved in illegal ventures.

Valle said he planned a three-month trip when he left Cuba in October 2005 to promote his new detective novel, Santuario de Sombras, or Sanctuary of Shadows. Afterwards, the novel's Spanish publisher invited him to stay for a literary jury, and Valle requested an extension on his exit permit in December.

Meanwhile, the buzz over Jineteras was heating up, and Valle said he gave several interviews in which he criticized the Cuban government. He said his friendships with several well-known dissidents probably have not endeared him to officials.

Associated Press writer David McHugh in Berlin contributed to this report.

Bebo Valdés' piano power enrapturing

For one great night, legendary Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés brought back vibrant memories of a lost musical era.

By Enrique Fernandez, efernandez@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Sat, Oct. 21, 2006

Veteran Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés got a standing ovation at the Jackie Gleason Theater before he even played one note. The mostly Cuban-American crowd had come to hear and pay homage to one of their home country's legends.

Sitting in one of the front rows was Miami-based Israel López ''Cachao.'' Next to him sat Generoso Jiménez, trombonist for the legendary bandleader Beny Moré.

There aren't many classics from Cuba's earlier, golden musical eras left, and many in the audience Thursday night had come to savor the 88-year-old Valdés, the way one treasures being with an elderly parent for whom each new day is a gift.

But Bebo -- whom everyone calls by his first name to differentiate him from his equally talented and famous pianist son Chucho Valdés -- was no relic. Bebo was power.

AFRO-CUBAN JAMS

For his first number he played the classic Lágrimas Negras, which was the title of the best-selling CD he recorded with flamenco singer El Cigala. Bebo was backed by a rhythm quartet of bass, congas, bongos and timbales. Then the group was augmented by saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar and drums for a set of descargas, the Afro-Cuban jams made famous by Cachao.

By now, the ensemble was the size of a salsa band. Virtuosos all, the band members took turns at solos, but when it was Bebo's turn, his mastery towered over the rest. Instead of joining the descarga party or going off on an avant-garde riff, Bebo soared above the ensemble with a totally lyrical solo, as if the polyrhythmic frenzy did not exist, yet his playing was fully coupled to the beat of the descarga.

It's all in the fingers. Unlike a number of Latin, Latin jazz, jazz and pop pianists, Bebo uses no body language. Instead, like the classically trained pianist that he is, he exerts command over his instrument -- and the band -- with the power of his fingers on the keyboard.

No banging out chords. No elbow grease on the montuno vamp that often holds an Afro-Cuban piece together (''that thing you call montuno,'' Bebo said, dismissingly and disparaging of how Cuban music is discussed these days).

AMAZING TO WATCH

It helps, of course, that Bebo is a redwood tree of a man. From his perspective, it's enough to stretch his long arms, hands and fingers over the keyboards to get as much power as he needs, when he needs it.

It was amazing to watch. And, frankly, that's what the audience was there for. They responded enthusiastically to the other musicians' solos. And bandleader Arturo O'Farrill got some oohs and aahs when he soloed on the piano -- a big challenge when the featured soloist is Bebo Valdés.

The Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra took the stage after intermission and the pieces were as smooth as any big-band music has ever been, and yet the funk was still there. O'Farrill, son of a great bandleader, composer and arranger, the late Chico O'Farrill, took the piano while Bebo, with surprising energy, conducted the orchestra, which by now had, besides the full rhythm section, four trombones, five trumpets and five saxophones.

At the end, Bebo himself took the piano and O'Farrill conducted. These big band numbers were tasty indeed. But nothing got as much of a rush as when Bebo came back for an encore and played alone.

His second encore was Habanera Tú, a favorite of many in the audience, including this reviewer. Tears flowed. For the beauty of Bebo's performance. For the beauty of that old song. For a country lost. For the unbearable lightness of Bebo's (and Cachao's and Generoso's) being. For knowing everything is lost but the moment -- the shimmering moment when a great artist opens the heart.

What more can one ask for?

Turncoat analyst an effective spy for Cuba, book says

A new book reveals that Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes had access to top U.S. secrets and passed on damaging information.

By Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Sat, Oct. 14, 2006

WASHINGTON - Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes gave Havana detailed information on U.S. eavesdropping programs against the Castro government, allowing Cuba to mount effective counterintelligence and deception operations for years, according to a new book on U.S. intelligence failures.

The book, by Washington Times defense writer Bill Gertz, also describes Alberto R. Coll, a Cuban American and former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the early 1990s, as ''an apparent spy'' -- a charge Coll vehemently denied.

Montes, of Puerto Rican descent, was a senior Cuba analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, enjoying near-unfettered access to top secrets until she was caught in 2001. She is now serving a 25-year prison term.

Gertz writes that she leaked so many significant U.S. secrets to Havana that some U.S. officials rank her with Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, the infamous spies for Moscow who sent dozens of U.S. agents to their deaths.

''Montes was the first national-level analyst from the intelligence community known to have turned traitor and the most damaging Cuban spy arrested to date,'' the book says, quoting from a still-classified damage assessment report on Montes. Such reports are written by counterintelligence investigators to assess the harm done by spies.

U.S. intelligence officials consulted by The Miami Herald confirmed that Gertz's book reflects the intelligence community's assessment of the Montes case, although some of the more sensitive information remains under wraps.

Gertz has written several books on intelligence matters. He told The Miami Herald that he spoke to a number of U.S. officials, some of whom had seen the Montes damage assessment report, for his latest book, Enemies: How America's Foes are Stealing Our Vital Secrets and How We Let it Happen.

SYSTEMS COMPROMISED

U.S. officials believe Montes did the greatest damage by giving Cuba information on U.S. electronic eavesdropping systems, which were the primary sources of U.S. intelligence on Cuba since Washington had long found it all but impossible to recruit spies within the island, Gertz wrote.

During a briefing from the National Security Agency she received in 1999, Montes ''learned about every single NSA eavesdropping program targeted against Cuba and Latin America,'' according to Gertz's book.

She also learned about current and proposed electronic spying systems by taking part in planning sessions for future imagery and other intelligence gathering programs, the book adds.

Montes had access to an intelligence community computer system, the Corporate Information Retrieval and Storage system, that includes information from the CIA, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the NSA, FBI and other sources, Gertz wrote.

The book notes that Montes also sat on an interagency group known as the Hard Target Committee, which discussed operations in places like Iran, China and North Korea.

Through Montes, the Cubans obtained a clear picture of what Washington knew and did not know about Cuba, allowing Havana to carry out ''a robust denial and deception program,'' according to the damage assessment report.

Some of her disinformation included a 1998 U.S. intelligence report that downplayed the threat of Cuban armed forces and its bioweapons capabilities, and a 1993 paper that said the Cuban military wanted closer ties with the United States, Gertz wrote.

The book also says there are ''indications'' that her spying may have led to the deaths of some U.S. agents in Latin America but provides no details. Court records showed Montes leaked the identities of four U.S. agents in Cuba, who were not harmed.

The damage assessment report however paints an embarrassing picture for U.S. spy-catchers: Montes met her Cuban handlers, posing as businesspeople, students or academics, at Washington restaurants more than 100 times, sometimes twice a week.

BELIEVED IN HER CAUSE

Montes, who pleaded guilty to spying charges, told a Washington courtroom that she had spied for Cuba out of conviction that U.S. policies were causing undue suffering to the Cuban people, and that she was paid little or no money by Havana for her work.

According to Gertz, Cuba recruited her around 1985 and she first came under U.S. suspicion in 1994, when the Cubans detected a highly secret electronic surveillance system. She underwent a polygraph test and passed it.

ARRESTED IN 2001

Montes came under suspicion again in 2000, when Cuban officials uncovered a U.S. agent working in Cuba for a special intelligence program, Gertz wrote. Montes was one of the few U.S. officials familiar with the operation. The FBI placed her under surveillance and arrested her in 2001.

Gertz's book also notes the case of Alberto Coll, who pleaded guilty last year to a charge of lying about a trip he made to Cuba in 2003. He had claimed he was visiting relatives, but he later acknowledged he was visiting a lover.

Coll, a Republican who became critical of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba in the late 1990s, was fined $5,000 and resigned from his job as chairman of the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island. He now teaches at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago.

Gertz says officials told him they believe that Coll had been ''recruited'' by Cuba, "in part by using a female agent to seduce him.''

Gertz quotes an unidentified FBI official as saying ''there is more to that case'' than the illegal visit, but Gertz does not say that Coll leaked any secrets.

In an e-mail to The Miami Herald, Coll denied the allegations as "outrageous slander.''

While he did violate the travel laws to Cuba, he said ''this is a far different matter from engaging in treason or espionage'' and that the "U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, and a respected federal judge [appointed by President Reagan] agreed with me.''

Coll said the woman he met with in Cuba was a childhood friend, not a Cuban agent. He said it was "deeply offensive to all women in Cuba to suggest that a Cuban woman who falls in love with a prominent American must be a government agent.''

Workers scam cash to cover basic costs

Cuba is making moves to crack down on the common practice of employees scamming money and merchandise from the government.

By Miami Herald Staff, cuba@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Sun, Oct. 15, 2006

HAVANA - The beautician at the government-run salon put the finishing touches on her client -- manicure, eyebrow shaping, facial, massage and masque -- then leaned in close, dropping her voice to a whisper.

''Your discretion here is going to be vital,'' she told her pampered client. "Everything you got costs $32. But I will charge you $15. When you pay me, you have to act like it's a tip.''

She rang up a $5 manicure and pocketed the $15 ''tip'' -- making in one hour what she'd normally earn in a month from her state employers.

From the cafeteria worker who forgoes the cash register to the cigar factory worker who slips a 25-count box into his backpack and the taxi driver who disconnects his odometer, Cuban employees have long been scamming government enterprises to make up for their absurdly low salaries.

But now the government is vowing to crack down on corruption, portraying the struggle as crucial for the survival of the communist system. While the campaign was declared a year ago by leader Fidel Castro, the issue has become even more critical as the ailing Castro convalesces and his brother Raúl tries to manage a tricky succession.

DENOUNCING SCAMS

In his first speech to a strictly domestic audience since Fidel turned over the presidency to Raúl nearly three months ago, Raúl urged officials of Cuba's government-run labor confederation on Sept. 23 to step up the fight against corruption.

''One of the most difficult challenges in this ideological work is succeeding in making the worker feel like a collective owner of the society's riches -- and acting accordingly,'' he said. "I'm not saying that this is the only cause of the acts of corruption and robbery and illegalities and lack of labor discipline. But. . . it is very difficult to confront these dangerous vices without the assistance of the workers.''

In an unusually probing two-page report last week, the official Juventud Rebelde newspaper dispatched reporters and inspectors to bars, restaurants and markets. They found beers half-filled, sandwiches light on meat and prices higher than state-regulated fees.

Nearly 11,700 of the 22,700 businesses probed through August cheated their customers either by overcharging or skimping on the product, the paper said -- with the items taken home by the workers for their own use or sale on the black market.

Raúl Castro alluded in his speech to the economic factors that drive workers to steal from state enterprises -- the government runs virtually every business in Cuba -- but did not say how specifically the government planned to combat it.

Most Cuban workers earn about $15 a month. Although housing, school and medicines are virtually free, subsidized food rations last just over a week and prices for other goods are often out of reach.

A typical store may charge $3 for a bottle of rum, $20 for a pair of shoes, $2 for a pack of cigarettes.

''Everybody, everybody, everybody steals to get ahead,'' said José Antonio, an unlicensed cab driver in the south-central city of Trinidad. "You work in construction, you steal a bag of cement. That's $4! That's not theft, that's charging the company the salary they should be paying you.''

He said state-employed cabbies usually disconnect the odometers so they don't show all the miles driven. At the end of the night, they'll siphon off the remaining gas. José Antonio's cab is illegal, so the $500 a month he makes during peak tourist season goes right to his pocket.

'ILLICIT ENRICHMENT'

Cuba's attorney general's office reported in March that it prosecuted 487 people in the past three years for illicit enrichment. More than a third of the cases were people who operated the few types of private businesses allowed to operate, such as family restaurants and barber shops, according to the state newspaper, Granma.

In July, the government launched a campaign against people who don't pay for their electricity; 800 people were caught doing that so far this year. Last month, the paper reported that nine Customs workers were arrested and 20 fired for inappropriate acts.

In the most high-profile corruption probe, top Communist Party official Juan Carlos Robinson was sentenced to 12 years in prison in June for "influence trafficking.''

The anti-corruption crusade began last year when Fidel Castro dispatched more than 10,000 young people to the nation's gas stations to attack widespread gasoline theft. Sales rose by $97,000 a day. In Santiago, gas sales increased more than five fold, Fidel Castro later said.

CASTRO ADAMANT

''I have dedicated a lot of time struggling against our own weaknesses, and I don't run from any responsibility,'' Fidel Castro said in a speech last year, saying workers had to "put an end to this nonsense, all this garbage.''

Workers remain cynical, however, after 47 years of a communist system that demands unselfish dedication to the revolution and society but has failed to provide enough to make ends meet.

''The government is putting a stop to a lot of it, but people will just find another way,'' said Luis, a musician who makes money on the side by playing the trumpet on the street. "They put all those social workers at the gas stations, because so many people were living off that stolen gas. I'm sure that for a while, the theft dropped a lot, but sooner or later the social workers will be corrupted too, because the salaries are not enough for anybody.''

The young volunteers, dubbed ''social workers,'' also have been dispatched to stores and workplaces around the nation, joining legions of inspectors who work for state agencies. Earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Marino Murillo vowed to take inventories at state food warehouses "sack by sack.''

''There can be a guy going down the street selling avocados or a lady in her house painting fingernails, and I'm not going to go after them. There's corruption, and there's survival,'' said Eloy, a government restaurant and store inspector in the central province of Villa Clara. "I am not blind. I know nobody in this country survives on five pounds of rice. What the state considers corruption is not always corruption.''

But there are limits, said Eloy, whose surname, like others, was omitted from this report for fear of government reprisal. He said he once found $40,000 in goods missing from a store.

''I might go to a restaurant and there are supposed to be 200 ham pastries and I find 50. Where are the other 150?'' he said. "That's a different story; they are stealing from the Cuban people. That's a small example. What about when it's box after box of beans?''

SNOWBALL EFFECT

Miguel Angel, a cigar factory worker in the central city of Santa Clara, said the government has hired many more security guards, but the theft continues.

''There are a lot of guards, lately even more of them, but they are lazy, and half the time they are stealing too,'' he said. "You take what you can depending on the opportunity.''

He said he cigars he steals can fetch up to $20 each.

''Twenty dollars -- you know what that is?'' he said. By way of explanation, he offered this comparison: his monthly salary is just $12.

The Miami Herald has withheld the name of the correspondent who wrote this dispatch, because the reporter lacked the required Cuban permission to work on the island.

Top politicians, exiles plan for life after Fidel

Top Florida politicians met with Cuban exile leaders to start planning for what may come after Fidel Castro's rule ends.

By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Sat, Oct. 14, 2006

After 47 years of summits, conferences and studies about the possibilities of a post-communist Cuba, never before has the topic held such urgency.

With Cuban leader Fidel Castro ailing and the communist-ruled nation perhaps on the brink of political change, some South Florida leaders are convinced that quick change will only come one way: with the death of Fidel Castro.

''Fidel Castro has to die for the future of Cuba to begin,'' Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart said at the first Cuba Transition to Democracy Summit gathering in Miami. "I do think destiny will have something to do with that, hopefully soon.''

More than 300 Cuban exiles and political leaders, including Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart, Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Mel Martinez gathered Friday at the Biltmore Hotel to hash out the beginnings of a new Cuba. Likening Castro to the despotic Roman emperor Caligula, Diaz-Balart suggested he actively wished death upon the communist dictator.

''Oh yes, for humanitarian reasons,'' Diaz-Balart told The Miami Herald. "I'm a humanitarian.''

Representatives from former communist nations in Europe that underwent dramatic political and social upheavals after the fall of the Soviet Union were on hand to offer advice.

Speakers from Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Estonia said they could not provide Cubans with the steps to freedom -- but could help them avoid stumbling.

European Union nations are at odds over how to deal with Castro.

Those which endured communist regimes are more willing to take on the Cuban government and help its dissidents, while others enjoy better diplomatic relations with Havana.

Their guidance ranged from making sure a post-Castro government includes members of the current government -- to making sure it doesn't leave room for the Communist Party.

The Hungarian ambassador to Washington, András Simonyi, said the seven EU nations present at Friday's conference feel a responsibility to share "the experience of democratic change.''

''All of our experiences are there for you to take,'' Simonyi said. "The bottom line is, sooner or later, we'll all be walking down the malecón, and we'll have a beer.''

Casamayor enjoying new reign as champion

By Santos A. Perez, sperez@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Oct. 23, 2006

It was a coronation with a tropical twist.

Joel Casamayor's victory against Diego Corrales two weeks ago in Las Vegas earned the Cuban native and Miramar resident his second world title.

And while the judges' scorecards confirmed the split decision result, earning Casamayor the World Boxing Council lightweight title, the reign truly didn't begin until Casamayor returned to South Florida.

On Tuesday, before dozens of friends and spectators, Casamayor was officially awarded the WBC title belt during a ceremony at Fico's Key West Restaurant in Miami. The aroma of paella cooked on an outdoor pan and salsa music blaring from speakers provided the theme for Casamayor's title-winning celebration.

''When the fight ended, it was great to celebrate my victory, but this is very special,'' Casamayor said after arriving at the restaurant. "I wanted to celebrate with my people.''

After two months of training in seclusion, Casamayor will enjoy the spoils of winning a title before his attention turns to another fight.

A smiling Casamayor gladly accepted some gifts from the event's organizers. A local social club awarded Casamayor and his team individual medals and framed portraits of Cuba's patron saint, The Virgin of Charity.

''I always dreamed of victory and becoming a world champion again,'' said Casamayor, the World Boxing Association super-featherweight champ from 2000-02. "This was my opportunity to prove to the world that I am still a factor in boxing.''

Now that the party is over, Casamayor will look for lucrative paydays against any of the top fighters from the 130- to 147-pound divisions.

Luis De Cubas, Casamayor's manager since he turned professional in 1996, said appealing opponents could range from super-featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera to welterweight Floyd Mayweather Jr., considered by many as boxing's best ''pound-for-pound'' fighter.

CHANGE IN VENUE

The Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach will be the site of a world title fight Saturday night. Mark Suarez and Kermit Cintron will fight for the vacant International Boxing Federation welterweight belt.

The fight originally was scheduled for the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit but switched to West Palm Beach because of conflicts involving other sporting events in the city. The Detroit Marathon is on Sunday and the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals could play a possible sixth game of the World Series at Detroit's Comerica Park on Saturday.

''We found out there were problems booking hotel rooms in Detroit that weekend because of the marathon,'' said Bobby Bostick, the fight's promoter. "Fortunately, we reached a very good deal with West Palm Beach.''

For information, call 561-951-9499 or 561-714-0700.

COMING UP

o Friday (8 p.m., at Miccosukee Indian Gaming, 500 S.W. 177 Ave., Miami): Eight-bout card, headlined by Joel Julio vs. Cosme Rivera, 12, welterweights; $50 and $30 ringside and $15 general admission; 305-222-4600.

o Friday (8 p.m., Telefutura-Ch. 69): Thomas Villa vs. Nicky Bentz, 10, super bantamweights.

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